I’ve been seeing more and more people walking around in NIRVANA T-shirts. Older music comes back into fashion all the time, so I assumed that was what was happening. But apparently, some people are finding their way to the shirts through the design, rather than the music.
And sure, just as a design, they look great. The name “Nirvana” has a meaning of its own, too. You don’t need a connection to the music to find something appealing in it.
Nevermind
By the time I first listened to Nevermind, Kurt Cobain was already gone. I must have been about sixteen. I had a part-time job stocking shelves in the grocery section of Ito-Yokado. I remember a coworker, a year or two older than me, recommending it during a break.
“The singer’s already passed away, but—” That was how he introduced me to the band and the album. I remember going out to buy it the very next day. I hadn’t really encountered much Western music in junior high, so I think that was when I started listening to everything I could get my hands on.
I can’t remember exactly what I bought first, but Nevermind was definitely among those first few records. Looking back, I got lucky. It hit me at an age when things really sink in. The songs, the lyrics, even the way he lived—every bit of it seemed impossibly cool.
Kurt Cobain
Someone wearing the T-shirt without knowing who Kurt Cobain was might stumble across his music one day, and it might hit them harder than they ever expected. That must still be happening. Somewhere, surely.
There’s something pretty wonderful about that. Music, when the timing is right—or wrong?—can blow you clean away and change something in you for life. They should teach you to watch out for accidents like that in school.
