Dear Kurt,
It has come to my attention that I owe you an apology.
In the early nineties, I was spending most of my listening time with Jimmy Buffett, the Death Row catalogue, and the late (and much-missed) Allan Stagg. I had dismissed your efforts as tedious whining about how empty life is for middle-class white kids with money when it rains all the time and you dress like a hobo. And it may be all of those things. But I recently came across a couple of your old CDs, and gave them another shot. And, while I stand by my position that y’all were somewhat self-pitying wet pseudohobos, you also ROCKED.
I think my problem with you was, like my problems with Clerks, Jesus, and Barack Obama, in reality a problem with the slavish devotion of many of your fans. In your case, I was in high school at the time, and, while girls who liked Nirvana were generally hot, they were also generally nihilists, and some of the time you had to listen to them talk. And when it was about you, it was…you can only listen to so much emotional praise of depth and pain and reality. I was getting Kurt when what I wanted was Courtney. And your male fans in the early 90s…egad. (I suspect you’d agree.)
Anyhow: I’m sorry. I misjudged your music. My bad. Big fan.
Al
PS ‘Twixt Tobi & Courtney, I must also vigorously commend your taste in women.
Yes, Nirvana rocked. Yes, Nirvana set off a whole generation of alternative rock. Nirvana did not last long enough to see that alternative rock as a whole did not turn into the “pussy rock” it is today. I hold Kurt directly responsible for this.