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[wickedflea]

Gah, what am I doing still up? Oh yeah, I'm eating because I realized just before I crawled into bed that I was hungry as hell b/c I hadn't eaten today.

I just ran across a picture of Kurt Cobain with his brith and death dates and it got me to thinking. I was never the biggest Nirvana fan. I thought they were OK but resented their success when there were lots of bands who I thought were better. But when I heard about his suicide (or perhaps, depending on who you ask, murder), it hit me pretty hard. Just before that was when I first started getting REALLY depressed, and when I heard about Cobain it scared the shit out of me. I dunno, here was this guy who was just like an open wound--a very public open wound, and basically we watched him kill himself. And I just thought, holy SHIT. Here's this guy with seemingly everything--talent, money, a beautiful young daughter--and nobody could help him. Sad case. Courtney said she wished she'd just let him have his drugs, and it does make ya wonder. I mean, of course heroin is an evil, destructive drug, but . . . Shit, I dunno.

Anyway, I was in a Taco Bell when I heard that news come over the radio. Do you remember where you were when you heard? Regardless of whether you gave a shit. I have always thought about how my generation doesn't have many of that kind of moment, like Kennedy getting shot or Nixon resigning or the first moon landing or whatever: events that you remember where you were when you heard about them. The Challenger disaster, I guess. I was in ninth-grade French class for that. And now 9/11, of course--obviously that's a huge one. I don't mean to compare Cobain's death to 9/11 in any way; I just vividly remember hearing about it.

Fuck, I said I was going to bed an hour ago. But I am now, I promise. :)

Comments

[enfuego.livejournal.com]

I was sitting in the meat-market at school when I found out about Cobain's death. Oddly enough, I was sitting in the meat-market again when I heard about John Candy's death. I think that means I better not ever go back to the meat-market.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Damn, I guess not! What were ya doin' in the meat market anyway, lookin' for some meat?!?

[enfuego.livejournal.com]

Somethin' like that.

It's where everyone would hang out and eat and study and play games and scope people out--so the school called it the meet-market. We, the students, knew full well it was a meat-market.

[ex-sia857.livejournal.com]

Cobain: lying on my couch watching MTV. Just sort of, like, 'what?' I remember Kurt Loder giving the news and I didn't believe it at first. The phone started ringing off the hook after that.

(It was years later before I actually appreciated Nirvana; at the time, I wasn't a huge fan. The way you describe your feelings about it pretty much mirror mine.)

Challenger: 6th grade... English? No, Social Studies. First period, I think, but I could be wrong. A friend of mine started sobbing in a very overdone, obnoxious sort of way, and it annoyed me. She was wailing as though it had happened to her. "My mother's a teacher; it could've been my MOTHER!" Well, no, not really, Stacey. Shut up. I can't explain it very well, but trust me, it was obnoxious.

9/11: I didn't hear about it till I got to work; everyone [at least those who arrive that early] was in the conference room, huddled around the TV. I went to my office and already had ten messages about it. Our boss sent us home at 8:30 that morning. (Pacific Time)

So there. I'm clearly bored; sorry for rambling in your journal.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

No, I like rambling! See, look:

Right, in recent years I've come to appreciate Nirvana more. But I still think Mudhoney slayed them, and it still bugs me that people think "Lake of Fire" is a Nirvana original.

What I remember most about the Challenger thing is that almost no one in my class showed much outward reaction. In fact, I particularly remember that Sam W. was the only one to say anything! Weird. I don't think the rest of us didn't care, but I guess it took us a while to process. Like, what does this mean? I probably didn't even know there was a mission. Or, wait, I guess I did because of the teacher. But anyway.

9/11 was just fucked up the way I heard about it. I woke up around noon central time because I'd been up late packing for my move to CT. And while I was still in bed, I grabbed my laptop and opened my email and LJ. In my email were messages from friends in New York who were watching it happen--I remember someone saying "the second tower just came down." And on a music-related list people were posting "NUKE THE FUCKING RAGHEADS." And on LJ people were basically just saying "Oh my God." So in my grogginess it took me a few minutes to say, "WHAT?!?" and check cnn.com. Gah.

