Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

Kurt Cobain: The White Man’s Tupac

Tags: Kurt Cobain, Death, Idols

Please, someone enlighten me, because I just don’t get it. Am I too young? Was I too young? Perhaps, but for the life of me, I can’t see why so many people obsess over and idolize Kurt Cobain. Nirvana’s music was catchy, but it was just a bunch of power chords and mumbled lyrics (the original Mumblecore, I suppose). Yet for some reason I see people cutting out of magazines pictures of this idiot feeding a cat. “My goodness, how profound! Look, he wears plaid and Converses! He’s just like me!” No, he’s not, and he probably wasn’t what he claimed to be, either.

Look, you can like the dude if you want; heck, I think the original Power Rangers show is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen. We all have our taste. So you related to Cobain somehow; I relate to my brother, but I don’t call the man a “genius” (sorry, bro). So don’t shove Cobain down my throat, calling him an artist, and calling me an idiot for not “getting it.”

Remember after Tupac died? The man became a god to all those who loved his words and his “thug life.” Then albums started being released posthumously…and they kept coming…. And then movies…and more movies. Was this dude really dead or are people just obsessed with the man?

Kurt Cobain’s been dead since 1994 (on that dark, dark April day…), yet people are still infatuated with him, and more annoyingly, they’re still making movies about him, or films that take place in the wake of his death. Now, I will say, I loved Gus Van Sant’s Last Days; it was quiet, pontificating, and haunting. But please, please, stop with the likes of Kurt & Courtney, Thank You, Good Night, Mainly Etc., Love/Death/Cobain, and much more recently, Kurt Cobain: About a Son.

Oooo, insight! Kurt Cobain was a son? He had a life? Must-see! My goodness, Nirvana had influences?! Amazing, that Cobain actually liked Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and KISS! And where did his inspiration come from?

I’m pissed off about everything in general and so all these songs are pretty much about my battle with things that piss me off.

The brilliance! Oh, and what a tortured, unique soul he was…. Suffering from poverty and ADD! Never in my life…! Oh, and to hear all this coming from Kurt’s voice…dear, dear, what sweet ecstasy. But most of all, this film tells me that Kurt was a man, just like me. I never knew how vulnerable he was, with all his success, fame, fortune, and drugs!

Look, I don’t care if he killed himself or if someone else did it for him. I don’t care about his views on the “youth of America” and I don’t care that his jeans had holes in them. His music was catchy—just like Christina Aguilera, the Backstreet Boys, and Ricky Martin. Stop making movies about this dude, or at least stop—no, just stop making them. Kurt Cobain wasn’t that unique, you want to know why? Because everyone’s got troubles.

Just ask Tupac.

Sorry about this rant. Also, that quote was taken from someone’s IMDB review of About a Son. Whether or not it’s entirely accurate, I don’t really care.