Happy Birthday Kurt Cobain: Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ Live
By Nate Todd Feb 20, 2020 • 12:01 pm PST
Photo by Chris Cuffaro
Nirvana’s Nevermind is one of the most influential and iconic rock albums of all time. But in 1991 nobody saw the album’s wild commercial success coming, except for maybe its mastermind, Kurt Cobain. Cobain, perhaps better than anyone, understood the power behind the music he was writing and although he was famously appalled by the way the album was used to usher grunge into the mainstream, even he couldn’t deny the gravity of the record and the larger movement he helped to create.
Tragically, the rift the album caused within Kurt may have lead to his demise three years later. Commercialism aside, Nevermind is a masterpiece that uncorked once and for all the pent up rage felt by young people at the time over the hypocrisy and self-serving nature of the go go ‘80s. And for better or worse Cobain had to be the conduit for that in an almost messianic way. For that, the music world and world at large owes him a debt of gratitude although he might laugh at such a notion.
We can, however, wish him a happy birthday as today marks what would have been Kurt’s 53rd trip around the sun. To celebrate, check out Nirvana performing Nevermind in all its live, visceral glory at various venues like Seattle’s Paramount, the 1992 Reading Festival in England and the iconic MTV Unplugged sessions.
