Mark Wright’s Blog

It has been 15 years since Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain committed suicide.  It is hard to believe that 15 years have passed.  It just doesn’t seem that long ago.  Normally, I am not that affected when someone famous passes, but in Cobain’s case, I felt a tremendous sense of sadness. 

I was lucky enough to live in Seattle when the whole Seattle Sound movement came about.  I was introduced to a host of really good bands such as Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and of course Nirvana.  The music was loud and aggressive and the lyrics were about alienation and sadness.  It was a radical departure from the good time music of hair metal. 

However, the sadness they sang about was all too true.  Many of the pioneers of this music are no longer with us.  Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, Kristen Pfaff of Hole and Stephanie Sargent of 7 Year Bitch died from drug overdoses.  Mia Zapata of The Gits was raped and murdered.  Numerous other bands dealt with serious heroin addiction.  Cobain himself was a heroin addict up until the time of his death. 

When I heard Cobain committed suicide, I was sad but not shocked.  He never really seemed comfortable with being a rock star.  I’m not going to pretend to know why he decided to take his own life.  I’ve heard everything from him not wanting to be a rock star to having incredible stomach pain.  Many have speculated on his reasons.  Truth is, nobody probably knows. 

Time moves on.  Most of the bands of that era are no more.  I haven’t been to Seattle since 1992.  We all move on to different jobs and our interests change.  Kurt Cobain would be in his 40s now.  It would be interesting to see what he was like now.  Would he have the same intensity?  Would he even be playing music anymore?  The truth is that we will never know and that makes me sad.  Rest In Peace