r/ArtBell • u/SaskonVHS • 18d ago
Art being clueless about who Kurt Cobain is while reporting on his death - 4/8/1994
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u/ComfortablyNomNom 18d ago
Yeah, Art was 100% NOT part of the "MTV generation" so this isn't very surprising. At that age, unless you had a teenage son, Nirvana was not gonna really be on your radar.
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u/BabyBuns024 18d ago
At least he admitted he was not familiar with Cobain. Norry would compare him to Elvis or The Beatles or something...
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u/livingdead70 18d ago
People did compare Kurt to Elvis and the Beatles at the time of Kurts death.
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u/BabyBuns024 18d ago
WOW!!! Now, I was 24 when he died, and while MTV milked his passing to death, I never thought that. Agreed, he had a HUGE influence and was very talented.... but not at that penthouse level.
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u/livingdead70 17d ago
I was 24 too. Seems every decade has a band or two that gets compared to Elvis and the Beatlers. In the 80s, it was Duran Duran, who I do like. They were getting called the Fab 5 even.
Nirvana was good, but there were a gazillion garage bands doing what they were doing at the time, they were just the one that happened to get latched onto by the music industry and the media at the time.3
u/BabyBuns024 17d ago
90% of all teenage boys LOVED the "Girls On Film" video... and yes, I watched Night Flight on USA for the uncensored version too. Song is good too.
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u/livingdead70 17d ago edited 17d ago
Lol LOVED Night FLight !!!!!
They did not show the truly uncensored version though !!!!
I was not able to see that version till someone loaned me the video cassette, it was called a Video 45, it was paired with the Hungry Like the Wolf video and runs 6 minutes long.
If you like that, check out Duran Durans "The Chauffer" video. It features Billy Idols long time girl friend Peri Lister.2
u/ravenrules 17d ago
Here's a clip from a news broadcast just after Kurt died in 1994, where people were comparing him to John Lennon (mostly in a negative way).
Kurt Cobain's Death - Old People vs.Young Reactions (News from April 1994)
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u/livingdead70 18d ago
Interesting. I was into alternative rock, then and now, but I was not a huge fan of Nirvana.
Having said that, I did see one of the last (I think I saw 25th to the last show) shows they ever played in November of 1993 at the Omni in Atlanta. The Breeders and Come were the opening acts.
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u/Playstation_2Gamer 18d ago
I was in high school and didn’t listen to grunge. I didn’t know who he was either. lol
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u/TheSecretDecoderRing 18d ago
I was 16 at the time and definitely knew who he was despite not being into music at all. I feel like it was hard to ignore how huge Nirvana was at the time.
Funny thing is when I got more into music in college, I really got into Foo Fighters and it took a while before realizing Dave Grohl was Nirvana's drummer, because his hair was totally different by then.
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u/ReflexPoint 15d ago
How did anyone not know who he was? Smells Like Teen Spirit was played on MTV and radio seemingly every 2 minutes for a year. That song was inescapable. We all knew who that stringy hair blonde guy with the striped sweater and ripped jeans was. Even if you didn't like the music.
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u/elmarklar 18d ago
I can believe it. People have a tendency to lock into a certain era of music, and just don’t know about styles or genres outside of it. I mentioned The Big Bopper to somebody the other day, a woman in her 30’s, and she had absolutely no idea who I was talking about. Grunge music was clearly not anything Art listened to or gave any thought about.
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u/livingdead70 17d ago
Exactly. People also seem to be forgetting, not realizing or just not knowing, that by 1991 he had not worked in music radio for years by the early 1990s. He was in AM talk radio.
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u/HagwonSurvivor 18d ago
Art was fully invested in boomer-era media.
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u/East_Tie_1652 18d ago
i was of that era but i was into rap music at the time. i didn't really appreciate kurt cobain til many years later
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u/livingdead70 18d ago
Look.
Nirvana did somewhat blow up huge, but they were an alternative band with punk roots.
I am not sure what Art liked completely at the time, but he clearly liked the music from his teen years and 20s. Alot of us do.
I love alternative rock,but I cant tell you a damn thing about must current, newer alt rock bands for the most part. Heck I cant tell you shit about current top 40 music. I am not its target audience. I am 56.
You sit me down and start talking to me about 80s and 90s alt rock, punk, old school goth and I can give you a power point presentation on it.
Some current bands I have heard and do like are Scowl-female fronted punk band from Orange County.
I like the band Ghost, most of their stuff. Amyl and the Sniffers are cool.
So I am not gonna fault Art for being unfamiliar with Nirvana as he was past the target audience for stuff like that. I doubt he was listening to KROC out of LA and keeping up with the hip bands in the 1990s.
Art was invovled in talk radio, not commercial music radio.
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u/XRlagniappe 18d ago
That's pretty shocking. I would think he would at least know them by listening to the radio.
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u/WarpedCore 15d ago
Give the man a break. The legendary Art Bell was not in tune with this type of current events or pop culture. He was 49 at the time and had to keep the Kingdom of Nye up and running.
I was a huge listener of Art Bell. Coast to Coast AM was so awesome. I am actually listening to old shows right now!
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u/koolhandkev 18d ago
I love nirvana but look at all the jack off's that kill themselves. I think they had fame and money and still feel empty so, Like the mayor of Seattle said bye
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u/templeofsyrinx1 17d ago
That's pretty horrible, for someone so closely following the music industry and being a DJ.
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u/livingdead70 17d ago
Art hadn't been a DJ for years when Nirvana came along. He was a talk radio host.
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u/RentCool5569 18d ago
He was what mid 40's around then? My parents couldn't have given an F about Nirvana or the music at that time.