More than 25 years since his tragic passing, Kurt Cobain has been labelled the “last icon of the rock era” by Nirvana’s manager.
Ask anyone about the most famous rock bands of recent decades, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t mention Nirvana in that list.
In fact, the story of Nirvana seems almost implausible on paper. A bunch of long-haired musicians get together to play loud, distorted rock music, and before long, they’re replacing Michael Jackson atop the charts and conquering the world.
While many would undoubtedly look towards the date of Kurt Cobain’s passing as a modern-day equivalent to “the day the music died”, Nirvana’s former manager seems to agree with such a comparison.
Speaking to iRockRadio recently (via Alternative Nation), Danny Goldberg explained how Cobain served as the final rock hero before hip-hop took over the world of music.
Check out Danny Goldberg’s interview on iRockRadio:
Discussing the concept of rock icons with Mike Karolyi, Danny Goldberg asserted his belief that Kurt Cobain “may be the last one”, conceding that “Dave Grohl himself is obviously a big rock star and has had a lot of hits.”
“But I don’t think Dave, as talented as he is and he certainly has made a lot more money than Kurt made in his lifetime, touches people as deeply,” Goldberg explained. “I suspect Dave would acknowledge that too.”
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“I think that in terms of icons, Kurt was kind of the last icon of the rock era and then the hip-hop era started.”
“Then obviously in our kid’s generation, hip-hop has been a dominant voice for adolescence. It’s not the only one, there were still rock artists but not only was he iconic in terms of the depth in which he touched people, that music was pop. Those songs were as big as Rihanna, Travis Scott or Justin Bieber or anything today.”
“They were pop hits as well as touching the underground culture,” Goldberg continued. “That fusion of pop and underground, I don’t think rock has produced someone else who could do that since Kurt. I think he’s arguably the last of that era.”
“You could almost have bookends of an era that started with The Beatles and ended with Kurt. I mean, yeah, there was rock and roll before The Beatles but The Beatles broadened it and I think you can make that argument.”
Danny Goldberg’s comments seem to flow on from Dave Grohl’s belief that Marilyn Manson helped “kill” grunge, allowing hip-hop to take over as the most popular form of music going around.
In related news, Goldberg has also gone on record to note his belief that Kurt Cobain was not in fact murdered, and that he realised the talent of Grohl before anyone else.
Check out Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’:
