Kurt Cobain and Bruce McCulloch’s “Vigil”

My musical awakening came in 1994. A friend’s brother gave me a cassette tape on Nirvana’s In Utero, and I put the tape in my Walkman and rode my bike around the neighborhood, blaring “Scentless Apprentice” and “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” as I careened down the road. I started listening to them a few weeks before Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994. As with many teenagers growing up in the 90s, Nirvana spoke to me and opened the door to so much more, including bands such as Mudhoney, The Wipers, The Melvins, and backwards to blues singers such as Leadbelly. I remember when the Rolling Stone issue came out following Cobain’s death and my friend lifted the copy from the school library and gave it to me.

Nirvana, for me, serves as a touchstone for a pivotal moment in my life, as a moment when I started to expand and explore music, art, and the world. Along with Nirvana, Kids in the Hall served as an artistic touchstone. Growing up, I didn’t know any openly gay or lesbian individuals, and Kids in the Hall, specifically Scott Thompson, served as my introduction gay and lesbian individuals. Nirvana served as my introduction to allyship and fights against toxic masculinity, look at a song like “Mr. Moustache.” Each of these groups, in their own ways, planted seeds that continue to grow to this day.