Route 66 - Kurt Cobain Tribute - April 4, 2019

Tonight is the final tribute to albums released in 1994. For the past three months we've honored records celebrating their 25th Anniversary, and now we're featuring one of the biggest. This evening we're playing Nirvana's "Unplugged in New York" which was released on November 1, 1994, although it was recorded live and broadcast on TV one full year earlier on November 18, 1993. But who I'm really honoring tonight is Kurt Cobain.

This Monday, April 8th, marks the 25th Anniversary of the passing of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain. And that was a shocking, sad cataclysm that changed the course of rock music. Kurt Cobain and Nirvana had really only been on the scene for about 3 years, yet they made a huge impact, influencing music, fashion, and an entire generation. When he died, American Rock music took a long time to recover, if at all.

After his death, the industry shifted away from American bands, embracing British music from such UK groups as Oasis and Blur, and eventually Radiohead stepped up to carry the torch. But ultimately it's been a safe pop style that has remained to this day. Beginning in the late 90s we saw the rise of boy bands, Brittney Spears, Adele and Beyonce. Nothing at all like the poetic, anti-establishment sound of Nirvana. It really wasn't until Jack White and The White Stripes and also The Black Keys in the early 2000s when mainstream American Rock returned to anything close to the musical style of Nirvana. And no single figure has emerged as a leader or provocateur like Kurt Cobain.

I was a Freshman in College the day he died. I remember it was a Friday and I was in my dorm room. I heard the news and turned on MTV.  And I watched for hours and listened to Kurt Loder's report on MTV News. I distinctly remember he referred to Kurt Cobain as the John Lennon of his generation, which I thought was a bold comparison at the time. But it turned out to be true. Although I personally tend to think he's more like Jim Morrison, an icon who burned bright for a brief period, before dying at age 27 with much of his life's promise left unfulfilled.

Kurt Cobain was a complicated artist. He was an intelligent musician who never expected to become famous. When he exploded onto TVs and magazine covers in the Fall of 1991, he couldn't handle the fame. In the subsequent years after his death, we haven't seen anyone like him because our expectations of fame have changed. Now: everyone wants it and no one gets enough of it. Our news cycles have gotten shorter, our attention spans have shrunk. Reality TV, Youtube, Social Media - now fame and celebrity is all too easy and all too meaningless.

When Kurt Cobain died we lost a voice. A true spokesman for an entire generation's hopes and fears. It was a time when American Rock music mattered, and Nirvana was something we all truly believed in.

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Tonight is also our final tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock, so we're featuring a band that was one of the biggest American acts of the 1960s. Jefferson Airplane played the third day of Woodstock on Sunday, August 17th, 1969.

Similar to Nirvana, Jefferson Airplane is synonymous with a specific time and place. What Nirvana is to Seattle in the early '90s, Jefferson Airplane captured the spirit of San Fransisco in the 1960s. They were led by the female vocalist Grace Slick and singer/guitarist Marty Balin along with a very talented group of musicians who together released many hit albums in the late 60s and early 70s.  The band eventually went their separate ways, forming other bands including Jefferson Starship and ultimately the 1980s pop band Starship. That is for real - not just a joke on "The Simpsons."

Yet The Jefferson Airplane was no joke. Grace Slick remains a very influential vocalist; the consummate hippie chick who established a style that everyone from Stevie Nicks to Lana Del Rey has copied. Even Madonna owes much to Grace Slick's strong sense of self and creativity. It was her songwriting that resulted in the band's two biggest hits: "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." That song is still used in every movie or TV show where a character has a '60s style flashback or a surrealistic experience, or both.

In truth, there aren't many bands like Jefferson Airplane today. Bands that completely embody the contemporary culture, and challenge the status quo with their music and lyrics. Here now are two songs they performed at Woodstock, these are the live recordings from that concert. Here are "Volunteers" and "White Rabbit."