I had a recording of Toronto Mike'd scheduled for 10am this morning, which means I blocked 90 minutes in my calendar. Due to a family emergency, my guest needed to postpone his debut, so I found myself with a little free time.
Kurt Cobain died 30 years ago today, so I've been playing Nirvana and remembering how I took this in 30 years ago. I was a huge Nirvana fan. Here's how I remember it all transpiring...
- I would take the subway downtown each weekday to attend school at U of T. I always wore a Sony Walkman, with mix tapes I'd meticulously curate for myself, and I'd read newspapers and magazines. I remember reading the details of how Kurt Cobain almost died of an overdose in Rome. I remember thinking "we almost lost Kurt".
- Shortly thereafter, while listening to 102.1 on April 6, 1994, I heard Alan Cross break in with the news. A body had been found at Kurt's home. I remember thinking "it has to be him"
- The rest is a bit of a blur... I scrap booked it all, I listened to a bunch of Nirvana, I watched a lot of MuchMusic, including the MTV Unplugged performance, and I followed the news.
- In the mix of Nirvana videos being played on Much, I saw the video for Hole's Miss World. I knew the next CD I'd purchase.
- I owned four Nirvana CDs. Bleach, Nevermind, Incesticide and In Utero. Only one of those was purchased on the day it was released, and that was In Utero. I played the mess out of all four.
I didn't know a thing about Kurt Cobain until 1991 when Smells Like Teen Spirit broke and hit me in the face like a sledgehammer, and in April 1994, he was gone. We're really talking 2.5 years here. 2.5 years to make that impact on this teenager. I can't think of a single person to make an impact that enormous in such a short period of time.
