Where were you when you heard about Kurt Cobain?

In the 60’s everyone said they could remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated.  For fans of Rock music this has been changed to “Where were you when you heard about Kurt Cobain”?

I was working on a night shift in Sydney for a company that packed talcum powder.  It was the type of talc that you normally find in your grandmother's bathroom in the floral rectangle boxes and the smell of it filled the air.  The boxes would come down the conveyer belt and the machine would apply the sticky labels and click the lid onto the container.  My job was to check the label and load the container into a sleeve, 4 sleeves would then go into a box and the boxes would be loaded onto a pallet.

This was pretty brain dead work and there were 3 people on the shift, 2 in the room that housed the machine that filled the talcum powder containers and me on the other side of the wall.  This meant I was free to listen to what ever I wanted on the radio as the other guys had their own radio and the machines drowned out the sounds of interference from the other room.

I found the rock station fairly easy, in fact there was a good selection to choose from.  I opted for Triple J.

At about 2 am on April 5^th   the news came on and I knocked the wall for the conveyer to stop and turned up the volume so I could get the details and the news slowly unravelled that Kurt Cobain had died.  At first the details were a little sketchy but later updates told the full story that he had taken his own life and how he was found with his ID all lain out and the initial details of the suicide note were released.  I was never a huge Nirvana fan but the news still stayed with me and created a lasting impression.  The guy was an Icon to lots of people and is still a lasting influence on today’s musicians.  His simplistic approach and grungy guitar sound gave mainstream rock an earthier tone and reminded people that if they had something to say then they could whack a few chords over the top of it and reach out to a wider audience.

My journey home the following morning was a forlorn one as the thought of another musician being lost went through my mind. I couldn’t help but be reminded of John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Cliff Burton and Randy Rhoads to name but a few of the legends that were taken before their time. 

As I walked up the steps to the house one of the American girls was leaving for work and I told her the news.  She completely refused to believe what I was saying but we had a long conversation about it after she returned that evening. 

I am still undecided as to the validity of the words Kurt Cobain used in his final letter.  “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”, I am sure many people would disagree and would have preferred to see what more he had to offer.  I guess we will never know.