NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > NIRVANA CONSIDERS REUNION WITH OR WITHOUT COBAIN

NIRVANA CONSIDERS REUNION WITH OR WITHOUT COBAIN

July 1 2009

Seattle WA – The history of popular music is filled with stories of bands and singers leaving at the peak of their fame and success. Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Police, and The Beatles are some of the most famous bands that have closed up shop while
still at the height of popularity. Sometimes those departures are due to death, sometimes to tensions between the members. Inevitably though, no matter the cause of the break up, talks of a reunion inevitably start to circulate and generally most bands are more than willing to oblige.

There have been few bands as powerful and influential as was Nirvana. The first of the Seattle-based ‘Grunge’ bands to make it big, Nirvana popularized a whole new musical style and led the way for other superstar bands such as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. By 1994, only three years into their reign, members of the band were already starting to pull away from one another. The pressure of massive global fame and the burden of increasingly dangerous drug use was tearing a rift that was tearing at the fabric of the threesome. By April of that year the band was over, many felt for good. Now two former members of the band are contemplating a reunion with or without front man Kurt Cobain.  

“We weighed the options and looked at from all sides. From a business perspective, from the fan’s perspective, and most importantly from a musical standpoint and we decided that the time is right. We understand that a few people might like to leave the past the past but we feel that we still have something to say,” said Krist Novoselic, bassist for the band. “Obviously we don’t want to taint the memory of what we have done in the past but what we are planning will not do that. It will be an extension of the great music that we created in the 1990’s and we think fans will be happy.”

Fellow band mate Dave Grohl added that he believes fans will be ‘very pleased’ with the reunion.

“Many bands have had successful reunions after long absences and a band the size of Nirvana will no doubt draw a huge amount of interest but they will have a lot to overcome without Cobain. Some bands have been able to maintain or return to success without their original lead singer but Cobain was the primary songwriter and the face of the band so it will be of a challenge for them,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “Of course Cobain won’t be a part of the reunion but the question remains as to what they will do with the vacancy. They could get someone in to replicate his singing and guitar playing but that won’t necessarily fill the void. I think they will have a great deal of difficulty doing anything more than a few concerts without Cobain and the likelihood of him returning is almost nil.”

Cobain died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April of 1994. His body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in a Washington state lake. Thus far science has had little success at resurrecting the dead, something made even more difficult in the case of Cobain due to his cremation.

“Aside from the resurrection of dead tissue there would still be some fundamental issues to address. Would his voice be the same? Would he play guitar the same way? Would the essence of what made Kurt Cobain Kurt Cobain remain after a resurrection? These are important questions that would have to be answered before any speculation as to whether or not he would join the reunion could be entertained,” continued Temple. “Most bands with dead members have gone on with replacements but have generally been unsuccessful on a large scale. The singer is the face of the band and when they are as dynamic and powerful as Cobain was it is very difficult to replace them.”

Reportedly the Jackson Five are also currently contemplating a reunion with or without lead Michael Jackson.  

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > NIRVANA CONSIDERS REUNION WITH OR WITHOUT COBAIN