I'm already sure that this will be just one of many, many blog posts this weekend or tomorrow or this week about the 10 years that have gone by since Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain died of a gunshot to the head, but that's okay. In my usual post-Sopranos Sunday evening ritual, I floated around the channels, trying to find something to watch, and came upon a Kurt Loder-hosted MTV News program about Nirvana and this 10 year time period.

I watched a few minutes of it and figured I would post something about it... There are articles on the topic from Australia to Alaska, and everyplace in between. Tons of teenagers and twenty-somethings who were into their music are now grown up a bit and have most likely graduated college, gotten jobs, and have families.... And the one thing I've noticed is, it's something that everyone in my generation can relate to.

I was in high school until 1993, and Nirvana hit the map while I was there. The whole grunge scene (including Pearl Jam, one of my favorite groups) hit it pretty big, along with a decent helping of rap and hip-hop in that time period, and it was huge. Fans of the so called "hair bands" didn't like it. Fans of pop music didn't like it, but had it shoved down their proverbial throats if they watched MTV, which actually played videos at that time. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did more than just sell a ton of deodorant, it sold a ton of records and created an attitude, style, and dramatic change in the way music was created.

Before grunge became a formula itself, it was just groups who had a different sound, different look, and really liked to play in one key. It was fresh and new, and you didn't have to do your hair for half an hour to go to a show. Hell, Cobain said it took two or three days of not shampooing his hair for him to get it how it was in all his photos and appearances. How would that go over today? Flannel sales were probably off the charts, wearing shorts in the wintertime with long sleeved shirts didn't make you look like an idiot - at least if you got it.

One funny memory I have is going to a restaurant around where I lived at the time on a weekend, my sophomore year in college (1994-95), and seeing some people that worked in the office I had a job in. I had been there a few months, and saw these people every day - I remember having on my Kurt Cobain t-shirt, a green flannel, and jeans. The women had no idea who I was when I walked up to say hi, sans the dress shirt and tie I was normally wearing in their presence. I'm sure the "kids these days" statement was made the moment I walked away.

To those who don't get "it" when it comes to Nirvana, I ask that you think about something you read, watched, did, saw, or whatever that made an impact on you. I'm sure there is *something* that got you going in one direction on a certain aspect of your life. For me, one of the things that gets me going is music. Nirvana was a great band to listen to, with not just the lyrics, but the sound being what you could relate to... The whole entrance of that musical era was important to me, and I don't think it's a silly thing to have people ask why it's a big deal that it's been ten years since Cobain died. For every generation there is some sort of John Lennon-esque event - whether someone dies or not - and for my age group, this is one of more impactful happenings.