N*I*R*V*A*N*A

Rock bands come and rock bands go, but none has ever come so quickly or gone so tragically as Nirvana.  The music of Nirvana reflects the troubled life of Kurt Cobain.  It is a story of a troubled youth, chronic illness, addiction, depression, and a difficulty coping with the pressure of unwanted fame.  I think Kurt would be surprised to see how many fans are still passionate about Nirvana 6 years after the bands demise.  Those of us who 'knew not what it meant' back in the day are some of his biggest fans in the year 2000.

There is no question that as Nirvana fans, many of us find it easy to identify with Kurt, or at least with the person that we imagine he was.  It isn't the legendary rocker that we can identify with, it is the person that we see portrayed by the lyrics to Dumb, Sliver, All Apologies and countless other Nirvana songs.  I think that if there is one message that we take from Kurt's life it should be that if we use rock and roll and addiction to cover up our pain they will only put off and exaggerate what it is that we want to hide.  For Kurt that pain was depression and a chronic stomach illness.  We must not let ourselves or others make the same mistakes that Kurt did.Instead we should celebrate simplistic beauty and power of Nirvana’s timeless music.

---Drew