What If...Kurt Cobain Hadn't Died?

[Alex]

Kurt Cobain never died. What do you think would have happened to Nirvana, Foo Fighters and even Hole.

I believe Nirvana would have kept going, producing good albums and interesting singles. I feel Foo Fighters would never have come to pass though, I think Dave Grohl would have been too busy with Nirvana to form his own group, I do feel however that some of the Foo Fighters records would have come to pass through Nirvana though as Dave would perhaps contribute to the writing of songs. I feel Nirvana wouldn't be as big as they are (since most of their popularity came from Kurt Cobain's suicide) they still would have been big though.



I'm curious in finding out what you guys thought could have been.

 

[INDYjon22]

I don't think it would have changed much which pains me to say. Nirvana was breaking up anyways because of Cobain's drug use so Grohl would have formed Foo Fighters regardless. I think that the grunge movement as a whole would have continued on into the 2000's at least before truly disappearing. I also like to think that there would be more Nirvana albums that would have been released.

Basically, there would still be Nirvana on occasion such as reunion tours and what not, and Grohl would still have the Foo Fighters under his belt as well.

 

[Dagger Dias]

If Cobain didn't die then I think a couple of things would have changed.

The Foo Fighters probably would not be as big as they are today since Grohl would be more focused on Nirvana so the Foo Fighters might be a side project for him, as some members of other bands have done. Foo Fighters also would likely have taken longer to become formed. Some of the early Foo Fighters songs might have shown up as Nirvana songs written by Grohl.

Then there's the question of how many more cd's would Nirvana have made together? We will honestly never know. It could be many..... a few.... or perhaps even none.... What we do know is that there would possibly be more, and Nirvana could potentially have continued to grow in popularity during a point in time when they were one of the most popular bands in the world. I think it would have been awesome if they had made more cd's similar to Never Mind and In Utero as both are among my favorites. However, we would also run the risk of there being some bad cd's made by the band. Almost every band seems to go through a phase when they try to change their sound and inevitably some fans will be upset by this. I wouldn't want to see this happen to Nirvana.... If they had made more cd's it could have happened though.

The bottom line is if Cobain hadn't died then we know for sure it would have affected Foo Fighters because Grohl is in it, as well as bands like Puddle of Mudd who's sound resembles Nirvana and were likely inspired by them. Then finally, we will never know how many more cd's Nirvana would have released but they probably would have made a few more.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Then bad/indifferent Nirvana material would outweight good Nirvana material and he wouldn't be the cultural icon he is today. Drug abuse and an early death are a great way to make you appear more important than you are. Troubled genius and all that rubbish.

The possibility of no Foo Fighters doesn't sound that bad to me either.

 

[Loveless]

Well...

Nirvana wouldn't be as big. Face facts here, so many people listen because it's easy to iconise (I don't think that's a real word) and idealise someone who will never get old.

Nirvana would have broken up shortly afterwards. By the end Cobain was deliberately making music that he thought wouldn't sell in order to kill the hype, it didn't work and the guy wanted out.

Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters either wouldn't exist or certainly wouldn't be as popular. This I am certain of. When bands split up, their fans seperate into tribes and most of the Nirvana tribe would have followed Cobain and trashed everyone else.

People would be saying "Courtney Love who?" Which is something I think we can all get behind.

The whole grunge and subsequently emo thing would be downplayed. People would remember it with a "Oh that... yeah", kids wouldn't be anywhere near as annoying because of shit emo music, makeup sales would be massively down and there would be more whales in the sea as a result.

Cobain would have cleaned himself up and returned with a quieter most acoustic sound around the end of the century.

So in summation

No Courtney Love
No Foo Fighters
No annoying emo kids
Whaling is minimised
Cobain goes solo

Damnit Kurt, the world would have been so much better! Why did you have to die?

 

[Barbedwire Ropes]

If Kurt Cobain hadn't killed himself nothing would be any different from what it is right now. Nirvana would still suck to the 'Nth degree and he would still be a hardcore junkie. I think someone else also mentioned above that they were close to splitting up anyways due to Cobain's addiction to every drug known to man. The guy was a complete utter wreck and I think him passing away was actually the best possible thing that could have happened.

A) In his passing he has forever influenced rock music (weither I like it or not is not the issue)

B) He actually is making money now..instead of spending it entirely on crack....which will go to help his family/children

C) Dave actually got a chance to showcase his talent instead of being held back

D) Jack Endino went on to produce better records like High On Fire's "Death is this Communion" and 3 Inches of Blood's "Here Waits Thy Doom"