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MTV's John Norris On Finding Out Kurt Cobain Died
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2011
Modified Apr 6, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2011
Modified Apr 6, 2011
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Maybe it's because we just saw Hit So Hard, but the early '90s have washed back over us, and before we check out airfare to Portlandia, we thought we'd talk about Kurt Cobain some more on the 17th anniversary of his death. We asked former MTV veejay John Norris where he was when he found out that Kurt Cobain died. He tells us:
As un-rock n roll as it sounds, I was standing in Charivari, a one-time super trendy clothing store on West 57th Street, buying a suit for some upcoming event. This being the pre-mobile phone era, MTV called the store and asked to put me on the phone. They let me know the sickening, but sadly, somehow not entirely unbelievable news. I was back at the studio within fifteen minutes, where we put together several hours of programming, Kurt Loder conducting interviews (including David Fricke who famously called Cobain the "John Lennon of his generation"), while I talked music and intro'd music videos. It is to this day, one of the moments at MTV about which I get asked the most.
Where were you? (We found out watching MTV, of course.)
Tagged
john norris
kurt cobain
mtv
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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