Scribbled across one of
his many notebooks, Kurt Cobain had started a list of possible band names. “Poo-Poo Box”, “Whisker Biscuit”, “Skid Row”
and “Fecal Matter” were all available options for Cobain’s newly formed grunge
rock band. Twenty-five years removed from the discussion of what to call
themselves, Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl would go on to sell over 10
millions records under the name, Nirvana, and be heralded as pioneers and legends
in the rock and roll community.
Questions about whether the band would have succeeded had they kept the
name “Fecal Matter”, or instead gone with “Poo-Poo Box”, still are asked by
fans today. However, while the band name
“Nirvana” is far more marketable than the other considered options, the
realities of Nirvana’s success lies in the band’s musical ingenuity and their
unique relationship to their fans. What
makes Nirvana so prolific in American music history is their affiliation with
Generation X, a generation of youth born from 1960 to 1980, and their place in
history as the Generation’s flagship band.
Nirvana would go on to define the newly emerging grunge music scene and
popularize the genre internationally, but the special relationship between a
band and a whole generation lies within a deeper understanding of both
Generation X and Nirvana. To understand
Nirvana’s importance to Generation X, one must truly understand Generation X. To understand Generation X’s importance to
Nirvana, one must truly understand Nirvana. The focus on this essay is not to
provide information on one of these two topics, but rather aims to display the
important relationship between the two. It
is a cycling relationship, but when the realities of both Generation X and
Nirvana are exposed, a greater understanding of the significance of Nirvana in the
narrative of American history can be achieved.
Generation X is the term used to describe the generation
of people born from 1960-1980 and is considered to be the generation that followed
the post-World War II Baby Boomer Generation.
The very terming of a Generation X marks a symbolic change in America’s
youth as it clear that those born in the early 60’s are markedly different than
members of the Baby Boomer Generation, which is comprised of people born in the
early 1950’s. However, the historical
context of the 50’s versus the 60’s allows for glaring differences in both the
cultural perspectives and political experiences of America’s youth. Youth of Generation X grew up in the light of
the Watergate Scandal, the end of the Cold War, and during the transition from
the tribulations of Black Monday to the fruitfulness of the 1990’s Economic
Boom. However, political and economic
events were not the only formative events to occur for X’ers. Social trends
including the increase of divorced parents, bullies in school and teen drug use
also played a role in shaping Generation X.
In a collection of essays on Generation X, Professor Christine Henseler
summarized the generation as, “a generation whose worldview is based on change,
on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in
search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love,
tolerance and human rights for all”.[1] Clearly, Generation X was different than its
preceding Baby Boomer Generation and the differences created a blatant
disconnect between the two generations.
What was once normal, popular and appropriate for the Baby Boomer Generation
would simply not be the same for the newly emerging Generation X. It would be this generation that would claim
Nirvana as a flagship for the generation and it is the very same X’ers who
would dub Kurt Cobain their spokesperson.
There are two key features about Generation X that serve
as testaments to the generation’s infatuation with grunge music and, more
specifically, Nirvana. Generation X experienced
struggles with both the increased divorce rate and the changing views on trust
and loyalty in American society. Divorce
rates had soared to nearly 50% in the mid-70s and all the kids of broken homes
were now becoming adults.[2] According to CEO and author, Bob Losyk,
“About 40% of X’ers are products of divorce, and many were brought up in
single-parent homes. The emotional
upheaval and conflict this caused helped shape their view of the family and the
world. It seems to have sent out a
negative message to X’ers about their value and worth”.[3] The broken homes created a generation of youth
whose feelings of alienation and exclusion carried with X’ers from their homes
to their everyday life. Here, the youth
of a generation who are suffering from loneliness in the household are
suffering from loneliness in school and social settings as well. Compared to the Baby Boom generation, X’ers were
not being raised in the idealistic Levittown suburbs that had been built after
World War II near the nation’s largest cities.
Instead, their suburban homes were now broken and the image of the
perfect home (i.e. white picket fence, green lawn and modern kitchen amenities)
was broken as well.
The second significant struggle for Generation X was the
pervasive question of who could be trusted.
Relating back to Generation X’s formative political experiences, John F.
Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, two widely adored political leaders, had both been
assassinated and the Watergate Scandal was not far off in the future for the
newly bourgeoning generation. While
these events were in the 60’s, there is an important shared cultural memory
that Generation X has rejected. X’ers
did not look to romanticize the political experiences of their previous
generations for its tragedies or its heroism.
Instead, according to New York Times columnist Carl Wilson, “It was that, being in
our teens and 20s in the early 1990s, we had grown up in the penumbra of the
great eclipsing nostalgia of the baby boomers, with their 1950s “Happy Days”;
their 1960s (the Greatest Decade Ever Told); and their serial losses of
innocence, via the Kennedys’ assassinations, Vietnam, Watergate, etc. — a
record of revirginization to rival any evangelical chastity-pledge campaign.”[4] Wilson points to the teens and young adults
of Generation X as individuals who are disinterested with the preceding
generations romanticized and nostalgic view on the past. Instead, X’ers focus
on the glaring problems that manifested from political scandals and traumatic
assassinations. Hence, a fear of who could actually be
trusted and who deserved Americans’ loyalty was emerging in society. These fears are realized in X’ers tendency to
doubt “the man”, an emotion and habit that created less loyalty and less
commitment from X’ers to their society, to their government and to the growing
consumer culture. Generation X began
their growing distaste for those who appeared to try to present them with an
apparent truth and second-guessed these outlets with both rejection and
rebellion. For example, Generation X’ers
would likely question the realistic motives of Frank Capra’s This Is Why We Fight films, which
seemingly rallied a nation to war through what was termed, “democratic
propaganda”. X’ers were no more keen
than their preceding generations, however; these formative political events
produced a fear for this generation that would manifest itself in a declining
amount of loyalty and commitment to features of American society. Bob Losyk described this phenomena writing,
“X’ers hate anything that is hype and smacks of phoniness. If it’s too perfect, it can’t be
trusted. It must be hip, but not fake”.[5] X’ers would apply this search for something
“real” and “authentic” to the production and consumption of the generation’s
first original music genre, grunge.
Grunge music was the first authentic Generation X
produced and consumed music genre, which made it easy to trust. X’ers did not feel the declining level of
loyalty and commitment that had grown from their cultural perspectives and
political experiences because grunge was authentically theirs. Grunge music, as
a musical genre, can best be described as a dark and intense sound that is
inspired largely by 1970’s heavy metal and another musical genre, punk
rock. Grunge is also defined by the
attention the lyrics and song’s themes paid to alienation and self-loathing. Fittingly, the genre struck a chord with
Generation X because the lyrics and themes of grunge applied to their own
lives. X’ers could not only identify
with grunge because it was authentic and their own, but because the music
created a sense of empathy for listening X’ers.
The generation who battled bullies in school and the pain of divorce at
home could easily identify with lyrics about feelings of loneliness and the
struggles of broken homes. In 1992, New
York Times’ writer, Rick Marin, wrote, “This generation of greasy Caucasian
youths in ripped jeans, untucked flannel and stomping boots spent their
formative years watching television, inhaling beer or pot, listening to old
Black Sabbath albums and dreaming of the day they would trade in their air
guitars for the real thing, so that they, too, could become famous
rock-and-roll heroes”.[6]
When grunge music began to reach X’ers across the United States, a generation
had finally found an outlet by which their differences had been recognized and
their struggles had been acknowledged.
However, when Nirvana reached even more members of Generation X, grunge
would rise from the music genre of X’ers to the defining cultural image of the entire
Generation.
Nirvana was started in a small West coast town that is as
fittingly exemplary of the struggles of Generation X as the sounds and lyrics grunge
music. Aberdeen, Washington was a small
logging town that was faced with pervasive unemployment and a perpetually
rainy, gray climate.[7] The town
was the birthplace of both Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic and would serve as the
setting for Nirvana’s formative years. Classmates at Aberdeen High School,
Cobain would eventually identify with Novoselic and, after three years of
Cobain continually courting Novoselic to start a band with him, Novoselic
agreed to start a band with Cobain.
