The last Days:
A discourse analysis of
Of the last interview with
Kurt Cobain
Of Nirvana.

By: Travis Seewald

“In the Old Testament, man does not hear noise until after the original sin, and the first noise he hears are the footsteps of God.” (Attali 1985: 27).

“Power is exercised only over free subjects, and only in so far as they are free”.  (Foucault 2002: 342).

Abstract:
The Reagan years are over!  Hairspray bands are finished, with the dawn of the 1990s a new breed of rock stardom has arisen and that is of the melancholy rock star that dislikes, even hates, everything wealth and power provide.  These are the years that the teenage youth in the Nineties are waking up to, reluctant heroes who have paid for the pain they are capable of expressing to the masses in a commodity form.  Punk rock.  Two words that have awaken the masses to a new sound of music most did not realize existed or had access to, until now.  Welcome to Nirvana and all the enlightenment and dissent that come with it.  This discourse analysis will delve into the one of the last interviews with Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain done in March 29, 2004 by MTV.

Introduction:
Music has been a powerful voice for those that sometimes have no other outlet to express themselves.  Musicians found a voice on stage performing for the few who agree and like their music, to the thousands that flock to hear the spoken words of the songs that they have grown to love and relate to in their lives.  Along the way, the commercialization of music to the masses has always played a part in the distribution not only of the music but also of what people listen to at certain periods of history.  On January 11, 1992 Nirvana’s album “Nevermind” replaced Michael Jackson’s album “Dangerous” as the number one album in the United States only four months after its initial release in September 24, 1991.  (Wikipedia Nirvana: 2006).  This achievement paved the way for a new genre of music that would be labeled “Alternative” giving rise to such bands as “Pearl Jam”, “Alice in Chains”, and “Soundgarden”, giving the youth of American new options and outlets for independent musical acts that never would have received international distribution or recognition before.
Learning how to come to terms with this new stardom destroyed some of these bands including “Nirvana’s” front man, Kurt Cobain, who is reported to have committed suicide on April 5, 1994 by a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head (Wikipedia Kurt Donald Cobain: 2006).  This would elevate him to the status of other such musical artist that died at the ripe age of twenty-seven such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin.  Just before Kurt Cobain’s death, he did an interview with MTV (Music Television) in 1994.  This discourse analysis will look into that interview by examining the relationship that musicians have with the press and the media as a means of power, control, and the distribution of their music.  To examine this interview I will be using theorists such as Jacques Attali, Michel Foucault, and Erving Goffman, as well as contemporary journal articles that relate to the subjects of the music industry, the music press, and symbolic interaction.  I also will reference the online encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’ which is the online branch of the Encyclopedia Britannica to confirm facts about the release date(s) of Nirvana’s albums and facts about Kurt Cobain.  In addition to these sources I will draw from examples in the publish works of Kurt Cobain’s journals.  Systematically, I will analyze the interview, drawn from a timeline of events throughout Kurt Cobain’s life and his interactions with other bands and the media.  In addition, I will use theorists to look behind the scenes of why Kurt Cobain’s life, music, and the people he associated with and speculate why his life turned out the way that it did. 
This discourse analysis I believe has merit because of the genre of music that Nirvana made popular was completely different from any other type of music that was on the Billboard charts at the time.  With the rising popularity of Nirvana, a new genre of music found itself on the front lines of the media and gained public attention.  This genre of music would be labeled ‘Alternative Music’ which never really had a place in record shops until this period in history.  Being in the media forefront and becoming a commercial force was against the roots and belief system of punk rock, and made for an interesting relationship with musicians that produced punk rock and wanted others to have access to it.  MTV is a vessel that could make and break record sales in the music industry, where a popular video that reached number one on their play lists usually helped the artist sell more copies of their albums. “Media, including the press, may be sponsors or initiators of music texts rather than mere filters.” (Toynbee 1993: 289).  This relationship with the media and the commercialism of their music to a wider audience as well as punk rock values was at the center for discussion for many bands at that time that were signing contracts with major record labels for mass distribution.  The question then for musicians is to be accepted in a small devout circle of fans or to deny your roots and achieve massive commercial success, fame, and fortune.  Does the choice rest with the bands, the media, the fans, or with the record labels and how does the band handle success if it comes to them?

