Whether it’s a cheeky hoax, a superior case of internet trolling (or even both), a deluded Nirvana fan has written a letter requesting a video message from the band, despite the small fact the grunge icons disbanded in 1994 (due to the kind-of-important detail of Kurt Cobain’s death).
The letter comes from an anonymous student, from Virginia Tech university, asking for a video message from the band for her college Homecoming.
The deluded fan letter has turned up on online via Sub Pop, the record label who first discovered Nirvana and released their 1989 debut album, Bleach. Sub Pop posted the letter on their tumblr website while agreeing to the Virginia Polytechnic and State University Mascot’s request to keep their identity secret.
“As a homecoming candidate, we were wondering if Nirvana would send a quick video to us that we could include in our video collage,” reads the letter. “It would simply be ‘What’s up Virginia Tech? This is Nirvana! Just wanted to wish you guys a Happy Homecoming Week and good luck at the game this Saturday. LETS GO HOKIES!” writes the mascot. “It would simply be ‘What’s up Virginia Tech? This is Nirvana! Just wanted to wish you guys a Happy Homecoming Week” writes the mascot.
If it wasn’t already clear that the sender doesn’t know their Nevermind from their Never Mind The Bollocks… the letter adds, “as Virginia Tech loves Nirvana, we’d love to have her in our video,” while noting that the band’s message would go alongside appearances from likeminded musicians like country music duo Big N Rich, rock band Slightly Stoopid, hip hop acts Ying Yang Twins and The Cataracs plus “three famous NFL players.”
“It presents great publicity for them,” adds the homecoming mascot of the Nirvana message, which will be viewed by 30,000+ students during Homecoming week through social media channels.
A caption accompanying the published letter claims that Sub Pop staff have “dressed up and obliged” to record the video message for the homecoming mascot (which could be just as offensive to Kurt’s memory than the letter but anyhoo…)
Of course, as with everything posted on tumblr, there should be several pinches of salt served alongside this Nirvana letter, especially given that the coincidental timing with both Sub Pop’s own 25th anniversary celebrations and of the forthcoming 20th birthday and reissue of Nirvana’s final album In Utero – but you can view the full letter below and judge for yourself.
In any case, Nirvana never seem to stray far from the cultural conscience. Whether it’s providing a source of inspiration for Jay-Z on his new album (and bizarrely many other rappers over the years), being named by Rolling Stone readers as one of the worst band of the 90s (that’s not a typo). Meanwhile, Kurt and Courtney’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, is all grown up and showing off her parent’s influence with her impeccable music taste.
