It never ceases to amaze me how people continue to be fascinated with Nirvana, unlike anything anyone seems to have heard in the 24 years since Kurt Cobain’s death. The latest has been the unearthing of some rare demos that would eventually become songs on Bleach and the trailblazing Nevermind; the material doesn’t necessarily break new ground for fans familiar with the With the Lights Out box set that come out a few years back, but speaks volumes to the impact grunge made and how it refuses to fade from public consciousness.

Flannel isn’t just for warmth, I guess.

I don’t know of any other slice in music history, other than maybe when Alan Freed started serving up rock and roll 45s, when the delivery system to expose these strange, wild sounds to the masses changed so dramatically. Radio stations were rebranded or launched to meet overwhelming consumer demand for bands in the same marketably aggressive mold, namely Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains. No need to reopen old wounds of the tragedies that have befallen a lot of them…

I was just recently told my 12-year-old nephew is apparently a big fan of Nirvana. Who else has maintained this level of inspiration outside of say The Beatles? Granted, come this November it will have been a quarter-freaking-century since I saw Kurt Cobain in concert. Why yes I do feel old now, thanks for asking. Maybe it’s purely a timing thing in view of how many mid-season singing competitions there seem to be on TV trying to catch lightning in a bottle again (The Four, The Launch and the upcoming American Idol reboot); of course Nirvana were pushed to the moon as part of them being signed to major label DGC Records, but back then their meteoric rise felt natural. With apologies in advance to my nephew for the spoiler alert, I comprehend now how this ended up killing Cobain more than any conspiracy theory.

In hindsight, all those CD sales by artists who rode the alt wave left us with unrecyclable jewel case garbage that is partly responsible for slowly choking the planet to death. They made an indubitable mark whose ripples obviously keep on reverberating. It is genuinely exciting to share a big part of what’s shaped me with successive generations, whether in the form of a playlist or communally experiencing a heritage-type act in concert. Speaking of which, any time Mr. Billy Corgan wants to announce an original Smashing Pumpkins lineup reunion will be A-okay with me.