The Interview and Relative Theories:

Source of the Interview:
To begin with, one of the interesting things about this interview is that MTV originally did the interview in 1994.  However, the interview is found on the VH1 (a sister company to MTV) website instead of the MTV website.  The reason that this is strange is that VH1 is typically a music video channel, owned by MTV, which shows videos by musicians that are on the Billboard top 40’s chart.  Typically, the videos shown on VH1 are for the middle age or non-teenage generation. “Little by little, it establishes the youth as a separate, adulated society with its own interests and its own culture different from that of adults, its own heroes and battles.” (Attali 1985: 109-110).  MTV is for the young, playing what is “hot” today to the youth of America, whereas VH1 plays the videos from mature artists that appeal to the older generation.  When Nirvana’s album Nevermind broke onto the music video scene, with the song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, it was done on MTV and when this particular interview was done it was also done, for and was broadcasted on MTV.  Now it is only available to be accessed on the VH1 website instead of the MTV website.  Is there no room left MTV website for music videos or musicians that defined a generation or has that generation just grown up and therefore its music has moved over the more adult station? 
The second interesting item about the interview deals with who conducted the interview.  Nowhere at any time is the name of the person giving the interview mentioned.  The website indicates who has updated (last update March 29, 2004) and maintained the transcript, but the interviewer him or her self goes unnamed.  The interview itself was performed on camera and broadcast several times on MTV after it was done.  I was unable to get the video recording of the interview, thus leaving out a large portion of this discourse because I was unable to see the facial reactions and expressions of Kurt Cobain and the person mediating the interview.  This precludes to a large part of the power relationship of MTV (the faceless corporation) and Kurt Cobain where the person giving the interview is left anonymous giving rise to a music video corporation giving the interview instead of a particular person giving the interview.  Who came up with the questions to be asked and were they authorized to be asked by either MTV, Kurt Cobain, either of their lawyers or the record label?  Secondly, the introduction to the interview alludes to the fact that, “In early 1994, the members of Nirvana sat down to talk about their public and private lives”.  (VH1: 2004).  Nowhere else in the interview is the rest of Nirvana questioned, nor can you find any of the other members transcripts of the interview that took place.  This seems to indicate that MTV is only interested in questioning and preservation of the interview of the front man/lead singer of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, and not the rest of the band.  Goffman (1970) referring to strategic interaction would state that in this case a ‘party’ selects an actor or leader to express the group’s beliefs.  In this case, MTV interviewed the entire band but selected only one actor to express the beliefs of the band.  Would not the rest of the Nirvana Christ Novoselic and Dave Grohl have something to add to the interview? 

The Beginning, Early Childhood:
In the beginning of the interview, Kurt Cobain is asked questions that pertain to his childhood, his early friends, the first gigs he played, and musical influences in his life.  A typical way to start an interview is to start at the beginning of the person’ life and influences and work the information to the present.  In talking about his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, and his days in high school, Kurt Cobain refers to not fitting in at school or having many friends that he gravitated or related to as a person (VH1: 2004).  Referring to the average person as being a ‘jock’ or a ‘redneck’, these stereotypes were also reinforced by the interviewer, by repeating or initiating the term within the interview.  The interviewer states, “So you were trying as hard as you could to piss the local rednecks off?” (VH1: 2004).  In reference to playing with his band at keg parties Cobain states his difficulties dealing with the average person who was brought up listening to top 40’s radio hits.
“…a typical kegger type of thing. It was pretty amazing. That was a fun night. I think it was Halloween night. We were really drunk, and we had some fake Halloween blood and we smeared it all over ourselves and played our seven songs off the tape. And we alienated the entire crowd. The entire party moved into the kitchen and left the band, just left us there in the front room playing our songs.” (VH1: 2004).

The people in Cobain’s local community that he seems to alienate by being himself are people that conformed to the local standards of the time in their community.  However, as time would tell, after Nirvana climbed the pop music charts, those same people who shunned him, learned to embrace his music but not necessarily the person behind the music.  The people he alienated that were in his community disliked him because they were close to him.  In other words, they knew or were exposed to the person; the people who bought Nirvana’s records did not actually know Cobain thus there was not a connection between the person and the music.  This can be investigated further in the writings of Foucault about antiauthority struggles where he discusses the division between individuals.  “They are struggles that question the status of the individual.  On the one hand, they assert the right to be different and underline everything that makes individuals truly individual.  On the other hand, they attack everything that separates the individual, breaks his links with others, splits up community life, forces the individual, back on himself, and ties him to his own identity in a constraining way.” (Foucault 2002: 330).  Cobain’s status in the community that he grew up in was known, and that would explain why he traveled to other larger cities to locate music and musicians that appealed to him.  These differences are what pushed him towards other individuals in his community that related to the same values that he held which are punk rock values.
In the more direct part of Foucault’s explanation of antiauthority struggles, he states that it is common for people in this position to attack the institutions of power that are close to themselves.  In this instance Cobain and his, few fellow local punk rock followers criticized and attacked the status quo of pop and Top 40’s music.  “In such struggles, people criticize instances of power that are the closest to them, those which exercise their action on individuals.  They look not for the ‘chief enemy’ but for the immediate enemy.  Nor do they expect to find a solution to their problem at a future date (that is, liberations, revolutions, end of class struggle).” (Foucault 2002: 330).  In this, analysis, Cobain and fellow punk rockers attacked the pop culture that was dominant in their hometown and surrounding area.  They criticized those that followed pop music and the relative shallowness of it.  However, they had no desire to recruit those that were not willing to follow into the realm of punk rock, because if everyone started to listen to punk rock then it would cease to be the counter balance to pop rock thus punk rock would become the norm, and it would become pop rock.  We saw this happen when Nirvana entered into the mainstream of commercial music. “And today, wherever there is music, there is money.” (Attali 1985: 3).
When asked by the interviewer if Kurt would have grown up in a normal suburban neighborhood would he still have ended up the way he did and started a band (VH1: 2004)?  To this question, Cobain states that he most likely would have been the way he was and that some people are just destined to be musicians.  In the same answer to that question, Cobain refers to a letter that his father wrote him one time that says, ‘"You know, if it wasn’t for living in an oppressed town, you wouldn’t have had the incentive to really go out and prove something to anyone.” He likes to take credit for that, for bringing me up in a small town.” (VH1: 2004).  However, Chad Channing, the original drummer for Nirvana and performed on their first album before they were signed to a major label, grew up in an upper-middleclass neighborhood.  He was able to relate to punk ideals, but he did not last too long with the band and he was soon fired by Cobain and Novoselic.  Therefore, Cobain quite possibly could have done the same thing.  However, he may not have met the same people and formed the same band. “In reviewing his own moral career, the stigmatized individual may single out and retrospectively elaborate experiences which serve for him to account for his committing to the beliefs and practices that he now has regarding his own kind of norms.” (Goffman 1990: 52).  This creation of his young identity that came from a broken home plays in the punk rock lifestyle where society norms and values are worthless and should not be taken for granted.
Kurt Cobain’s friend Buzz Osborne, a member of the band ‘The Melvins’ (sic) is the person cited in the interview as the person who introduces Cobain to punk rock and had a critical influence on Cobain and the music he would end up creating.  Cobain also befriended Christ Novoselic, who would become Nirvana’s bassist and co-founder.  They met each other because of the “look” that went with punk rock.  The connection that drew them to each other is not a coincidence, in the sense that punk rocks’ distinct sound and energy also precludes a certain look or image in one’s appearance.  “Punk collapsed musical taste into subculture so that fandom and lifestyle, which had drifted apart since the high summer of the counter culture, became inextricably, and, as it is now turns out, permanently intertwined.” (Toynbee 1993: 291).  Their fascination with punk rock most likely stemmed from a desire to experience music that made a difference, instead of the typical cookie-cutter pop music that everyone listened to on the radio in their local town.  “New pop was quintessentially programmatic and talkative where contemporary pop has little to say.” (Toynbee 1993: 295).  In Kurt Cobain’s published book of journals, he references the fact that punk rock is freedom and is a primal release (Cobain 2003).  Irving Goffman also eluded to the phenomenon that people tend to gravitate towards each other when they share the same experiences and beliefs that were formed while they were growing up (Goffman 1990).  That is what possibly brought Cobain, Novoselic, Buzz, not to mention all of their fans, together who were experiencing the same thing, broken homes by divorce and oppression from the Ronald Reagan presidential years (Cobain 2003).  You could identify all of them by the t-shirts that they wore that had the word ‘Nirvana’ or various other bands with the same message printed on them as well as hairstyles and other distinguishing trade marks of the punk rock movement.

