Curt Cobain, Nirvana: The Ironic Role of the Poet-Critic

In a previous essay (Where have you gone my blue eyed son: the disappearance of the American Poet-Critic), I argued that the American rebel in the form of male pop singer is not only necessary, but also missing. I still think this is true. But I now realize that we recently had one such poet-critic. His name was Curt Cobain.

I overlooked this not because I was unaware of Curt Cobain, but because I arbitrarily skipped over two decades when considering a candidate. Paradigm shifts will do that to you.

With Nirvana comes a paradigm shift in the role of the rock cultural critic. Pop-critics, I believe, must always have an ironic, almost struggling, relationship with the fact that they are a critic. This is true of Cobain. But, whereas Dylan was self-righteously against the status quo (a plu-appropriate state of being for his era), Cobain realized his own powerless part in hypocrisy. This echoes the film, "The Big Chill," in which the characters realize the non-relevance of their 60's causes.

At Popmatters.com, you can read an excerpt from Iain Ellis’ book Rebels With Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists (Rebels With Attitude: Nirvana). Ellis argues that Nirvana was different from the prior rebels insofar as Nirvana understood their place in cultural conflicts: "Unlike the Pistols and punk, though, Nirvana reneged on the 'us versus them' subcultural contract; for Cobain, 'we' were the pawns of 'them,' and 'he' was as trapped in the corporate machine as anyone."

This offers a unique take on the role of the poet-critic. He must emerge from the tradition of Thoreau, Guthrie, Dylan, Lennon; but, he is uniquely postmodern as well. Taking after Cobain, today’s poet-critic must understand his ironic relationship with his role. In essence, the critic is not exempt from the things in culture that he is criticizing.

This is no easier to do than it is to explain. Ellis describes the role of Cobain as one of struggle: "Using a series of paradoxical lines to establish the schizoid struggle, Cobain provided both a sarcastic take on teen rebellion and an endorsement of it."

Again, this speaks to the ironic relationship with self, society, and criticism of both.

Dylan may have used irony as a device in his poetry, but his role as critic was not ironic. Ellis draws the parallel and the contrast—lets call it confluence—between the two this way: "just as Dylan's 'answer' was 'blowing in the wind,' Cobain's sarcastic conclusion to his own tortured position as consumer and dupe was 'Oh well, whatever, nevermind.'"

What I take away from this is that Cobain is a poet-critic not just of American culture, but of youth culture in general. Dylan’s role was to criticize the status quo—the older generation. Cobain takes on the unique role of criticizing his own generation.

I was a teenager in the era of Nirvana. It was the era of MTV. The video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was just as important, and even more important sometimes, than the song. In fact, I can't think about this particular song without remembering the video. Ellis writes: "the video countered the assumption that contemporary youth is doomed to ennui. Within even the most apparently staid middle-class kid, it suggests, resides a simmering cauldron of outcast rage just waiting to boil over. Nirvana, apparently, can provide the necessary precipitant heat."