Kurt Cobain fandom feels fake to me after that grocery store moment

I was at Walmart last Tuesday and this teenager in a Nirvana shirt couldn't name a single song off Bleach. He just mumbled something about "being sad" and walked away. That's when it hit me - most people who act like Kurt Cobain is some god just like the idea of him. They never bought the albums when it mattered or sat through the feedback noise. I think he's become a symbol for people who didn't even live through the 90s. Has anyone else noticed the gap between the real fans and the posers lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathankim10d agoOG Member

Point out how the tee shirt industry basically hijacked his whole legacy, man. Walk into any Target or Hot Topic and you'll see his face slapped on a shirt that costs way less than any of his actual vinyl records ever did. The band's become a walking billboard for fast fashion, and the kids buying those tees are just wearing a uniform, not a tribute. Real fans had to dig through used CD bins to find Insecticide, not grab it off a rack next to a pumpkin spice candle.

wilson.olivia9d ago

Hold on there @nathankim, I gotta push back on this one a little. Yeah the tees are everywhere now, but you're acting like the band didn't sign off on every single one of those licensing deals themselves. They're making bank off that Target rack placement, and good for them. Music has always been a business, man. Before the tees, it was overpriced concert tickets and bootleg tapes in parking lots. Kids today finding him through a $20 shirt is still finding him, and that's not nothing. Plus, digging through a bargain bin for Insecticide is cool and all, but it's not the only valid way to be a fan. Gatekeeping how people discover music just makes the whole scene feel smaller.

ivan_harris9d ago

Finding Insecticide in a bargain bin felt like a real win.