Reluctant Star:
The interviewer proceeds to delving into Cobain’s past by asking him, “Do you remember what you wanted to do before you got your first guitar?” (VH1: 2004).  Cobain’s reply is that he wanted to be a stunt man but at an early age he knew that he wanted to be a rock ’n’ roll star.  He wanted, however, to play the drums referencing Ringo Starr from ‘The Beatles’.  In the same part of the response Cobain also alludes to wanting to, “have the adoration of John Lennon, but the anonymity of Ringo Starr.” (VH1: 2004).  This is almost a complete contradiction to who he became, and the reader starts to see the ambitious side of Kurt Cobain.  Shortly after that part of the interview, the reader learns that when Cobain was attempting to gather other members to make up a band, he would play them demo tapes that that he made where he played all of the instruments.  This is not interesting in itself, except that the people, or the positions that he was trying to fill in the band, was not the role of the lead singer or lead guitar player.  In other words, Cobain had the desire and the drive to find others to help him convey his message in his music where he would be the front man.  If he truly did not want the attention and exposure, he could have auditioned vocalists for the band he wanted to form as well.  However, he did not.  Cobain also stated in the interview that he would be comfortale with someone else singing the songs that he wrote as long as he got the credit for writing them (VH1: 2004).
Kurt Cobain knew what he was getting into by becoming a part of the mainstream or just becoming a member of the few successful punk bands.  Within the interview, while Cobain is reminiscing about his youth he illustrates how he was exposed to punk rock, through the media. “You know that issue of Creem magazine when they were following the Sex Pistols tour in ‘78?  I remember seeing that picture of Sid Vicious and just going, ‘Oh wow. That’s real rock ‘n’ roll. It has to be, look at the blood on his face, you know.’ [laughs].” (VH1: 2004).  By becoming apart of mainstream media, he knew that a majority of his exploits would be documented and followed throughout the media, turning him into a subject instead of an individual.  Foucault explains this by stating, “This form of power that applies itself to immediate everyday life that categorizes the individual, marks him by his own identity, attaches him to his own identity, imposes a law of truth on him that he must recognize and others have to recognize in him.  It is a form of power that makes individuals subjects.” (Foucault 2002: 331). 
However, Cobain holds the media accountable for exposing his drug use and the darker side of his personality.  At the same time, he also does not seem to care how he is judged because either fans will like his music or they will not it has nothing to do with his habits outside of the music.  This is an aspect of punk rock that he still seems to hold true by not caring what the public thinks and just doing what he does without caring about the repercussions.  The part of the interview in question is referring to an article that appeared in Vanity Fair magazine shortly after the birth of their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, where Cobain’s wife was quoted or misquoted as to taking drugs while she was pregnant (VH1: 2004).  Goffman illustrates this in his book over maintaining a spoiled identity, where the media often lashes out at the flaws in the characters in the public’s eye, not necessarily out of malice, but in the interest of selling more magazines.  “Next there are blemishes of individual character perceived as weak will, domineering or unnatural passions, treacherous and rigid beliefs, and dishonesty, these being inferred from a known record of, for example, mental disorder, imprisonment, addiction, alcoholism, homosexuality, unemployment, suicidal attempts and radical political behavior.” (Goffman 1990: 14). 
Kurt Cobain’s response to the interview’s question about the article in Vanity Fair illustrates his frustration of maintaining an identity outside of his reported drug use first by stating that the average reader of Vanity Fair is not typically their fans and then by stating how he never publicized his drug use (VH1: 2004).  He states that he did this by not going out in public when he was on drugs or ever promoted their use.  His blame resides in the journalists who wrote the story and the editor who let it be published.  “I hardly ever went out in public when I was on drugs, and I never made a spectacle out of it. I never promoted it. Now I’m going to be associated with heroin for the rest of my life. That’s not my fault. I honestly don’t think it’s my fault. I think it’s the journalist’s fault who brought it up and exploited it. They’re the ones that have influenced a kid, as far as I’m concerned, because they’re the ones that brought it up.” (VH1 : 2004).
The power of the media to delve into a public figures personal life for their own gain, even when the public figure does everything he or she can to keep that part of his or her life secret because it will send the wrong message is a powerful one.  After the fact, the people who remained loyal to the public figure under fire only increased their loyalty to them.  Again, it is the people who associate with that figure are what give them the popularity to go on being a public figure, and there happened to be enough people who related to Cobain’s situation to maintain his level of popularity.  The remaining fans were able to overlook these flaws in Cobain’s character and enjoy him for what he was, a musician.