Cobain and Novoselic struggled with naming their band as much as they
struggled with finding a fitting drummer to compliment the two musicians. However, the band settled on naming
themselves Nirvana and, by December of 1988, the band began to record their
first project, Bleach. On a $600 budget, Bleach, was Nirvana’s first studio album and it led to the earliest
moments of success for Nirvana. The
album sold reasonably well and garnered the attention of college radio
stations, but the success of the band would not be truly realized until the
band finally found its official drummer.
Another West coast band, Scream, had recently disbanded leaving their
drummer, Dave Grohl, unemployed. Grohl was
introduced to Cobain and Novoselic and the two immediately recognized that
Grohl’s place was with Nirvana. With
Grohl providing Nirvana’s drums and percussion, the band finally had the key
piece it needed to reach the next echelon of grunge music.
In 1991, almost exactly one year after Grohl joined
Nirvana, the band released its second studio album, Nevermind. The album’s
release marked the band’s first truly significant national attention because of
the success of the album’s single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Nevermind
was hugely successful commercially and established not just grunge, but also
the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general.[8] “Smells Like Teen Spirit” became an anthem of
the grunge genre and was being played in the homes of X’ers as often as it was
being played on MTV. The success,
however, introduced a unique problem that was termed by audio engineer Butch
Vig as the “Alt-Rock Dilemma”. The
dilemma stated that the more popular the music became, the more it risked
losing its independence and integrity.
This dilemma was the most problematic for Cobain who struggled with
combining the fury of grunge music with a level of commercial appeal. Generation X’ers hated the way “hype” created
phoniness and fakeness in society, particularly in the country’s consumer
culture. X’ers themselves, Cobain and Nirvana struggled to find that balance
where the music held its authenticity, but still sold album units and concert
tickets. Nevermind was able to seemingly strike that chord and reach that
balance. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and
songs like “In Bloom”, “Come As You Are”, and “On A Plain” offered X’ers the
very acknowledgement that grunge music sought to provide them. Frank Rich, writing about Nevermind in a New York Times article, wrote,
“The sound that comes from his [Cobain] voice and from his shrieking, feedback
choked guitar is the piercingly authentic cry of a child in torment—if not that
of our own children, then maybe that of the children we once were, fleeing from
warring or abusive parents, playground bullies, forces we couldn’t yet understand”.[9] Cobain and Nirvana had reached a generation,
more specifically, a generation that struggled with alienation and
self-loathing. The music of Nirvana,
their sound and Cobain’s lyrics, identified with Generation X and relieved
X’ers of their everyday struggles.
After Nevermind,
Nirvana would continue to release new music and tour across the globe. The band
would ultimately be heralded as one of music’s greatest and most important bands
ever. Additionally, Nirvana would be
revered for their ability to reach Generation X and their ability to represent
the generation so largely so that they were named the flagship band of
Generation X. However, in order to
appropriately understand just how much a of role Nirvana played in Generation
X, it is important to focus on how much of a role Generation X played in
Nirvana. While the band belonged to
grunge music and seemed to specifically address the struggles of Generation X,
the reason why Nirvana was able to become the face of Generation X lies in both
the formative and final years of their most prolific member, Kurt Cobain.
When
Kurt Cobain was seven years old, living in small town Aberdeen, Washington, his
parents announced they would be getting a divorce. Divorce was becoming increasingly normal in
the United States and the number of kids who were raised in divorced households
began to comprise and define Generation X.
The Generation’s struggle with broken homes created the feelings of loneliness
and isolationism that was prevalent amongst X’ers. For Cobain, he was literally living the
struggle that so many other X’ers faced.
In a 1993 interview, Cobain recounted the divorce of his parents saying,
“I remember feeling ashamed, for some reason.
I was ashamed of my parents. I
couldn’t face some of my friends at school anymore, because I desperately
wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family. Mother, father. I wanted that security, so I resented my
parents”.[10] Like the other youth of Generation X whose
formative years were defined by broken homes, Cobain struggled with a
dysfunctional and, ultimately, divorced household. Cobain fit the trend that defined the lives
of so many other youths born from 1960 to 1980.
He was not alike the preceding Baby Boomer Generation because his home
was not perfect and idealized. He was
the product of a broken home, his music was the product of the emotions that
stemmed from his parent’s divorce, and he was a part of Generation X.
