One baby to another said...
This is from a new book called "Why Rush Limbaugh Is Wrong or, The Demise of Traditionalism And The Rise of Progressive". I recieved an email from Mighty Pen Publishing about the appendix chapter dealing with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. The chapter mostly deals with the author's inspiration to writing the book after Rush Limbaugh crucified Kurt after his death. Special thanks to Mighty Pen Productions.
| He called Kurt Cobain human trash. Who in the fuck is this overbloated sack of protoplasm to pass judgment on Kurt Cobain? |
| Cobain was an incredibly talented musician, as is the rest of Nirvana, who, it could be said in no uncertain terms, had more than his share of personal demons, dabbled heavily in heroin and tried committing suicide a couple times. He was an intense, passionate young man (all of which poured through his music), and, whereas I didn’t idolize the guy in the least, I had a great deal of respect and admiration for Kurt Cobain. |
| It was April 11th, ’94, and after flipping between crappy reruns of MASH and Late Show with David Letterman I tuned over to Rush Limbaugh ’cause, in his own warped way, he’s fairly amusing. Like a good car accident. Or the Hindenburg. I rarely ever watched his show on purpose, but at the time I got a total of three channels through some rinky-dink bunny-ear antenna on top my TV and my only selections opposite him were A Current Affair and Nightline, so I was constantly jumping between them. |
| Well, before taking a sponsor break from his effervescent flow of wisdom, Limbaugh said that when they returned he wanted to talk about Kurt Cobain who had shot himself with a shotgun. What?! Could it be true? Had he killed himself? |
| Kurt’s corpse was discovered on a Friday; I learned of his death on Limbaugh’s Monday broadcast. Somehow I’d heard nothing about it; although over the weekend a local radio station had had some special on Nirvana, and in-between songs they played clips of other musicians talking about how much pressure there is in that kind of life. I didn’t make anything of it at the time——except to enjoy the music——but now, thinking back, it must’ve been a farewell tribute. |
| Limbaugh wanted to talk about how the media was hyping Cobain as the voice of my generation——I’m nineteen, is that my generation? And Rush had a valid point, the media undeniably was blowing Kurt’s image, basically the image they created for him, way out of proportion——the ‘‘voice’’ of a generation, give me a break! A hell of a musician?, sure, but the ‘‘spokesman for a generation’’? Kurt Cobain was no more the voice of my generation than Rush Limbaugh is the lone voice of conservatism, as I’m sure there are many conservatives who don’t feel Rush represents their views (entirely). |
| But to make this point, Limbaugh sacrificed Cobain on his self-righteous cross. He called him human trash (or, to be perfectly precise, his exact words were ‘‘worthless shred of human debris’’), and said he looked filthy and rotten and that if he did clean himself up his audience would go away, which is utter nonsense. The only reason Nirvana sold millions of records and are as popular as they are, or were, is because their music is genuinely good (in my subjective opinion——you simply cannot be objective about music, what’s good or not and what kind of person this makes you . . . that is, apparently, unless you’re Rush Limbaugh). |
| If Nirvana’s not to your particular taste, fine, that’s fine. There’s lots of music I don’t especially care for. And, if I wanted, I’m sure I could find stuff to trash about, say, country singers . . . if I searched in the most shallow depths of my mind, sure, I could probably get carried away too. But I try not to let such sorry thoughts get the better of me, although I am fully aware of them, thus recognizing the stupidity of the thoughts and not dwelling, mesmerizing, and obsessing over them like Limbaugh seems to do. I discard such thoughts because I know they’re below petty——I don’t know what Rush thinks about?! |
| Why couldn’t Limbaugh just say the media was blowing his image out of proportion and leave it at that? Why’d he have to assassinate Cobain’s character as well? |
| Course now that I’ve had prolonged (and way painful) exposure to Limbaugh, in retrospect the attack shouldn’t have been unexpected. The fact is he’s always doing this kind of shit——always crucifying people’s characters just to make some insignificant point, usually about how lacking in character everyone is but himself and the fans who cheer him on. (Limbaugh’s flattering condolence on the occasion of Jerry Garcia’s death was: ‘‘When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he’s being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks.’’) |
| Yes, the media blew Cobain’s image way out of proportion; and no, Nirvana didn’t break the mold either. But why can’t I be allowed to personally appreciate something without me or that thing being attacked by self-righteous morality police? |