Becoming Pop & Entering the Mainstream:
This was also seen with the release of Nirvana’s first single they released on the independent record label ‘SUB POP’.  In reference to Nirvana’s pop sensibilities, the interviewer asked where the band began.  To clarify this, Nirvana was not formed to be a pop band but became one by default because of the massive success of their album Nevermind and at the time this interview took place they had already released four albums and had ascended to the level of pop success.  Cobain’s answer to this was his and the rest of the bands exposure to the music that was available in their hometown when they were younger( VH1: 2004).  However, their first single ‘Love Buzz’ is a cover of a pop band named ‘Shocking Blue’.  SUB POP and Nirvana both knew they had to play the record industry’s game by releasing a song that a large audience could relate to and would recognize.  “It was one of the only palatable songs that we had……we thought we’d get instant attention by that.  It was such a catchy song and it was so repetitive that we thought people would listen to it right away and remember it.” (VH1: 2004).  Rock ‘n’ roll or punk can be commercialized if the predominate audience can accept the music that is forced upon them or is overplayed on the main distribution networks that help for societies notions of what is acceptable. “Commercial rock radio now defines itself in exclusive terms – a tendency that seems to reflect a more generalized culture insularity within the baby boom generation, one that is increasingly nostalgic, myopic and above all, conservative.” (Wright 2000: 368).  Even though Nirvana’s sound did not fit the norm of top music at the time, it was still able to penetrate the commercial radio stations and perpetuate a new punk sound that other bands would end up copying.  This resulted in a softening of punk music to a commercial standard to receive maxim airplay and for the record companies to cash in on the youth’s choice of music while receiving a wider exposure.  The conformity that took place to release this song, and then move on to sign onto a major record label is most likely what attributed to Cobain’s conflict of interest to remain punk and possibly never have your music listen to by others, or turn against your own kind and do what is necessary to get your music heard.  History reflects that he and Nirvana chose the latter of the choices and launched their careers into the mainstream culture going against the ideals that brought the band together in the first place.

Conclusion and Discussion:
What was not mentioned or talked about in the interview, except for the commercial success of Nirvana’s second album, was how the commercial success changed the landscape of music is consumed and integrated in to society.  This was address by a simple question pertaining to the commercial success of Nevermind and why that occurred.  The interviewer asked, and Cobain responded.
Interviewer: Do you have any theory about why it happened? Or do you think it was just you guys making a really good record when things were stale and it was kinda ripe for the picking?

Cobain: You couldn’t have said it better. It was just the right album at the right time. I mean, I’m sure there was a collective consciousness. People were tired of Warrant. It just got old. Just like grunge music will be in a couple of years, if it hasn’t already. If we don’t progress, if we don’t change, we don’t take chances and do different things, if we put out Nevermind III next year or In Utero II, it’s just gonna get boring. Pop music loses audiences all the time. It doesn’t happen very often, for a pop star to become famous and stay famous for years. Madonna and Michael Jackson and that’s about it.

Reflecting on this the reader sees that Cobain also realizes that what Nirvana did, became, and was that it was just a fad that would pass with time until something new came along. “In a sense all rock writing is historical.  Because it is premised on the need to supply change, the music press takes on a periodising role which involves, on the one hand, nurturing the new and, on the other, killing off the old.” (Toynbee 1993: 297).  Again, what was not mentioned in the interview at this time was how Nirvana had to compromise some of their lyrics, album artwork, and song titles in order to sell more albums.  This particular case Nirvana changed all of the above to conform to the standards of mass distributors in order to get their albums in stores to reach more audiences.  This compromise is not within the norms set out by punk rock musicians and credos, so why did Nirvana and other artists do it?  The question was answered by Cobain stating that he understood that in some small towns these chain stores were the only outlet for kids to get new music.  (Wikipedia Nirvana: 2006). “The 2,300-store Wal-Mart chain, for example, which accounts for nearly ten per cent of all record sales in the United States, refuses to stock stickered albums in its stores, as does the K-Mart chain.  And just as Frank Zappa and others predicted they would, artists as carried U2, Nirvana, Public Enemy, John Mellencamp, Beck and White Zombie – no doubt under pressure from their labels – have acquiesced in these policies by releasing ‘clean’ unstickered versions of their albums for sale in the chains.” (Wright 2000: 380).  These compromises may have brought about the end of Kurt Cobain’s life that is not in this discourse to speculate upon that occurrence in this essay.
What has happened in the history of this band and this person?  All things being considered, the world has a musician and a band that brought a new genre of music to the forefront and opened up society’s acceptance to alternative music.  On the other hand, culture had to sacrifice the person who brought us this liberation.  This almost sounds like the story of Jesus Christ and maybe that is what Kurt Cobain wanted.  Either way, Cobain left behind a legacy and a young daughter that needed him, and he is nowhere to be found.  Just when society needs him the most, but just as in the story of Christ, maybe what happened to him was necessary.  Who are we to judge?  We are here to just listen and learn.  “By listening to noise, we can better understand where the folly of men and where their calculations are leading us, and what hopes it is still possible to have.” (Attali 1985: 3).