In Memory of...

Kurt Cobain 1967-1994

I first got into listening to hard music as my older brother was a big fan of old school metal acts back in the day like Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, etc. Later on I even became a fan of early rap and even the freakin' New Kids On The Block! Then one day my brother bought the Weird Al Yankovic album 'Off The Deep End'. The cover was a spoof of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album, and the lead single 'Smells Like Nirvana' was a spoof of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. I then heard the original version of the song being played on the radio regularly.



Then late one night I saw a clip of Nirvana's 'Come As You Are' video from the Billboard Music Awards where they were nomiated for Best New Act. They didn't win, but for some reason the riff and opening line of the song was stuck in my head almost permanantly and I really became interested to hear the rest of the song.

Sometime after that it was then widely reported the Kurt Cobain had commited suicide and it seemed every newspaper around the world would report the story. I can honestly say it really didn't effect me much at the time. But I did manage to borrow a copy of Nevermind from a friend and finally manage to hear the complete 'Come As You Are' song. It would become my favorite song of all time!
Some time after that, some classmates of mine from school aksed me if I were interested to go 'jamming' with them. Not sure what to expect, I went along and spent the afternoon watching them play Nirvana covers (Quite badly). But it was from hanging and jamming with them that I learned to pick up and learn to play guitar, though I'll admit I'm not all that good.
But I was really into Nirvana and brought every cassette of theirs that came out, even though I knew the guy had already passed on.


And it was from that life experiance that I now have my interest of heavy music. On my trip to KL last week, I picked up an issue of Hit Parader magazine and it had a special tribute to the late Kurt Cobain in it. I was shocked to learn that this month marks the 10-year anniversary of his passing! It's been ten long years since Nirvana changed the way modern rock music would be written, and a new boundary in lyric writting was crossed.


And now I pay my own tribute to Nirvana in my own way. While in KL last week I picked up the CD of Nirvana's Unplugged in New York album and am currently playing it in my car stereo. The significance being that it replaces American Head Charge that was sitting in the fifth CD slot for almost 2 years! I finally found something worthy of taking it's place!


Fear Factory got me into heavy metal, KoRn got me into nu-metal, but it was Nirvana that started it all for me. For that, I will forever remember the man behind the music, Kurt Donald Cobain. To this day, there are still many who can't believe he's gone, but I for one still can't believe such a man existed that would help change my life so much just by listening to his music.