He was anointed as a voice for a generation.
His band turned the music world upside down practically on the strength of one song - nothing short of a revolution.
Then, like a flash, he was gone.
For many Generation Xers, it's hard to believe that Monday marked a decade since Kurt Cobain, leader of alternative rock band Nirvana, left us. Investigators think Cobain died April 5, 1994, of a gunshot wound to the head, but his body wasn't discovered and his passing made public until April 8, 1994. Like the plane crash that claimed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper at the close of the 1950s, April 8, 1994, was the day the music died for another generation.
"Kurt's death cut the ground out from under an entire generation that was looking for a standard-bearer and felt, rightly or wrongly, that they had found one in him," said Phil Fox, lead singer and main songwriter for Myrtle Beach, S.C., rock band Wicked Gift.
Despite Cobain's death and the dissolution of Nirvana, the influential Seattle trio's music lives on and is being discovered by a new generation, such as Canadian singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson, 19.
"He's a legend,'' said Dobson, who was nine when Cobain died, but cites him as one of her main influences. "I'm sure he's going to live on for 10 more years, then 10 more years and beyond.''
In a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Nirvana ranks as the 27th greatest-ever rock 'n' roll act, scoring above such luminaries at The Who, The Clash, Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Cobain was 27 when he died.
After he suffered a series of episodes, including a drug-induced coma, Cobain's mother filed a missing persons report on April 4, 1994. Four days later, an electrician hired to install a burglar alarm at Cobain's apartment found him dead, with a suicide note next to him quoting the famous line from Neil Young's "My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)'' - "It's better to burn out than fade away.''
"Whatever 'Teen Spirit' smelled like, it smelled bad that day,'' said Jeff Roberts, managing partner of the now-defunct Sounds Familiar record store in Myrtle Beach. "His death had a huge impact on a generation of kids that hadn't seen any of its icons die. It hit 'em right between the eyes.'' Best remembers hearing the news while sitting in the cafeteria at Conway High School in Conway, S.C., and he dismissed it as teen gossip.
"I didn't grasp it at first,'' he said. "I thought it was fabricated.''
Corey Taylor, 30, lead singer of popular heavy metal outfit Slipknot, said he heard of Cobain's death on the radio and immediately turned on MTV.
"We just sat there stunned and thought, what's going to happen now?'' said Taylor, who, while growing up in Iowa, counted Nirvana as one of his favorite bands. "(Cobain) sang everything like his heart was bleeding. It was a serious loss, but inspired artists to do their own thing.''
Myrtle Beach musician Patrick Best is certain Cobain's legacy, in line with rockers who died young such as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, will continue to influence future legions of music lovers.
"He gave people a reason to question society and their own lives again,'' Best said. "He gave the unwanted, outcast, the indifferent, the weak and the eccentric a way out - a place to go to feel accepted, lay down their emotions and take a stand, and gave them an outlet of expression, whether it be to start a band or just become a deeper listener. Kurt gave his audience what they needed at that time: hope for something better.''
Meanwhile, Cobain's ghost still haunts an industry that's searching for another shake-up, as rock music has, once again, become formulaic and predictable.
"We need another Kurt Cobain,'' said Dallas Smith, lead singer of TVT Records act Default. "Rock radio has become pretty stale.''
Ironically, Nirvana's mold-breaking blueprint has become the mold, said Brian Rickman, program director for Myrtle Beach radio station WKZQ. "Only now, 10 years after the fact, are we beginning to see even the slightest deviation from the Nirvana formula,'' Rickman said. "For so long, bands have been creating lyrically dark or cynical songs coupled with 'four chords and a fuzzbox.' Today, we are seeing a few bands like Jet, Lostprophets, The Darkness, Incubus and Blink 182 that are placing a more positive spin on the music. Nevertheless, one look at this week's rock chart will show you that the sound that Kurt outlined is still predominant.''
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