Kurt Cobain

Timeline:

1980s: Big hair bands ruled the day. Bon Jovi, Warrant, Poison. They were perceived to be more about image than music. During the 1980s, the major labels dominated the music scene.

Late 1980s: An underground scene emerges, formed by people who feel that the original values of rock and roll - teenage rebellion against society, anarchy, revolt against the established order – have been compromised by these large corporations who package rebellion and sell it to the masses.

1991: Kurt Cobain, a brilliant songwriter, forms Nirvana and storms to the top of the charts. He’s the vanguard of the underground scene that delivered a blow to the music industry that they’re still recovering from today, and broke their stranglehold on the upper reaches of the pop charts.

1992-1994: After releasing 3 albums of great music, Kurt Cobain is disenchanted with his heroin addiction, the pressures of fame and fortune. Most of all, he has become the person he hated the most – a rock star. Eventually, he kills himself. One of his last songs is titled “I Hate Myself And I Want To Die”.

2009: Kurt Cobain’s image is appropriated for Guitar Hero 5. He is portrayed as the ultimate rock star. He is singing Bon Jovi. A newspaper commentator remarks that it’s OK “because Kurt Cobain can’t kill himself a second time”. His widow, Courtney Love, hardly the most well liked personality in show business, goes apeshit.