Kurt Cobain: Overated Musician or Not?
 

SSIA

Yes.

Better than Eddie Vedder for sure, but Lennon level? I think not.

My friends and I had a discussion on this right after he died...we were quite upset at the fact that a clinically depressed heroin addict with terrible taste in women was being referred to as "the voice of our generation." I like Nirvana fine, but I think the deification of Cobain has turned a lot of people my age off to them.

I think that Kurt Cobain was a more talented musician than Eddie Vedder in the sense of the melodies to the songs he created and his guitar playing abilities. Stone Gossard and Mike McCready wrote most of Pearl Jam's melodies and I don't think Eddie Vedder really learned how to play the guitar until after he joined the band (and I almost want to say that it was until "Betterman" that he played guitar on an album but I could be wrong). As for song writing ability, I think they were both at the same talent level. Then again, HUGE Pearl Jam fan here so I could be biased. :)

As for Kurt Cobain being overated...yes and no. I think he was an extremely talented but I wouldn't go as far to say he was the voice of a generation or compare him in anyway to John Lennon. I often think that if he hadn't passed away so early that people wouldn't worship him in the way that they do. Think about all the rock stars out there that we think of as being the being inspirations to rock music. Kurt Cobain, John Lennon (although he deserves the title of being the voice of generation), Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Freddie Mercury, and Jim Morrison. All died very young and within the prime of their careers. There are many other musicians out there who are talented but aren't given that same "rock talent" title because they didn't die a tragic death.

There's nothing like an early, unexpected death to elevate someone to a status they likely would not have achieved had they lived to a ripe, old age.

I missed the entire grunge era (I was discovering rap at the time), but I always listen to Nirvana Unplugged. I think he was a very talented musician, but I agree, I wouldn't consider him Lennonesque.

I just remember listening to Beck's "Loser" when it first came out, and thinking it was very negative and apathetic (the chorus anyway), and I (as a young child) was always lead to believe grunge lead to much of the apathy our generation has (which of course is wrong).

Musician - overrated
songwriter - underrated

Ok, I think NOT better than Eddie Vedder.

I don't think he's overrated as a musician. I've never really heard anyone say he's one of the best musicians ever or anything like that.

However, people say that Nirvana is one of the most influential bands of its time. Which I have to agree with. As is Pearl Jam. The period of time in which Nirvana was popular was the beginning of a new breed of musicians and I think they played a huge rold in shaping the music styles that we listen to today.

So, no I wouldn't call him overrated. But I personally wouldn't rate him as a musical god--and I've truthfully never heard anyone else do so either.

I agree. Though I never bought Nirvana's cd's and didn't go out of my way to listen to their music.

I was watching something on VH1 that talked about the death of late 80's "hair bands"...they didn't understand where the Seattle music came from. They offered people an escape with songs like "girls girls girls" and "Hot for teacher" and suddenly the younger kids were more interested in songs about death and depression and hate. Freaky!

Agree.

Remember when Sublime's album came out back in 1996? They were HUGE. Everyone had their album and you weren't cool unless you knew the words to all their songs. :) I use to wonder if Sublime would've had that much fame and notoriety if Brad Nowell hadn't died right before the album dropped. Sublime is good but I don't think they're that good.

No, suddenly MTV and the rock-critic press decided Nirvana were the Next Big Thing and they stopped playing Poison, BonJovi etc.

Unlike other Next Big Things (see: New York Dolls and Replacements, The) grunge/new punk/whatever you wanna call it was heavily marketed through MTV. When this was tried before local radio stations wouldn't play stuff their listeners didn't want to hear. By the 90's and the rise of MTV and Crap Channel, what got to the listeners could be more effectively controlled.

If you haven't seen "Hype!" (it's running now on either IFC or Sundance) do so - it's extremely eye opening. (And Eddie comes off like a total dork.)