April 12 T uesday, April 12, 1994
The Battalion
Page 5
iecing Cobain's thoughts together
ly Roh Clark
mBattalion
'Ht’s the one who likes all the pretty songs
I And he likes to sing along
I And he likes to shoot his gun
t jut he don’t know what it means”
—“In Bloom”
^Ktle did we know these lyrics
rould prove to be prophetic. But
a rltrospect it becomes clear the
nan who wrote and sang the
rds forshadowed his own death.
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The suicide of Nirvana lead
anger Kurt Cobain has sent shock-
vaves throughout the music in-
lustry. But it’s more than just a
anger’s death. Like the deaths of
imi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim
ddrrison in the ‘70s, Cobain has
heady become the rock martyr of
he‘90s.
The source of Cobain’s anger
m probably a mixture of the tur-
in his personal and profes-
nal life. Nirvana’s meteoric rise
the top of the charts was a
icky one. With the enormous
Jess of the youth-angst anthem
imells Like Teen Spirit,” Cobain
ickly became the voice of our
deration. “Generation X” quick-
adopted him as our musical
^science — the outlet for our
rustration. Only Pearl Jam’s Eddie
'edder approached Cobain’s rock
;od status.
I But though everyone bought
Mecords, Cobain was hesitant to
ccept his lofty status. In a Rolling
tone interview in April 1992, he
aid, "I’m a spokesman for myself,
t just so happens that there’s a
mnch of people that are con
ned with what I have to say. I
d that frightening at times be-
I’m just as confused as most
:ople. I don’t have the answers
IpLny thing."
“I’m so happy,
ttcause today I’ve found my friends”
- “Lithium”
canexpa ®^^^ 1 a w if e - Courtney Love,
Ed a daughter, Frances Bean, it
appeared that Cobain’s troubles
were perhaps improving. In the
liner notes of Nirvana’s ‘92 EP “In-
cesticide,” Cobain compared suc
cess with his family life.
“While all these things were
special, none were half as reward
ing as having a baby with a person
who is the supreme example of
dignity, ethics and honesty,” he
wrote.
But in the midst of the platinum
records, overplayed videos and ti
tle of “grandmaster of the grunge-
alternative renaissance,” Cobain
was restless. And the ultimate
irony was that his punk rock cre
ations were being transformed
into bubblegum teenybopper fan
tasies.
Cobain was also tormented by a
heroin addiction. A January 1993
Rolling Stone interview said
Cobain claimed “he’d used the
drug — at least in part — to opiate
severe, chronic stomach pain.”
The pieces were beginning to fall.
“I miss you, I’m not gonna crack
I love you, I’m not gonna crack
I kill you, I’m not gonna crack”
-“Lithium”
Even Cobain’s marriage turned
rocky, as a domestic dispute turned
into an assault charge on Cobain.
But he insisted in the ‘93 Rolling
Stone interview that his family had
"danni’s live recording allows fans to just listen’
By William Harrison
’ Th>' Battalion
liave
won’t sur-
"Live at the Acropolis*’
Yanni
New Age
Private Music
Blasting horns and bass give
way to a dynamic piano, then
soothing keyboards; and as the
tight, spiraling strings bring the
music to a crescendo, the track
evens out into a thoughtful aside
before reprising its opening
pitch.
■And “Santorini” — the first
track on Yanni’s “Live at the
Icropolis” — is done, as the au
dience’s applause emerges like
sudden rainfall.
■ New Age artist Yanni has
crossed over in recent years,
bringing his instrumental sound
to popular music. And for the
recording of his homecoming
ncert to Greece, he introduces
hit modern music to the remains
of the almost 3,000-year-old
Jropolis with the Royal Philhar
monic Concert Symphony ac
companying his own band.
After “Santorini” ends, “Keys
to Imagination” starts at a slow
iice, isolating on a string solo,
but quickens as hollowed key
board sounds build and flesh out
a full symphony sound.
Songs such as “Until the Last
Moment” and “The Rain Must
Fall” are slower, but no less dy
namic as Yanni’s first two offer
ings. However, the quicker
songs, including
“Acroyali/Standing in Motion
and “Within Attraction,” are nat
urally more infectious and easier
to listen to; die slower pieces just
have to grow upon, the listener.
The performance feels like a
movie soundtrack, building
moods of reflection, tension,
gallantry and isolation. There is
no shortage of solo material for
the varied instruments that com
prise Yanni’s accompaniment,
but the music centers mostly on
Yanni’s specialty: keyboards.
Yanni at times prefaces his
songs with explanation of
themes he has set to capture and
communicate through his un
spoken music.
But for listeners too accus
tomed to their imaginations and
moods being escorted through
music by the voices of songwrit
ers who tell you what the song
should be about, the instrumen
tal sound of Yanni is a welcomed
break.
There are no vicious bass riffs
or kick-ass guitar solos accompa
nied by equally manic human
shrieking and a feeling of afflic
tion.
Although Yanni may tell what
he feels the song expresses, the
music is left entirely up to the
listener to pass judgment, or bet
ter yet, to just listen.
ions
ible
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greatly improved his life.
“We have lacked love all our
lives, and we need it so much that
if there’s any goal that we have, it’s
to give Frances as much love as we
can, as much support as we can.
That’s the one thing that I know is
not going to turn out bad.”
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous”
— “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Cobain’s death, while tragic, is
not completely surprising to those
who are familiar with his work. In
the ‘93 Rolling Stone interview,
Cobain said his chronic stomach
problems coupled with the tur
moil of success, made him suici
dal.
“For five years during the time
I had my stomach problems, yeah.
I wanted to kill myself every day. I
came very close many times.”
Cobain’s suicide was ultimately
his decision, and a selfish one at
that. But you have to wonder,
what drove him to that point and
over the edge? There will be those
who say he gave up, that the rock-
n-roll lifestyle was too intense for
him. Maybe it was the pressure of
being the conscience of Genera
tion X. Cobain never asked to rep
resent millions of 20-something
adoring grunge fans. But when
we put him on that high pedestal,
the only place he could have gone
is down. We built him up and
watched him fall.
Cobain’s life eerily resembled a
Nirvana song. A slow, deep begin
ning, before the exploding chorus,
and then back again. The chorus
of Cobain’s stormy existence has
passed. As for what comes after,
we are left with the millions of
questions why. Maybe Cobain has
found his peace. As hard as it is to
understand or condone, perhaps
for him, this was his only way to
find that peace.
‘Tm not scared,
now my candle’s in a daze
‘cause I’ve found God.”
— “Lithium”
Locator
Continued from Page 3
elevator phones wanting to
talk to the Pizza Hut,” John
ston said. “We do not get
many harassing phone calls.”
“We have some people
that call and want to donate
their body to science,” she
said. “We direct them to the
anatomy department of the
College of Medicine.”
Johnston said students’
misunderstandings some
times make finding a phone
number challenging.
“Some think ‘Dean’ is a
first name instead of a title,”
she said.
Also, calls to student loca
tor are free. City informa
tion charges for its assis
tance.
Outdated phone numbers,
operators said, is really the
only problem operators en
counter on a regular basis.
But students who wish to
change their number can’t
do it at student locator. Its
location isn’t widely known
for security reasons. Stu
dents may update numbers
in Heaton Hall.
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