| To answer my own question of why Limbaugh did this, it’s clear his motivation went well beyond simple annoyance of all the attention Kurt’s suicide received. For starters, Limbaugh isn’t able to look past the circumstances surrounding someone’s death and observe the content of their life, and even were he able to do so he’d probably still judge Cobain’s (or Garcia’s) life by his mostly superficial standards. |
| Secondly, though, is the fact that Limbaugh believes kids who listen to Nirvana and music of the like have given up on America and the American dream. He said at the end of his Cobain crucifixion that our country hasn’t run out of opportunities, we’re in spiffy shape, and that the new rebellion among young people today is becoming conservative (a good laugh). |
| Having been submersed in the media coverage surrounding Cobain’s suicide, the most common theme I found was this exhausted portrayal of today’s youth as a bunch of sardonic slackers with no ambition to do anything with their useless lives. And of Kurt Cobain being called an ‘‘angry young man’’ (the media obviously has a difficult time distinguishing passion from anger——not that I’m any expert on the subject myself, but, still . . .). |
| However, I’ll most happily grant that much of today’s youth is pretty lost and just way out there somewhere. But this has nada to do with Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, or ‘‘grunge.’’ Certain not-to-be-named people in the media (which is just my slick way of saying I couldn’t remember who they were even if I wanted to) made it sound as though this attitude of the crowd most often associated with youth-orientated grunge/punk/hard-rock was just part of the fad——a fad that Nirvana helped to create, no less! |
| The fucking media, I swear. Talk about condescending! |
| To suggest, as some of these post-Cobain-suicide articles have, that Nirvana and such new bands helped to create this ‘‘grunge’’ sensation of teen angst is to be ignorant of history, of what it’s like being a teenager period (especially in this day and age). ‘‘Grunge’’ was created around bands like Nirvana by the pop-culture media that’s always looking for a new fad to exploit and cash in on. Teenage angst has always been and always will; the rages of youth have nothing to do with Nirvana or ‘‘grunge’’——these things simply helped magnify it for those who’d never have noticed or cared otherwise. |
| To begin with, Limbaugh and other critics who have such a painfully difficult time understanding these youths must realize that their cynicism isn’t economic so much as it is cultural. Sure, the chance to excel and become financially successful still exists for today’s youth, but what kind of country do they want to live in in the meantime? |
| What choice do they have? |
| Our society isn’t measured by the strength of its economy by those of us (particularly the young) who haven’t yet been numbed into these monetary-worshipping robots enough to blindly ignore the fuckedupness of our society, of our world. This isn’t to deny the importance of the economy to any society, but ultimately the economy is secondary in significance to the culture of the society it supports. It is not the society, however, and a country can have a strong economy (like ours) and still be perfectly screwed. |
| Today’s society is so radically different than it’s ever been, than it was not twenty years ago! AIDS can kill you just by having sex, inner city gang violence has spread out like a cancer to all regions of our nation, and the gangsta image has become a popular trend everywhere. The crime rate may be fairly steady, but homicide among 10 to 17 year olds has jumped upwards of 100% in the past decade. Violence is out of control; hostility and paranoia rule the streets in parts of the country. Fear is palpable. Our government’s a corrupt, bureaucratic mess that most of the time seems beyond comprehension. The world is at its most vulnerable ever, what with nuclear power, environmental abuse, and the ominous threat of WW3. |
| And whereas the norm heretofore has always been ‘‘authority figures’’ telling our society to think like this, act like that, believe in this (or else), our youth has finally begun to ask, ‘‘Or else what?’’ Today’s kids have grown up in a society so screwed-up and frightening that many have begun to think for themselves, to question everything, to seek their own answers and own truths. |
| The very idea of true individuality, though said to have been the passion of this country’s founders, is not readily accepted or even understood. Our society still very-much-so encourages conformity, as has been the case of pretty much all known civilizations. Conformity through ideology——and mythology——based on written documents, words that are supposed to shape our souls, our conscious, our emotions and feelings; guide our actions, dictate our lives. |
