No, that’s no typo in the subject line, and fans of Nirvana know (or should know) the reference.  Today would have been Kurt Cobain’s 47th birthday and in Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen, this year marks the first Kurt Cobain day.  For many (myself included) Kurt was the voice of generation, whether he liked it or not.  Nevermind was the album which propelled both Nirvana and the Seattle scene into the mainstream, and while many will argue that The Meat Puppets, Mudhoney and The Screaming Trees came before, they never had the cultural impact of Kurt, Chris and Dave.

Unfortunately, the much publicized quote from Neil Young’s Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) of “It’s Better to Burn Out, Than to Fade Away” was a fitting one for Kurt, as he was never truly comfortable living in the fishbowl of pop culture.  The force by which Nirvana was thrust into the public eye, put the band on a trajectory which could only end as abruptly as it began.  During their reign, Nirvana hosted one of the most beloved episodes of MTV’s Unplugged, and graced the stage of Saturday Night Live, and eventually the endless touring took its toll and on April 5th the passionate flame of Cobain was snuffed out (2014 will mark the 20th anniversary of his passing).

Personally, I still remember being given a dubbed copy of Nevermind which was worn thin and was ultimately replaced by a copy on (the relatively new) technology of compact discs, it was accompanied by my first CD player (which still had a pair of cassette decks – in other words – Olllld School).  That album kicked off a love affair with this trio from Seattle, and landed me firmly on Nirvana’s side in their battle for Seattle with Pearl Jam (a band which ultimately led me to Nirvana).   I’m pretty sure that the opening salvo of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was such a dramatic departure from the pop music I had been listening to at the time, that it immediately hooked me, and while it was crunchy and loud, it was hook laden, a bit poppy, and had something intangible in Cobain’s howls.  Even if you go back today and listen to Kurt’s isolated vocal track, it is such a raw visceral sound, it’s hard not to see why they became so big so fast.  It wasn’t about the excesses of Hair Metal, it wasn’t about the vapid pop saccharine which the top-40 was pushing down our throats at the time, it was pure honest emotion without any of the pre-packaged pretense I was accustomed to hearing.  It sounded like home to me.

Nirvana was one of the first bands that propelled me both backwards and forwards through their catalogue.  After Nevermind, the band’s debut album a compilation album entitled Incesticide was released and a re-release of the 1989 debut Bleach soon followed.  In those recordings, you could see that unbridled fury in its raw, unrefined form, and you can easily see the bones which were there from which Nevermind was ultimately born. There was only one other “studio” album from the band (In Utero) which showed a band who was beginning to rail against the studio system and media as a whole.  That was the final Nirvana record that was released prior to Cobain’s demise in 1994.

The Discography of Kurt and Co. is one that draws me back consistently and has a special place both in my heart and in my music library. It holds up incredibly well, and makes me pine for the possibilities of what Cobain would have gone on to do after (or during) Nirvana’s time.  I think he would have been an interesting solo artist, as he was capable of such visceral emotion combined with an ear for poppy hooks, and as the mythos goes, he was a big fan of the Beatles.  Nirvana (and Kurt) will always hold a special place in my heart as they were one of the first bands I truly loved (and continue) to love.   Their poster adorned my wall for a number of my teenage years (and into my twenties, now that I think of it), and as I sit here typing this, the deluxe edition of their With the Lights Out box set is showcased on my bookshelf. Happy Birthday Kurdt, and thank you for the memories!