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18 Years Ago Today: Kurt Cobain Killed Himself
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2012
Modified Apr 5, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2012
Modified Apr 5, 2012
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In February we revisited the studio where Nirvana recorded "In Utero" on the day Kurt Cobain would have been turning 45 years old, had he not turned a gun on himself 18 years ago. Today.
On this anniversary last year we asked former MTV veejay John Norris where he was when he learned of Cobain's death (most people likely heard of it first via MTV News, after all). He told 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."
Later, Courtney Love read parts of Cobain's suicide note to his fans:
Adding to the tragedy, recently news came out that Tom Cruise might be playing a Kurt Cobain-esque character—Vulture reported, "the male lead is basically Kurt Cobain, if he 'never got to go Unplugged and survived and it’s 20 years later and it’s now, and he wanted to try to do that album with that understanding as this grunge icon ... In a world of Justin Bieber, if you’re Kurt Cobain now in your 50s, what do you do? How do you exist in this world?'" Let's wash that out of our brains with a little "Lithium":
Here in New York, you can revisit Cobain at the Morrison Hotel Gallery (at 116 Prince Street), where they have photos of the musician by Jesse Frohman. It opens today.
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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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