Where were you in '94?

15 years ago this week, Kurt Cobain took his own life, and in so doing, ended the first, more innocent phase of alternative rock (think about it: things got a lot more corporate after '94). Idolator has a nice piece asking people where they were when they heard about Cobain's death. Among the commenters weighing in: ex-Lemonheads guitarist John Strohm.

I was a sophomore, going to high school in suburban DFW. A reporter from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram came up to get reactions from teenagers at school, but in that pre-Internet, pre-cell phone age, she ended up breaking the news to everyone. Word spread pretty quick after that. A buddy of mine had just gotten his license, and after school, we just drove around in his beat-up Mercury Cougar, listening to KDGE play the more somber Nirvana deep cuts ("Pennyroyal Tea," "Something in the Way," etc.) while we wound our way around the cul-de-sacs.

Where were you in April '94?
Here's the actual Kurt Loder newsbreak on MTV announcing the death:


Here's "Pennyroyal Tea," live from Toronto (bad video, but pretty good audio)

Weirdness in the House of Love

Which Kurt Cobain-related story is weirder: the German performance artist who allegedly plans to smoke Cobain's ashes, or his daughter's suicide-themed Sweet 16?

Courtney Love, meanwhile, who may or may not have had gastric band weight-loss surgery, has been listening to Elastica, Drugstore, and the new REM recently. Will any of these influences show up on the long-in-production second solo album? No idea. Will anybody actually care about the album given the complete tabloid craziness that appears to have taken over the Love/Cobain household? That's a better question.