Kurt Cobain still a musical influence

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ longtime rock music critic, examines the 1992 performance of Nirvana at England’s Reading Festival that’s now available on DVD. Hilburn says Kurt Cobain is captured at his most provocative and intense.

Cobain died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994. He was 27. In The Times’ obituary, Courtney Love described to Hilburn her husband’s youth:

‘There is this sweet Jimmy Stewart, ‘Mayberry, RFD’ side of him. His favorite TV shows are ‘Dragnet’ and ‘Mayberry, RFD’ and ‘Leave it to Beaver.’ To him they represent his lost boyhood.’

Capitol Records CEO Gary Gersh tried to put Cobain’s influence in perspective.

‘When people look back over the years at the industry, I believe there will be a pre-Nirvana business and a post-Nirvana business. The group’s ‘Nevermind’ album will be looked back on as a seminal record in the history of rock.’

-- Keith Thursby