| So when I hear the media droning about the emergence of a strong subculture that has become disenchanted with our society, I have to tell you the honest truth: this strikes me as absolutely wonderful! Now this truly gives me hope. Why does the mainstream assume that being ‘‘disillusioned’’ with society is a bad thing, anyway? I mean, think about the word for a moment. I’d think being able to see through an illusion would be a good thing. ‘‘Illusionment’’ is the bad thing, that which most in our society and world suffer from. (But of course wouldn’t you know it, there’s no such word as ‘‘illusionment’’——then how’d they come up with ‘‘disillusionment’’?!) |
| It’s the society and its largest and most powerful institutions that harbor such illusions, that encourages everyone to adhere to such. Why? To insure security and stability, for it is generally perceived that people are not ready to accept reality——such as the reality of the individual power, control and responsibility each of us possess over our own lives, our own thoughts and actions. |
| Yes, much of our youth is pretty directionless, and no, this does not automatically mean that they are going to find their own will or realize their own individuality; this does not promise a better future simply by virtue of their disenchantment. Truth is still something they must realize on their own, as does everyone, but freeing your mind from the shackles of too many ignorantly preconceived false ideas, ideologies and mythologies of life in the universe, is as good a beginning place toward this as anything. |
| Freeing your mind and opening yourself up to the possibility of personal truth. |
| Considering it in relative perspective to the rest of humankind’s history, I think that right now we have the best possible chance we’ve ever had for genuinely positive change. On the same token, we have the greatest possible chance ever of totally fucking ourselves, our society, and our planet up to all hell. |
| Enjoy the ride. |
| Over these past——and last——few tumultuous years of my latter teens, I’ve listened almost exclusively to classical music and classic rock. But in my early teens (decades ago, it seems) I listened to and loved with a passion punk. |
| For myself, at least, it began with the Sex Pistols, then on to such great and memorable bands as Minor Threat, The Adolescents, The Descendants, Suicidal Tendencies, what else?——a few other bands. Punk rock——to me——was this rejection of conformity and authority and everything mundane. The music was there to express all the fucked-up, conflicting things I was feeling, to scream it all out for me, to act as some sort of catharsis and give me some kind of voice. |
| And Nirvana’s like what the potential for much of the punk I listened to could’ve been, come true, and it’s fucking beautiful! (For some reason the word ‘‘grunge’’ grates on me as though I were a hunk o’ cheese, and I refuse to use it except in condescension.) |
| I’ve never possessed any musical talent of my own, yet for as long as memory serves I’ve yearned for the ability to create such sweet sounds. |
| Christ man, I wish I could sing like that; I wish I could write and create and play music like that. I have a weak singing voice to begin with, yet I can sing along with a few bands and Elvis Presley’s easy to exaggerate. But I can’t even come close to what Cobain could do with his voice. It was a raw and blistering thing——not refined or polished, yet no less spectacular in its modest range and intoxicating intensity. It wasn’t what he had so much as how he used it; he sang much like his music sounded, almost always teetering on, playing with, or otherwise stretching the limits of the straining level. |
| And his lyrics were so, I don’t know, I hate to even dare risk sounding pretentious——too late——but they were almost kinda profound at times (or perhaps really, really neat is better descriptive). They didn’t always make perfect sense, and, no Rush, you can’t always understand what he’s singing, but so what? Music is emotional; it doesn’t have to tell a story or have a moral for sound’s sake! |
| All I know is that, at the time, the music he and his band created was more passionate and inspiring than anything I’d heard in a long time. |
| Then he done went and killed himself. |
| And I didn’t even know the fucking guy and yet still I felt genuinely bad when I learned of his death, for selfish reasons no less: ’cause I liked his music. Yet in a way it was more than that——there was just something there, in him and in his music, that I felt a strange almost-kinship to. |
| It’s peculiar that I’d be haunted by thoughts of someone I never even met. Perhaps because I’d only just started listening to Nirvana a few weeks before his death. Or because I was feeling especially estranged at the time and wanted someone to identify with. For whatever reason, the thought of all that might have been had he lived on gnawed away at me for a good time after his death. He was just 27 and in his prime. Full of possibilities. There one second, then the next just . . . gone. Like a glorious flame burning bright with illumination suddenly snuffed out by an unseen gust——just phssst! And all that’s left is the music, simultaneously beautiful and, for a time, haunting of all that might have but was never to be. |