Would Kurt Cobain be a legend had he lived?

Good Question recently brought up by a friend on Facebook to me. I’m paraphrasing but the question goes would Kurt Cobain be as big of a star had he not killed himself?


Certainly Cobain’s band, Nirvana, was at the height of the Rock world in the early 90’s. Nirvana reached peaks with the Sub Pop crowd alongside Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains that were rarely seen. We’ll comment on those bands in a bit but let’s lay some groundwork to Cobain’s story.
What we know:

•    Cobain was undeniably the biggest Rock Star of his time, probably dethroning Axl Rose, and subsequently giving it up (through death) to Eddie Vedder? Hootie? Dave Matthews?
•    Nirvana truly did change the cultural landscape, The common myth, spread through MTV mostly, is that Hair Bands and Glam Rock was alive and kicking and then one day “Smells Like Teen Spirit” played on MTV and everything changed overnight. Out were big hair, ubiquitous looks, and Pop-sensibility. In were unkempt locks, flannel, and edge. In reality Hair bands were really on their way out when bands like “Extreme” and “Mr. Big” were whistling and clapping their way to monster hits. Like most success’ in entertainment Nirvana was good and was in the right place at the right time.
•    From all accounts, Kurt really didn’t want to live. No one was going to change his mind. In hindsight when you’re married to Courtney Love, how are you supposed to turn your life around?

Nirvana shot up like a rocket into a stratosphere too quick and too soon for Cobain. It has to be easier to cope with that kind of success when it’s a team effort. The aforementioned Dave Matthews relies on his band so heavily. But in Nirvana it was really Kurt Cobain and the other two guys (truly funny now if you know who one of those other two guys is, more on that in a bit.) But heavy drug use and depression was a major component in their success.

Kurt Cobain is a classic example of a tragic figure. I’m now pausing for you to recall tragic figures from 9th grade Greek Mythology. Wikipedia.com is a decent reference. Ok now that we’re caught up. Kurt is a tragic figure along the lines of Antigone and Snooki. Their shortcomings have led or will lead to their demise, or an excuse for their demise but not entirely.

I do remember the first time I was exposed to Nirvana. I was at my uncle Willie’s house in Davenport, IA watching MTV upstairs in cousin Brant’s room when the “Come as You Are” video came on. As a six-year-old I had really only been exposed to the “Teddy Bead Band”, “Raffi”, and the “Aladdin” soundtrack. This was pretty heavy stuff.

I asked my cousin Meghan who’s well versed and questions like this. Her response as follows:
“I remember I first heard Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on KDWB, and I'd never heard anything like them before. Like tons of other pissed-off teens, it felt like he was the first person who "got" me musically. Without Nirvana, I'd never know about a million awesome bands.

Kurt Cobain led a revolution, ironically because he was such an anti-hero. I don't think anyone knew the effect he had until after his death, because he & Nirvana are credited for giving birth to the "Seattle Sound", because right after he died there were tons of bands from Seattle who were trying to sound like them.

My favorite memory of Kurt Cobain is Kurt Loder on MTV was interviewing him, and Cobain was all grunged out & he had his baby on his lap. Loder asked Cobain something to the effect of, why does your music resonate with people so much? Kurt Cobain shrugged and said, ‘I don't know. I think people were just tired of listening to Warrant.’”

Thank You Meghan for proving the right place, right time part! Tired of listening to Warrant!

So would Kurt Cobain be as legendary today if he were alive? Short answer- YES.

If you’re comparing Nirvana to counterparts Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains they were bigger than all of them at the time and I do think Nirvana would be around in some form today. Soundgarden broke up in the late 90’s after creative differences; Alice in Chains is making a comeback without deceased lead singer Layne Staley (Staley died of a heroin overdose. He was found alone in his apartment two weeks after he overdosed with maggots eating away at his body.) Pearl Jam has made a path the last 15 years that’s intriguing and similar to what I see Nirvana as.

Nirvana successfully released “Nevermind” and “In Utero” while PJ had “Ten” and “Vs” and were right on Nirvana’s tail for rock supremacy. Nirvana never got that third release on top because of Cobain’s death but from 1994-2006 PJ released work that tried, successfully, to be less and less commercial. PJ’s last two releases 2006’s “Pearl Jam” and last fall’s “Backspacer” are a return to mainstream rock.

