E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

I was too young for the death of Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe .  I remember John Lennon's death, of course, but it didn't hit me that much.  I was 16.  But, on my 28th birthday, April 8th, 1994, Kurt Cobain's body was found - that I recall.  I no longer listen to Cobain's music very much.  It is part of who I am, like The Beatles, Metallica, AC/DC, The Stooges, The Smiths, Simple Minds, Joy Division , even Prince , but the music is too rich, too intense, for the everyday listen.  But 20 years ago I was very sad.  It felt like a personal blow - a bit like PSH's recent death - for Cobain was really the spokesperson for my generation.  Why?  Well, he seemed to come from a broken suburban home where abuse, failure and madness had played their part; he had low self-esteem; he loved punk, but he also loved indie ( Pixies ) and the canon (The Beatles); he even name-checked Leonard Cohen , a Canadian - and, oddly enough, he was very witty.  Als...

If you want to feel old (or young, depending on if you were born in 1993), Nirvana 's last studio album, In Utero , is 20-years-old right around now.  I find this rather confusing, because in some ways, it seems like yesterday I first put it on - and was first repelled.  For few albums seemed so rebarbative at the time, on first listen.  Of course, eventually, this unlovely album has come to be seen a masterwork. It really is probably the most important indie album an American band has ever created, and so cleverly fuses The Beatles , Pixies , and other, grunge ideals, that it becomes it own new style.  And it has never been bettered - never even really aped, to any extent, successfully. There are several songs of genius on the album - tracks 3 through 7 are all classics; as well as tracks 9 and 12.  So, seven great, timeless songs, and five songs that disturb this excellence, aural challenges - and these other five are not so bad in themselves, either, in r...