Nirvana
With The Lights Out?

Nirvana have always been seen by a massive crowd as the "inventors of grunge", "one of the most influential bands of the early '90s", "symbol of a generation", "an emblem of a movement against the system"... Kurt Cobain has almost turned into an "misunderstood angel fallen from the sky", whom our unfair world rejected because it’s too filthy for such a noble and high entity...

Well... Let’s try to analyze this. Kurt Cobain: Who was he? Basically, a drug addict. Someone who lives for MTV and commits suicide for "the system". A poor guitarist, decent singer, and songwriter. The music: How was it? Not particularly innovative. There were already several bands doing the same music for years, even on the same Seattle scene. Catchy, angry, dirty. Full of little gems like "the click of the amplifier when it’s turned on". Nothing special, I think. If he didn't invent it, he surely made grunge known; after Nirvana, music practically died. Well, what did he influence, then?

With The Lights Out: one of the many money-grabbing operations by record companies to try and keep iron hot for over 10 years. To feed a "convenient" myth. Unreleased tracks, covers, pieces they probably didn’t even know they recorded, and more... There are still those who refuse to listen to "Povia" or whatever commercial song or album because they only see the desire to make money behind it and not "human warmth" and dare to consider this CD excellent?

The audience? Who knows how many have already said this, but it always needs to be reiterated: the biggest commercial operation ever carried out by Nirvana was undoubtedly the death of their frontman. Nirvana is reduced to fashion, Cobain defined as a "cursed poet" for saying things like "Polly wants a cracker", for using the keys of his Fender at random. Well, try to compare him with De André, let's see if you still consider him a "poet", I say. His audience is mostly a bunch of kids writing in their diaries "KURT LIVES"...

Kurt is dead, and thank heavens for it. Otherwise, you couldn’t keep filling your diary.