The curveball in all this is Dave Grohl. While in Nirvana, Grohl sat quietly in the background on drums and went through the motions. Now Grohl is one of the most recognizable figures in music through his success as front man of Foo Fighters, critically acclaimed work with Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, and Them Crooked Vultures. With Cobain around who knows if any of this would’ve happened.

Grohl made his Foo Fighters demo secretly and passed it around to friends without telling them it’s him. This tells me he was very apprehensive to cross Cobain. Not in a bad way or to say the Kurt Cobain was an asshole or anything, it just sheds light on the fact that Nirvana was Cobain. Be all, and end all. If Cobain lives and Grohl still releases the Foo Fighters debut, he’s out and follows through on that project. Quick sidenote also: bassist Krist Novoselic has retired from musical work and is now a politician for the Libertarian party. So it’s a safe bet eventually he’s out of the loop too.

So I think Cobain is still carrying on the Nirvana name to this day with a new cast of characters. He’s released experimental and gloomier material throughout the last 15 years but just continues that way. No mainstream return like Pearl Jam, He’s not selling his music to Target Corporation.

Since Cobain’s death, Novoselic and Grohl have fought for Nirvana’s licensing rights against Courtney Love and banded together last year when Cobain’s likeness was used poorly and without permission in the Rock Band video game series. This is to show that they want nothing but a positive light shed on Nirvana and have completely moved on in their lives.

Cobain, while uber-talented left us with some great material. From “Bleach” to the landmark “MTV Unplugged” release, he really didn’t have any bad material. Like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix before him and Michael Jackson after, sometimes death is the best way to breathe life into your career.

Feel free to comment below and always feel free to send me an idea to write about on here!

Jersey Shore Quote Hall of Fame

Jersey Shore had it's season finale last Thursday. Really might have been the single greatest season of any Reality Show. Their Bound for another season next year but it can't possibly be as good. The innocence is gone. Snooki will have her own reality show, JWOWW is set for Playboy, Sammy Sweethart and Ronnie hae apparently broken up, Paulie D will be making appearances across the country DJing, Vinnie wants to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, The Situation will be off get diseases, and Angelina will try to commit suicide for leaving the show after two episodes and missing out on celebrity.

Here are my favorite Jersey Shore quotes, which are even funnier completely out of context.

I was born and raised a Guido. It's just a lifestyle, it's being Italian, it's representing, family, friends, tanning, gel, everything.~ Paulie D

If you're not a Guido then you can get the f*ck outta my face.~ Sammy Sweetheart

Guys with the blow-outs and the fake tans, and guys that wear lip-gloss and makeup, those aren't guidos, those are retards.~ Vinnie

I am all-natural. I have real boobs. I have a nice fat ass. Look at this sh*t, I mean, come on, I'm hot.~ Angelina

How do you go in a f*cking Jacuzzi with a thong and a bra? Wear a thong bikini , that's a little bit more classier if you're gonna wear anything at all, ya know what I mean?~ Angelina

I mean this situation is gonna be indescribable, you can't even describe the situation that you're about to get into the situation.~ Mike “The Situation”

If I was just gonna get sloppy, I should have just pounded out what’s her name on Friday night.~ Ronnie

My ideal man would be Italian, dark, muscles, juice-head, Guido.~ Snooki

With me and Sam, it’s not a matter of if she wants to hook up with me; it’s a matter of just when I decide.~ Mike “The Situation”

I left the club early because I didn't want to cheat on my boyfriend, and I felt like eating ham and drinkin' water. Ham.~ JWOWW

I couldn't have sex with my girl, she had her period. I go to take her pants off - she wouldn't let me, no big deal.~ Paulie D

My hair didn't even move an inch and I was in & out of the water. My hair's windproof, waterproof, soccer proof, motocycleproof. I'm not sure if my hair's bulletproof, I'm not willin' to try that.~ Paulie D

JWOWW's p*ssy must be rainbows & pasta treasure.~ Ronnie

G.T.L. baby. Gym, Tanning, Laundry.~ Mike “The Situation”

The kid’s harmless. Vinnie knows that I’m pretty much the man of the house and not to push it too far or I’m gonna throw him in my trunk.~ Mike “The Situation”

It's so hard to find a good man these days. That's why I date women.~ Paulie D

I felt bad about Snickers getting hit by a couple linebackers. I necessarily didn’t want to bring home any sort of zoo creature’s what so ever. I mean, these broads just probably smelled the food at the house.~ Mike “The Situation”

