Purgatory in Nirvana
Kurt Cobain is the forefather of grunge music and one of the most notable members of the 27 Club. He lived his life dreary eyed despite life blooming around him and within his music. He had been shaped by his past, his mentality afflicting and altering the future he saw for himself rather than the future he had made through his rhythmic expression of ideas. Born February 20th, 1967, life had been a breeze until his parent’s divorce at age 8. Moving through his teenage years, he had spent his time trying to get away from the one thing he needed most, a home. He would stay with anyone accessible to him from friends to relatives even occasionally sleeping outside under bridges; beginning to partake in crimes like vandalism and drug use. Despite being introduced to and having a fascination with it at a young age, the induction of music to his world became his way of life until he decided otherwise.
Kurt Cobain committed suicide on April 5th, my mother’s due date and was found on April 8th, which is my birthday. Reflecting back on Nirvana’s music, it has a lot to do with the historical significance of today and what we see. This feeling of helplessness, of not being able to conform to an ever changing society made to mess with you. There are a number of songs that with his iconic voice, explains the world we live in today. “The Man Who Sold The World” is all that played in my head as the presidential debate had played on the television screen and the words “Left Wing, Right Wing, No Wing” from “In Bloom” serving as an explanation to our future if we keep on this path. The nature of rebellion and angst between both teen and elder can be felt day to day and Nirvana has rewritten that pain for individuals to express from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” one of the most notable songs. Another song, “Come as You Are’s” phrase: ”’No I don’t have a gun’” is a common phrase by the oppressed minorities of America throughout history especially now in the times of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s decision. The ideas of finding one’s friends in their own head, being lonely and excited to meet others, and being so socially out of tune that you become direct about controversial topics like religion and sexual intentions in another song entitled “Lithium” as a connection to social distancing, it would seem as though his music is a reaction to how we would be living today. From every bit of chaos to every form of harmony that can be found on his albums, he portrays this feeling that accompanies a walk through the disease ridden streets in hopes of having a good day while chaos strikes around you. It is really hard to envision what his life had been like as he seemed so in tune with the future, it is frightening.
In summary, not only did his death bring about suicide awareness but it serves as a bridge of emotions for his listeners to cross while still discussing the issues of today, our actions, and our reactions to it. Listening back on his music now, it seems as though he was talking to and even warning the next generations after his death of what to expect from the world or rather how we would react to it changing into what it is today. Cobain had been a revolutionary thinker of his time and proceeds to be a misunderstood figure in today’s media as the strange grunge guy who killed himself, when in reality he was just another lost soul looking for an escape in a world filled with little, so he made his own. Before doing so, leaving a record of thoughts and reflections of the developing world to guide us for when it had developed in the image he had seen so far ahead of us. The world we live in today can only be described in a form of narrative; a story to read until we run out of pages. At least, that is the general feeling while we are dictated by an untrustworthy superpower that only continues to leave its people in the shadow of decision making rather than the forefront, making us the ones in Purgatory.
– Seven Bartlett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9iLPs1Tjkc
Got A Million Rhymes 