[jra1279.livejournal.com]

I was in 8th grade and alienated so I loved Nirvana! i remember coming home and my friend calling me and telling me about it. i wrote a series of short stories about it, in fact. it was a huge event in my life at that point.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can imagine that it must have been tough at that point--to identify with someone largely because of his own alienation and then have that happen.

[4hour-ramona.livejournal.com]

i was working at a vintage clothing store and the radio guy kept coming on and saying "a body was found in the house of kurt cobain..." and people kept asking me what happened and i was all "cobain probably shot himself. i dunno, maybe i'll call the house and ask since retail clerks know everything."

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Haha! It wasn't the retail thing, just the fact that they recognized you as a chick who knows what's going on. :)

[goatsupreme.livejournal.com]

I was skipping classes and hanging out at home watching TV when I heard about Kurt. I was a huge Nirvana fan and I couldn't believe it happened. That summer, I moved out west and went on a road trip just to drive by his house.

As for 9/11 - call me a bastard, but it really wasn't that big of a deal. A lot of worse shit has happened and I think the biggest tragedy is that the American government hasn't learned a thing from it. It should have been a big wakeup call to their garish behaviours, but instead it's just fueled more ridiculousness. When I heard about that I was driving home from school - all excited because I had no more classes that day and I was going to drive to Buffalo for some last minute back to school shopping, I was hella pissed my plans were ruined.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's hard for me to understand not being affected more by 9/11--but I know it really hit me personally because I'd just spent the summer in NYC and fallen in love with the place. I'd figured I would move there and had just been there a month earlier. In fact I have pictures of the WTC from a boat ride on 8/11/01. And I don't really like to admit it, but I think the collapse of the actual buildings hit me harder than the loss of human life. But that's probably because I couldn't even begin to grasp the horror of all those people dying in pain. The buildings were just barely comprehensible, so that's what I latched on to.

I do agree that it's just disgusting that the U.S. hasn't learned anything from 9/11. That was one of the first things I thought: if this doesn't make us think about how we conduct ourselves, it's going to be a real shame. And here we are doing the same shit that made us so hated in the first place.

[goatsupreme.livejournal.com]

It was crazy to see those buildings come down - you think big things like that are indestructable. Totally crazy.

I was more fascinated by the air traffic reports though - after they had the no-fly thing happening for a day, according to the weather reports, the atmospheric temperature changed by like 2C, which is a huge increment. But that's just my science geekiness showing through. I'm surprised they never gave that more news, but then again, there's no way they'd stop air traffic to study this shit. I'm rambling....time for sleep...

[ex-thebellja885.livejournal.com]

The OJ thing
the bronco chase, and then the verdict....
everyone seems to know where they were for those too.
Oh, and when Princess Diana was killed.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Right, I only vaguely remember the chase. I think I watched a little and then left. But yeah, I remember the verdict. I was doing something like putting up ceiling fans in my mom's new house in Virginia. And even though I'd tried to ignore the whole thing, I felt real disgust when it came down.

[cierrablue.livejournal.com]

I was a fan of Nirvana, but I didn't find Cobains death to be particularly surprising so it didn't ring hard in my ears. I really don't remember where I was when I heard, or even how I heard. But of course we have the Challenger and 9/11. For me, it was the OJ verdict. Time stood still for me on that one. I thought it was one of the most tragic days in America's justice system.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know if I was surprised exactly, but somehow it just cut me like a knife. I remember laying on the couch later that night, watching MTV and just thinking, oh shit . . .

Me too on the OJ thing. I made a conscious effort to ignore most of the trial, but I was watching that day. I remember being chilled to the bone when I saw that "YES!" smile he gave. Ugh.

[oheunoia.livejournal.com]

a lot of weird and good and sad things happened to me on the day that we all found out kurt was dead...it's one of the weirdest days i've ever had...i mourned hard for kurt and frances (his daughter)...i still do...

heart,
Petra*

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel the same about Frances Bean. I hope she doesn't end up all fucked up, honestly I do.

[saintclaire.livejournal.com]

I was sad that Kurt died, but not majorly affected by it. My sister who was like 14 at the time, shut herself in her room and played his music for days. She was a huge fan.

I am of the believers that Courtney had a hand in his death.

9/11 - work
Challenger -work

hmmm maybe I should stay home from work..LOL