Who the Heck is Kurt Cobain?

And did I even spell his name right?

 

That's right, I don't know who he is.  Okay, I know who he IS.  He's the lead singer for Nirvana, right?  Even I've heard of Nirvana but if he were to mysteriousy come back as a ghost and bump into me (or through, rather) I wouldn't know him from Justin Timberlake. 

 

A lot of people think this is sad.  A couple weeks back I was talking to a couple of my coworkers about it.  They were saying how everyone remember what they were doing when they heard that Cobain had killed himself.  Wait, he did, right?  I think I know more than I think I do.  Anyway, they were saying how everyone remembered the event, like how they remembered what they were doing when Kennedy was shot and during 9/11.  Now I'm too young for Kennedy, but I do remember 9/11.  But I don't remember Kurt Cobain.  When he died, I had no idea who he is, or where I was, nevermind what I was doing.  So my coworkers were like, you don't know Cobain?  And I'm like, no, I don't.  Not really.  They're like, you must know a few of his songs, right?  Nope, I said.  One of them starts singing Smells Like Teen Spirit and I had to stop her after a few bars.  No, never heard it.  She said that it's probably a song I've heard before, but don't know where it's from and that's most likely true.  But I'm pretty sure if a Nirvana song were to play right now, I wouldn't know it.  Or if I did, I wouldn't know it's Nirvana.

 

Bottom line:  I don't know Mr. Cobain.  End of story.  Now what does this have to do with videogames?  A whole lot, actually.  Because the reason why I don't know Cobain (and a whole bunch of other 'popular' artists) is because I was too busy playing games than listening to music.  Since I happen to LIKE the tunes coming from my consoles, I never listen to any outside music when I play games.  Still don't.  Even if the game doesn't have music I don't go around adding some from an MP3 player or whatever.  When I play games, I PLAY games. 

 

It's been like this for me since elementary school and I've been lucky.  Noone's ever teased me or bullied me for not knowing my music.  For the most part, I managed to get away totally scott free.  Well, except for that one time, in media studies.  See, in that class, we had a school group assignment.  It has to be the toughest assignment ever.  We were to build our own magazine and one of the sections we wanted to include in our little publication was a music column.  Guess who was in charge of that?  Yes, me.  It was totally brutal because I had to do a top 10 list, and back then, we didn't have HD or internet radio and people who've lived during that time know how bad the radio DJs are.  They'd play a song, then say the name of the song and the artist out so damn fast that a music illiterate such as myself stand no chance of deciphering what was said.  And, being a music neophyte, I didn't know where to look it up either. 

 

In the end, I didn't know how I completed that assignment and to be honest, I don't want to remember.  The only thing I can recall was that Michael Jackson's song, Black or White, was number one at the time.  I think I only remembered that because I already knew Michael Jackson and the name of the song is…. well… black or white.  It's easy to remember.

 

I try to have a theme in my blog.  Some kind of point.  This one doesn't but if I had to pick one, I'd say it shows how old I am.  If I was in a media studies class today, making a faux magazine, there'd totally be a gaming section.  And I'd be in charge of it.  And the top ten games?  Oh please.  Like I don't know (or don't know how to make one up, given that top 10 games don't really exist these days).  I'd be able to write articles for it too as easily as I'm writing a blog about it now.

 

Dammit.  Why didn't I think of this back then…

 

P.S.  The coworkers I spoke of earlier also said the song Smells Like Teen Spirit defined a generation.  I personally find that a little offensive.  Defined by popular music.  No way, not me.  That said, it would have been very nice if there WAS a game… any game… that everyone has played and that everyone loves and so everyone can talk about it.  There's something to be said for something… anything… that can unite a generation.  I still wouldn't want to be defined by it, though.