In
further considering the role of Generation X’s struggles in the life of Kurt
Cobain, a level of attention should also be paid to the singer and songwriter’s
later years. By the 1990’s, Cobain had
reached international success and was being dubbed the spokesperson of
Generation X. However, the distaste he
had for this title is just another signifier of Cobain’s definite membership to
Generation X. Niles Bernstein, a friend
of Cobain and his Nirvana band mates, was quoted saying, “People are treating
him [Cobain] like a god, and that pisses him off. They’re giving Kurt this elevated sense of
importance that he feels he doesn’t have or deserve. So he’s like ‘Fuck you!”[11] What Cobain struggled with in representing a
generation is the same struggle X’ers were said to face with the changing
amount of trust and loyalty toward American society. Cobain did not believe he was fit to be the
“generational spokesperson” and considered his role as such to have a megalomaniac
quality. Cobain did not want to
represent some demagogue who controlled and represented a whole generation. Rather,
he believed his message and artistic vision had been greatly misinterpreted by
the media and fans alike. Uncomfortable
and frustrated with the title, Cobain responded saying, “I’m a spokesman for
myself. It just so happens that there’s
a bunch of people that are concerned with what I have to say […] I don’t have
the answers for anything. I don’t want
to be a fucking spokesperson”.[12] To Cobain, serving as Generation X’s spokesman conflicted with one of
Generation X’s largest struggles, their changing view on trust and
loyalty. Cobain felt that naming him the
generation’s spokesperson was reducing his authenticity and creating a phony
image of who he really was. Cobain did
not see himself fit to represent Generation X because he instead was just a
piece of Generation X. In his eyes, he
could not be the spokesperson of Generation X because he did not actually
believe himself to be the spokesperson.
A spokesperson represented everyone and, to Cobain, it would be
unrealistic and fake for everyone to be represented by a kid born in Aberdeen,
Washington who played guitar and sang for one the nation’s biggest rock
groups.
For
Cobain, the struggles of Generation X were his own struggles. His broken home defined his formative years
and created the angst that spills over in his lyrics and guitar chords. His fear of losing his authenticity and
appearing “fake” as the spokesperson for Generation X drove him mad when he
finally achieved stardom. In his
earliest years and final years, Cobain was plagued by the same struggles that
defined Generation X. Hence, to get the
importance of Nirvana to Generation X and to accurately place him in the scope
of the Generation, a level of attention must be paid to the role Generation X
played for Cobain. Nirvana fit within
the needs and wants of Generation X because the band was relatable and
representative of the struggle X’ers faced.
However, Nirvana’s transcendence to Generation X, the generation that
was so different than the Baby Boomer Generation that it had to be renamed,
comes from the fact that the band’s most intrinsic and profiled member was the
ultimate X’er himself. Whether they were
named Fecal Matter or Nirvana, with Cobain at the helm, the band would have to
represent Generation X because Cobain best represented Generation X.
[1] Henseler, Christine, Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture
in Motion, (Routledge Research, 2012), 22.
[2] Azzerad, Michael, Nirvana: Inside the Heart and Mind of Kurt
Cobain, (Rolling Stone Magazine, 1992), 2.
[3] Losyk, Bob, Generation X: What they think and what
they plan to do, (Public Management, 1997), 1.
[4] Wilson, Carl, ‘My So-Called Adulthood’, (New York
Times, 2011), 1.
[5] ibid, 2.
[6] Marin, Rick, Grunge: A Success Story, (New York
Times, 1992), 1.
[7] Azzerad, Michael, Nirvana: Inside the Heart and Mind of Kurt
Cobain, (Rolling Stone Magazine, 1992), 2.
[8] Olsen, Eric, 10 years later, Cobain lives on in his music,
(MSNBC, 2004), 1.
[9] Rich, Frank, Far From Nirvana, (New York Times,
1994), 1.
[10] Savage, Jon, Kurt Cobain: Lost Interview, (Guitar
World, 1993), 1.
[11] Azzerad, Michael, Nirvana: Inside the Heart and Mind of Kurt
Cobain, (Rolling Stone Magazine, 1992), 3.
[12] ibid, 2.
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