The Romanticization of Kurt Cobain: A Rant

by: Nikki Lomax

   If I read one more line describing Kurt Cobain as “a troubled soul too sensitive for this world”, I might throw up. Nearly twenty years after Cobain’s death and he’s still being reduced to a ‘depressed rocker’ and having his mental illness and drug addiction glamorized.

Not that this applies only to Kurt. If you’re a famous musician who’s done heroin, chances are someone somewhere had warped your drug use to make it look cool. However, it seems one cannot read a single piece about Nirvana’s frontman without the words ‘sensitive, ‘damaged’, ‘apathetic’ and other such adjectives bombarding you. These articles are almost always written in a way that makes Cobain’s depression seem like a necessity for any songwriter or artist, and his heroin use a glamorous antidote to the pain of superstardom, or whatever.

Not only is this romanticization irritating, it is incredibly one dimensional. Kurt was not just a suicidal rockstar. He was a father, a husband, a friend, all which seem to get pushed aside in favor of needles and heroin binges. Kurt’s widow, Courtney Love, as well as his former bandmates Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear have all elucidated endlessly about how Kurt was funny, sweet and caring. He wasn’t always walking around with a black cloud over his head, yet this gets ignored.

For once I’d like to read an article where the author bothered to find out about Kurt’s good qualities, instead of rehashing the subject of his demons. It would be wonderful if the word ‘sensitive’ were omitted as well. Seeing artistic people be constantly made out to seem as if they were cracking under the pressure of the world is so cliché. Living with mental illness demands fortitude and those who battle such demons are far from weak.

I’d like to see more of a celebration of Nirvana’s music and Kurt’s talent and less talk about the dark side of his personality. It’s boring. Nirvana were an amazing band who changed musical history, and their frontman deserves more respect. He deserves more than being (to paraphrase Courtney Love) “the patron saint of beautiful losers and heroin.”