nirvana was and still is an inspiration to many. i was about 15 when i first heard smells like teen spirit for the first time. previous to this i was following in the footsteps of all the metal heads and headbangers in school. tight acid washed jeans, matching jean jacket with metallica, ac/dc, iron maiden patches,zepplin shirt, aviator sunglasses bandanna, and who could forget the overgrown mullet with a bleached blonde tail. trying to tackle through learning guitar runs from the likes of kirk hammett, marty friedman,malmsteen,from slayer, to skid row, and feeling like i was never going to be able to grasp the ability to play guitar because i couldn't see how these guys could play that shit that fast. then i heard nirvana for the first time.i was instantly attracted to it. it was different from the same old shit that was at this point over saturated with nothing that hadn't already been done a million times before. by the end of the 80's and into the 90's the whole point of being a metal band had lost its identity and had become almost in a way a joke. bands like poison,warrent and even skid row to some degree were taking metal to an all new low. and probably helped contribute in a way to the rise of the grunge era with nirvana leading the way and kurt wearing the crown. it changed my life i guess you could say. from that point on i was hooked. i not only loved what i heard, i could also play what i liked. it was this connection that i'm sure got millions of others hooked as well. the fact that metal was a dying breed, the fact that i was at the right age to be looking for an influence to call my own, the fact that you didn't need a degree in music to be able to play what you liked, the fact that his lyrics were not about driving around on a harley or in a hot rod looking to pick up big titty sluts and getting fuct on drugs. in moderation these things make catchy tunes(nickelback does this well i think.), but when the whole of the music industry are all singing basically the same song over and over again, one can only take it so long. kurt changed the view of music, he changed the way people expressed themselves, he changed the way people dressed. none of these things he wanted to really happen. he just wanted to play his music and to be able to connect to the people he was playing it to. he never wanted to play the arena rock concerts, he was happiest when he played the small clubs.some how it spiralled to what it ended up. the reason kurt and axl didn't see eye to eye was kurt didn't believe in the whole movement in music that axl was involved with. the whole hugeness of being a "rockstar" and mingling with the rich and famous, dating super models just because. he looked at it as being fake. it all boiled down to a show that nirvana was playing and axl and his super model girfriend at the time crossed paths behind the stage. courtney yelled to axl to see if he was interested in being frances beans god father. axl took it as a sly gesture and looked at kurt and said "tell your bitch to shut the fuck up." and kurt turned to courtney and said "shut the fuck up bitch." the supermodel tried to calm the situation down by asking courtney if she was a model because she thought she was beautiful. courtney being courtney turned to her and said no are you a brain surgeon?this among many other stories and reasons is why nirvana is a great band to listen to and to talk about.
