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Cobain lives on in memory ten years after death

Ten years after his death, the memory of the legendary leader of the group Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, remains alive, fed by tragic revelations about his life and scandals involving his widow, singer Courtney Love.

On April 5, 1994, Cobain shot himself in head in his residence in Seattle, Washington, a few kilometers away from Aberdeen, where he was born.

Twenty-seven years of Cobain’s dramatic life were marked by the birth of his daughter, Frances Bean, and the success of the album “Nevermind,” that has sold more than 14 million copies since its 1991 release.

With his long blond hair and shifting eyes, Cobain left this world but gave birth to a new legend in music.

Nirvana is seen by experts as a group that changed the history of rock music in the 1990s, much like singer Elvis Presley did in the 1950s, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 1960s and the Sex Pistols in the 1970s.

“I go into privacy mode this time of year. It’s something I don’t like to think about, much less talk about,” bass player Krist Novoselic told AFP. Many rock fanatics will celebrate this Monday like every year the legacy left by the singer, who is considered creator of the style “grunge.” The preferred scene for such memorial events is Viretta Park in Seattle where fans sing Cobain’s songs, bring flowers and light candles in his memory.

“I try to come here every month,” says Jennifer DeSilva, who lives in Seattle but hails from Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen. “It’s just so sad.” The park is located outside the mansion where Cobain lived with his wife and their daughter, who is now 11 years old.

It was also here that he took his life, but it was not until April 8 that his body was found in the garage. “I remember perfectly that day,” said Geoff Mayfield, editor of Billboard magazine. “Under the circumstances of his death, his youth, he was at the height of his career ... I knew a leyend was being born. These artists that die so young are frozen. Most artists live well until older ages.”

His songs “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Lithium”, “Come As You Are” and “The Man Who Sold the World” are constantly being played on radio around the world.

The magazine Rolling Stones dedicated pages to Cobain and declared him one of 20 legendary figures in the history of music. MTV television said that to this day nobody can compare to the creator of “grunge.” —AFP

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