Opinion: Hope I don’t come back again
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If Kurt Cobain could stop rolling over in his grave long enough to see that he’s surpassed Elvis as the top-earning dead celebrity on Planet Earth, would he kill himself all over again? That’s the vexed question Greg Beato asks in this SF Chronicle piece detailing the crazed market for Cobain Post-its, Cobain journal entires, Cobain tax forms, Cobain doodles, and a whole universe of Cobainia:
In general, the purveyors of such products treat Cobain with preposterous reverence -- it’s a necessary part of doing business when the price per vintage fax message starts at $15,000. But there’s no mystery about the end results of such unrestricted wheeling and dealing. The person behind the artifacts recedes into the brand and the brand becomes more and more elastic, something you can slap on anything, and then it’s only a matter of time before you end up with stuff like ‘Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby Renditions of Nirvana.’ Just out, this CD reconfigures ‘Come as You Are,’ ‘Lithium’ and eight other Cobain originals for unconscious infants. ‘Chimes, glockenspiels and other gentle instruments temper Nirvana’s wild spirit for your little one,’ the album’s promotional copy informs. ‘Smells like nap time.’ And just like that, some of the most despairing anthems to ever go multiplatinum are rendered as kitsch. And utilitarian child-rearing kitsch at that! But as long as the proper royalties are paid, well, where’s the harm, right? Unless you’ve got some issue with naps. Nor is Cobain being singled out with special malice. The record is part of a series: Metallica, the Beach Boys and Tool, among others, are presented as $16.98 aural pacifiers, too.
Whole article, including a judicious consideration of why the troubled bard of Aberdeen makes the transition to lullaby singer disturbingly well. I’m still holding with my theory that someday Kurt Cobain will be remembered slightly as a guy who once played in a band with the legendary Dave Grohl, but that’s a minority opinion.