When I was in high school I was OBSESSED with the grunge scene. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, The Stone Temple Pilots, Mother Love Bone, The Smashing Pumpkins, Temple of the Dog, Silverchair, Mad Season, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, The Toadies... this list could keep going for sometime so I will stop there.
My all time favorite band, grunge or otherwise, is Nirvana. I though Kurt Cobain was such a unique soul. He may not have been the best technical guitar player out there, but that is what made him and Nirvana so special.
What Kurt did have in his corner was his stellar song writing ability. He wrote songs that really resonated with the gen xers because gen xers are often dubbed America’s neglected “middle child” or latchkey kids.
Most of Nirvana’s songs were not technically challenging, but his angst and lyrics are what made them stand out from the crowd.
I was a junior in high school when Kurt Cobain “killed himself.” I put that in quotes because I personally believe he was murdered and that his horrible person of a wife, Courtney Love, was behind it. I do not believe that she physically killed him, but she was in the mix somehow.
So that sad day in April 1994, I had just walked home from school and when I walked in the door my mom said “ That musician you love is dead.” I asked who she was talking about and before she could answer, a news report on TV came on saying that Kurt Cobain had taken his own life. I completely lost it. I went into hysterical sobbing and I was in complete denial. I ran upstair, closed my door, and still crying I put in and listened to all the Nirvana CDs I owned ( which was all of them). I was a total wreck for weeks and very depressed for months. I felt like I had just lost a good friend.
The summer in between my junior and senior year, my family decided to take a vacation in Seattle. I was so excited to see things Kurt saw and go places where he went. But the best thing ever is that I taped a Kurt Cobain tribute show off Radio One and in that recording they gave Kurt’s home address because they played the ambulance getting the information on where to go. I made sure that tape was someplace safe and I took It with us to Seattle.
We went to Seattle for two weeks and let me tell you that if you’ve never been, you should go. It is absolutely breathtaking. There are mountains, beaches, and rainforests that make for a magnificent landscape.
One day we were walking around downtown Seattle and after walking out of a little record store where I bought 2 Nirvana t-shirts, a Nirvana ”yuck face” patch and a handful of random stickers with most of them being of Nirvana or Kurt alone,I was running my mouth about how I had Kurt’s home address and I needed to see his house. A man on the street heard me and said “If you want to see his house I will give you directions.“ I immediately said yes that it would be fantastic if we could get the directions. He told them to us verbally but also drew us a map.
So my family went and got in the car, drove to where the map said and low and behold, there was Kurt’s house. I immediately recognized it from the footage they had shown on TV. I was in such awe that I could barely speak and of course I was crying again. After a good while, my parents asked if we could leave and I said I wasn’t ready. They tried two more times and got the same response. By the fourth time they asked, they more or less said we had to go. It was one of the most surreal, amazing, and sad things I had ever experienced.
The only other thing that came close to giving me a similar reaction is when we visited Jimi Hendrix’s grave in Seattle. His grave was covered with toys, messages, candles, and other mementos. It was emotional and eerie at the same time because obviously many people had come to visit his grave site, but when we were there, we were the only ones. It was so sentimental to be there and to be connected to someone I idolized. I did learn that the staff has to clear off his grave every day due to the sheer volume of visitors who leave things on his grave site.
That trip to Seattle was the best vacation my family had ever gone on, at least according to me. It was so long ago, but yet it seems like it was only a few months ago. Seattle really left an impression in my heart that I will never lose and will cherish for the remainder of my life. If my husband and I ever decide to make a break from Ohio, you’ll know where to find us.
♥🌈😭🌈🎶🌈😇♥️
RIP KURT COBAIN
♥🌈😭🌈🎶🌈😇♥️
♥🌈😭🌈🎶🌈😇♥️
RIP JIMI HENDRIX
♥🌈😭🌈🎶🌈😇♥️
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