You have no game at all.~ Mike “The Situation”

Really? That’s not what your sister said.~ Vinnie

Me and Sam actually leave around like 4 o’clock, we’ve been here since 12 o’clock, 5 hours is like enough.~ Ronnie

Snooki’s outfit is crazy, she looks like a birthday cake, she’s all decorated, dressed up, with the pink, boobs all out up in her face, I guess she wants to go out with a big bang, literally.~ Vinnie

Where are the juice-heads? I don’t see any f*cking guido juice-head, you woke me up for nothing.~ Snooki

I knew she was 18, that ass does not look 12.~ Mike “The Situation”

Vikings-Saints Preview

I had an outline for a much longer preview but I'm strapped for time. Here's my prediction in a video clip however

I Hate Auto-Tune pt.2

I guess my problem is i want to like Auto-Tune. If it's used in small doses I don't think it's really that bad. But it is lazy. At the beginning of the decade Britney Spears caught a lot of flack for really not being able to sing. Yeah she could carry a tune but she's no Mariah Carey. Now? Auto-Tune Britney up and she sounds like a robot! Cool!

Music is in a better place in 2010 than it was in 2000. Justin Timberlake is making better music now than he was in the beginning of the decade. Coldplay, The Killers, and Kings of Leon are better than Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd and Creed. Robin Thicke and Ne-Yo are better than Joe and Sisqo.

Rap on the other hand is probably in a better place than it was 10 years ago, but I'm not sure. Jay-Z and Eminem are still very relevant now. Any one from the No Limit Soldier and Cash Money camps (sans Lil' Wayne) are pretty laughable these days. But Rap is much, much, much, much lazier now. If I only get one thing across to you I hope it's this- Rap has gotten lazy. Auto-Tune is featured in so many Rap songs now it doesn't help. So I see where Rap is at now (more popular than ever) and where it was ten years ago and talk about a lack of evolution.

Same type of video, Same type of self-hype, and the Same formula. All you need is a hook and chorus. A Gimmick.

If you need any more proof my research shows that in Ice Cube's "It was a Good Day", Cube says the words  "Good Day" three times during the 4:20 song.

In Soulja Boy's smash hit "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" our young wordsmith says the um words?...but he says "Soulja Boy" 27 times in the 3:41 song. TWENTY-SEVEN TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you scoring at home Cube spits his title once every 1:26 seconds. "Soulja Boy" once every EIGHT seconds. And as always one of my music rules of thumb is this- if you have your Band's name in a song title, Your band really sucks. Except Bad Company. They are Sweet

Now Soulja Boy doesn't use Auto-Tune on that song, I just needed to throw my hatred for that one in here while I'm at it. Auto-Tune has just glorified music's laziness to the point that in Rap and Pop music it's everywhere. I have to reference the smash hit, Ke$ha's Tik Tok.

My first take on the song is seeing the video, it's the first time I could ever remember my jaw dropping at how utterly rediculous the song is. My second take is the only thing Tik Toking is her 15 minutes of fame, and my last take was this girl isn't even singing and they're using Auto-Tune! she's just talking, not even singing. She couldn't be that untalented could she? Then I saw her on Jimmy Fallon last week and yes she is that untalented. In the comments section from yesterday's post my friend "The Smirk" posted the video of it and it's really worth watching.

So Rap is lazier and Pop music is taking the easy was out. Tis a shame really. Please don't consider your old pal Mike a hater. I love me some good Rap- Lupe Fiasco, Common, Q-Tip, Talib Kwali all hold it down and are fighting the good fight. I also like me a good Pop tune as well. Pop's always going to be lazy but just don't take the easy way out with Lady GaGa bellowing out noises that aren't even words like the song "Bad Romance".

This is all just a phase, hopefully the next fad won't be worse. There was a time when Disco was so popular Rock legends had to have that disco beat in all of their hit songs. Time has passed and they've moved on. Hopefully so can the Music recording industry.

I Hate Auto-Tune pt. 1

At the beginning of this new year, 2010 (pronouced twenty-ten btw) I posed a question on my Facebook page asking what was the better song? Ice-Cube's "It was a Good Day" or Warren G's "Regulators"

"Regulators" has long been a favorite of mine since High School when our basketball team would come out of the locker to the Warren G classic. We even had the "Royal Regulators" long-sleeve shirt that was probably one of my all-time pieces of clothing.

