Heavier kinds of alternative rock, such as industrial and grunge in particular, were, for many, a doorway out of an exhausted metal scene. As my own adolescent metal stage ended, I discovered music with a more nuanced approach to angst, like Fugazi, Ministry, Jesus and Mary Chain. I was also a huge fan the little-known Meat Puppets. The raw, primitive punk of their early albums spoke volumes about what music was and could be. Cobain must have felt the same way, because shortly thereafter, the Meat Puppets received long-overdue attention when he covered three of their classics in his performance for MTV Unplugged.

In the winter of my senior year, I left school one day, feigning illness, and gave a truant friend a lift to another delinquent friend's house. He popped In Utero in the tape player for the ride, and left it with me. Now this was something I could get in to; In Utero was heavier and far more experimental than I expected. This was the sound Nirvana was after. That tape stayed with me for as long as I had a car with a tape player.

Cobain was dubbed "The Voice of a Generation." Many counter that he didn't want that title, but it wasn't up to him. Someone had to be the figurehead of these young, angsty slackers. Ultimately, he couldn't adapt. Cobain believed he was a slave to his rockstar status; that it had drained him of his passion for music, and that performing without passion made him a sham. Like many icons, he was troubled, inconsistent, and human in his time. His suicide reinforced his legend. He played the role he played, and that made him an icon.

What do we do to our icons? We drive them to death. Celebrity adoration (like idol worship) carries with it a desire for public humiliation: to see the object suffer in life, and celebrated in death. Cobain was a martyred rock star for the masses, people for whom music was background. Rock music is another celebrity realm of stars and fairy tales, and Cobain was anointed our scion. Cobain's role in capitalist culture ironically took away the individuality of fate, making his fate subject to collectivism. The next generation has come of age being taught of his greatness, and that greatness becomes codified. This year, Nirvana will be inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside Kiss and Hall & Oates.

NirvanaNirvana

Kurt Cobain Solo Album Full of Unreleased Material Coming This Summer

Did Our Idol Worship Drive Kurt Cobain to Suicide?