Vineet Sharma
"Famous is the last thing I wanted to be."
The April of 1994 brought with it news that shook the entire rock fraternity, the news of Kurt Cobain’s death. The maverick lead singer and songwriter of the legendary grunge band Nirvana ended his short tryst with a life less ordinary. The man of flesh and blood departed the lost paradise…but his soul still remains with us, in the music that fills the hiatus of our lives.
He gave the world the genre of grunge rock…a genre that helped the frustrated masses express their anger in its pristine form. As we remember this great musician today, the question that pops up from the realms of my psyche is ‘is Kurt dead or has he immortalized himself by becoming a part of me?’ A million lovers of Kurt would tell me that my premonition of him becoming a part of me is absolutely correct.
He gave the anthem of the 90’s generation ‘Smells like the teen spirit’ among many other gems of the rock era. His songs had a simplicity that touched the innermost cords of your heart. Many conservative people slammed his lyrics as ‘vulgar’ but I’d like to bring out the point that even if his songs were explicit in a sense, his sense of vulgar emanated from the origin of the word ‘vulgare’ or the language of the common man. An ordinary man he was, but he carried his extraordinary brand of music with him everywhere he went, sharing it with the masses.
His rapport with his audience was something legends are made up of. One would often think that he was singing with a group of friends rather than an audience of die hard fans. His dedication to his fans was so strong that he once obliged the desire of some people by singing a country song, going in a genre that was definitely not his forte. He did not have the airs of a superstar, a truly remarkable trait in the ego infested world of today.
He was an extremely sensitive artist who stood tall for the rights of all those who had no voice against injustices. He once told people before a concert that "If any of you don`t like gays or women or blacks, please leave us alone." A neo age feminist, this gentle soul used a medium that was uncharacteristically hard and heavy. This paradox was achieved with such an élan by him that one often wondered if he had a divine connection to create his music.
If one listens to his songs carefully, he/she will realise that the songs can easily be connected to their lives. A heady mix of heavy grunge and true to life lyrics, give his songs a rocking relevance even after a decade of his departure. Most songwriters struggle to manufacture what Kurt somehow did without trying: relying on what he called his "pop sensibilities", acquired while he was growing up listening to the melodic skills of many great bands, most notably the Beatles.
No one knows exactly how he compiled a song, but the result every time was a work of elegance and simplicity. His chord progressions were generally founded in the classic traditions of 1970`s rock bands such as Black Sabbath or Kiss, often employing detuned lower strings to produce a heavier sound. Sometimes the chord changes were more angular, giving the song a jarring feel that makes the listener slightly uncomfortable. For his vocals, Kurt worked between the nice and the nasty. His verse melodies were usually pure pop, drifting gently across the music and repetitive enough to be easily remembered. But then the chorus would invariably turn into a howling wail, fraught with manic tension and hostility, giving the song a kind of schizophrenic nature. Between these two moods lay the ingredients for Nirvana`s greatest songs.
All in all, as far as anyone who has listened to Kurt is concerned…he still rocks like hell man!!
Time Line Of Kurt Cobain`s Life
