![]() On the other hand, the bitter finality of Cobain's end became an indelible part of his story, like some sick MasterCard joke. It announces, in bold black letters, OUR LAST AND FINAL NAME IS NIRVANA. A line in a recently published letter - sent to a friend in 1988 from a young blond punk rocker in Washington state - sounds, even today, far from peaceful and like anything but an ending. In Buddhism, the only true end of suffering is the attainment of total enlightenment. Then he ended his life.Īlthough some Shinto texts talk about the "High Plain of Heaven," or the "Dark Land," none provides any details about the afterlife. In that time, their small, skinny, singer/guitarist devised '90s rock and helmed a sweeping cultural change of style, attitude, and outlook. Within two years, Nirvana were the biggest rock band in the world within three, the biggest of the decade and within five, kaput. ![]() Nobody in their right mind would reference R.E.M. It was so simple: the best parts of R.E.M., the Beatles, the Buzzcocks, Black Flag. "You know, long stringy hair, ragged flannel, and ripped dungarees." The 22-year-old singer's voice "had a teenage Lemmy quality, and that band knew how to rock. To Moore, the trio looked like the demonic hick kids in the horror film Children of the Corn. "Not only was every song crushingly great, but at the end, they just smashed their instruments and threw them into the audience. "It was like, 'What the fuck?' " says the witness, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore (who later helped the band sign to DGC). They went on early, played to about 30 people, and, according to a witness, "just incinerated the place." The group had built a strong word-of-mouth following since the release of their first single the previous year, but for newcomers, the show was a revelation. In July 1989, a band recently signed to Seattle indie label Sub Pop appeared at a small New Jersey nightclub. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" (Nirvana, In Utero, 1993) She'll come back as fire, to burn all the liars, and leave a blanket of ash on the ground. The ghosts of suicides are said to be the most dangerous. ![]() Those who die unhappily or violently - usually through murder or suicide - are called yurei, ghosts who wander about causing trouble. Those who die happily, among their families, become revered ancestors. Relatives perform rituals to pacify and purify it. ![]() "He was a paradox in that way, because he also could be brutally and intensely strong, yet at the same time, he could appear fragile and delicate." The Japanese believe that after death the spirit is angry and defiled. " made women want to nurture and protect him," a friend, Carrie Montgomery, once said of Kurt Cobain. These deities can be endowed with completely opposite personalities - gentle or violent. If the person has distinguished him- or herself in life, the spirit becomes a kami, a deity associated with powerful forces like wind and thunder. But ten years after his controversial suicide, as a new generation begins to experience his music in its own way, what do Cobain, Nirvana, and "grunge" really mean to anyone anymore?Īccording to Japan's Shinto faith, when a person dies, his or her spirit passes into nature to reside in the air, water, and rocks. Romanticized, ripped off, and never quite forgotten, Kurt Cobain still haunts us like no other rock star. ![]()
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