There was something about it. I'm the dorkiest white kid, from a massively white suburb, in a state so white that the most successful marketing campaign in my lifetime is calling my home "The State of Hockey." There was just something about that G-Funk era Rap, with Nate Dogg's smoothe crooning and Warren's prose. (Nate Dogg's Wikipedia page is fantastic, his picture in the upper right-hand corner is his mug shot.)

Recently though It's been Ice-Cube's "It was a Good Day."Both songs are certainly cousins in a way. Both artists probably related somehow and are at the top of the hypothetical Dr. Dre tree. But this song has been grabbing my attention, I can't relate to the song in any way but I do an extra set on the shoulder press when this one comes on my iPod. It just makes me think that Rap isn't what it used to be.

A couple weeks ago local radio station B96 changed formats from an all urban station to a more mainstream format. Yeah they still play Eminem  but they're adding a little Jonas Bros. while their at it. There was some outrage over the decision but of course overnight rating for the station have gone up. Besides the natural Racism outcries over the decision it's a pretty safe bet for the station. I work for station LOVE105 and still get bitched at by grimy hipsters at every public event I go to for the station, even though the station changed from it's Alternitive Rock format to Oldies over two years ago.

Every time I say the same thing "Look who spends more money 16-28 year olds or Baby Boomers?" and everytime I get the same blank drug euforic look with no answer.

Rap is the most mainstream of all forms of music right now, believe it. Just look up the top songs in the iTunes store, it doesn't take a genius to see Jay-Z, Ludacris, Kanye West, and Lil' Wayne are 4,000x more popular and recognizable than the guy from Nickleback, that dude from Shinedown, or that emo that calls himself Owl City. The superstar rapper is the new Rockstar. Why do you think Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Jon Bon Jovi, and Tom Petty keep dragging themselves out on tours? Two reasons 1. They can and 2. SOMEONE has to do it.

The arena rock anthems and superstar rocker days of old are in their dyeing days. 20 years from now drunk  students at the "University of Minnesota-Eden Praire, sponsored by 3M" won't be singing "This Love" or "I Wanna Be a Rockstar" like they do "Don't Stop Believing" and "Living on a Prayer" now. It's Rap's world and we're just living in it. There's a definate reason Miley Cirus' name drops Jay-Z in "Party in the USA" and Ludacris spits some words in Justin Beiber's new song "Baby." In my humble opinion Rock waved the white flag in 2007 when the Shop Boyz released "Party like a Rockstar."When a one-hit wonder like "Shop Boyz" can secretly rip on the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it was a 12th round KO to old farts like Aerosmith. But also in my humble opinion it's songs like "Party like a Rockstar" that prove Rap sucks now. Not all Rap mind you, just most of that stuff that's "so good" that a station like B96 couldn't survive of playing it.

Of course though! I'm just a bitter old man, Things ain't like they used to be. I couldn't figure out why. Why I dislike most Rap now. Alas it's been staring me right in front of my ears.

AUTO-TUNE.

It started around 2007. Wayne was getting big of it and by the fall of '08 Kanye was releasing an all Auto-Tune album. It's no surprise to me that Kanye's "808s and Heartbreaks" was his first album not to get any major Grammy nominations unlike his previous monster's "The College Dropout", "Late Registration", and "Graduation." Production wise 808s is a sonic boom. The only difference of course is he's not really rapping on it, he's kinda half-singing masking it through Auto-Tune. Of course he embarrassed himself on SNL where you don't have a net.

Tomorrow in part two, I'll tie the loose ends, further explore the disaster that is Auto-Tune and call out some more people (Lady GaGa?). Please share any opinions or comments below!

Updates Updates Updates!

1. The name of the blog has been set. Travis Burt gave me the nod with "McGive It To Me", it's a great name on several levels. longtime friend Phil Ayeni called me McGive, I always loved Rick James' "Give it to me Baby" and I think it could be a signature catchphrase for me when I'm famous.

2. I'm working and tinkering on two long form posts for later in the week (Vikings preview and an article on rap music)

3. michaelj.mcgivern@gmail.com Shoot me an email sometime if you have a question or topic you'd like me to tackle.

I'll leave you with a video from Vampire Weekend. New album "Contra" out now!