"Off-topic"/Free-form discussions > "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"
I think that he was trying to be real with who he wanted to be or to become, but as it wound up the life that he lived in would not allow him to be that very person. This wonderfully words how he toyed between life, music and his following.
MarahDeininger
I feel like his unabashed obsession with authenticity was in and of itself a form of his authenticity. He was fairly honest about his disappointment in himself. The confusion between his current self and his past seems to me to signify not that he was becoming unoriginal, but that he was less familiar with how to express himself as a successful individual than he was as a "nobody." However, I think remaking a song isn't necessarily "fake" if the artist truly feels an identification with the song and pays sufficient respect to the original artist.
Tressa FM
The quote, “It would be a tragedy to spend your whole life desperately wanting to be something that you already were all along,” by David Berman in the beginning of the article sums up quite accurately the character of Kurt Cobain. It’s interesting that his boost of fame, which usually turns a celebrity into a very egotistical person, had the opposite effect on Cobain. He had looked up to his favorite musicians so much growing up that he wanted more than anything to have that same influence on his fans and be regarded as an original. Nobody knows but him how hard it was to fight giving in to the media and the “commercial” world, because when you are pulled in so many directions, which I’m sure is how Cobain felt, it is difficult to stay true to yourself and those you most importantly want to leave an impression on. I highly agree with what Tressa said in her response; if the world didn’t feel that Kurt Cobain was an authentic musician, then why is he still regarded as such a legend today?
NatalieOstrove
In my opinion Kurt Cobain was a very authentic artist but I can understand how sometimes even he would feel that he was not being real. When Kurt first the scene he was pretty much the only one playing the type of music he was playing, but after a while other artist began to imitate his style which in a way I believe would lead to him not thinking he was being authentic. The reason I think he felt this way is because when he was the only one playing grunge he felt authentic because no one else was doing it but once he heard other people doing he realized that he was not the as special as he thought he was. The lack of being able to create music that was original and authentic I believe would lead to him not wanting to create music anymore and ultimately to his death. And to answer Natalie's question of why is kurt cobain considered a legend, I believe it is because he is pretty much credited with creating I new genre of music and is pretty much considered the best artist of that music.
ReyesHernandez
In "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" by Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor there were some sections that struck me as surprising. As the article starts out about "faking it" I am able to follow and agree with the fact that Kurt Cobain was desperately trying to be something different, by being 'authentic'. The fact that he used MTV Unplugged to prove that he was low key and 'real' although, at the same time had no problem using an old song that was just remade to fit the contemporary times. This is odd to me, for someone who so strongly believed in 'authenticity' he was able to just mask someone else's work as his. Is this not what 'fake' is in the media? I feel like Kurt Cobain trying to be 'real' actually was him giving in to what society wanted. The 'authenticity' and 'realness' that he fought so hard, ended up consuming him. He also continually sang about his past, and not what he was now. What he is now is 'authentic' so what is he trying to prove by fighting who he is now? Even when he committed suicide I feel as though he was admitting that he was starting to commit fraud. He didn’t want his fans to feel like they were listening to anything less than ‘authentic’ and they would figure him out, and so before they could, he ended his life. Although, Kurt Cobain produced great music, don’t get me wrong, I think that the mold he tried so hard to fight, was the mold he fit in perfectly.