NirvanaHonor

SACKVILLE, N.B., (CUP) - "Kurt died for your sins!" yelled one of 7,000 young people gathered at the Seattle Center at a vigil for the late Kurt Cobain on the April 9, 1994.

In the early 1990s, grunge rock was the alternative to the fabricated synth-rock bands of the 1980s. Grunge was about getting back to the basics of music and being honest with the fans about where that music was coming from. The movement was a voice for teenage angst, and Nirvana was its leader.

Nirvana released their first album, Bleach on Sub Pop Records in June of 1989 and then started a month-long U.S. tour.

They immediately began making a name for themselves and by the winter of 1990 they had been signed with DGC Records. In the following September, the legendary Nevermind was released.

Quite literally taking the world by storm, Nevermind had gone gold by Oct. 12, 1991. By that November, Nirvana found themselves on a six week European tour with their single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on every radio station and on high rotation at MTV. The song became the anthem of a generation. What had once swept the nation as 'Beatlemania' had been transferred to disgruntled, lost young souls that were searching for an icon they could relate to; 'Nirvanamania' was the word of the day.

The April 1992 issue of Rolling Stone saw Nirvana on the cover. The word 'grunge' was even found in the pages of Vogue magazine. The movement had grown beyond the band's comprehension and they didn't really know what to do with it other than have fun.

On Sept. 21, 1993, In Utero was released. The new album had a decidedly more mature sound. The teenage angst was still present by the spoonful, but something was different. There was a certain darkness to the music that really wasn't there before. Some would later call the album a metaphor for suicide, with its hard peaks and soft lows and eventual soft, accepting ending. The band was maturing and becoming frustrated with the bureaucracy of the musical world.

By this time, Nirvana had become the icon for a generation and had also become worth a considerable sum of money. The 1994 Lollapalooza Tour was prepared to offer Nirvana U.S. $9.5 million to headline the show.

Kurt Cobain, the voice of the young grunge band, was having second thoughts about the money-driven music industry and began to resent his part in it. He began suffering stomach pains that would plague him for the rest of his short life. His known drug addictions drove him to distraction on several occasions and his wife, Courtney Love, was putting pressure on him to continue making music and making money.

On April 1, 1994, Kurt Cobain left a drug rehab center in Marina del Rey, CA. On the morning of April 8, 1994, he was found dead by an apparently inflicted shotgun wound to the head, I believe he was murdered in cold blood, may God make whoever pulled the trigger suffer the pain of all us fans, pay endeed.