John Deeth Blog

Cobain, 10 Years Later

I used to turn on the radio and every one in a while just get slapped in the ears with a song that made me go WOW.

It's been a long time. The last time it happened was in 1991. I's seen this blue album cover of a naked baby and didn't know what the big deal was.

Then I HEARD it.

Here we are now, entertain us.

It was impossible to make the radio go loud enough.

Suddenly the gawdawful hairmetal bands were dropping like flies, choking on their own hairspray. Suddenly something REAL was in the air.

Fifteen years too late, America has its punk rock hereo, its Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious all in one.

I was driving back from Wisconsin today, in my minivan with the I GUESS I WAS PUNK ONCE bumper sticker, playing Bleach and Nevermind.

Kurt Cobain put every bit of himself into those songs. Then when he had nothing left, when he debuted and number one and destoryes the meaning of the word "alternative," when the pain in his heart and his stomach and his soul got to be too much, he ended it.

Or so he thought.

Because when you make music that alive, even a bullet in the brain can't kill you. When you make a song as incredible as Teen Spirit, you live forever.