Ongoing History of New Music

Ongoing History Daily: The Church of Kurt Cobain

People are always looking to a higher power in order to bring meaning to their lives. For a while back in the 90s, we had Cobainites. Yes, someone tried to base a religion around the life and deeds of Kurt Cobain.

The founder of this church was the Reverend Jim Dillion of Portland, Oregon. He claimed that his church would honour Kurt and the “alienated tribe” of disaffected Generation X-ers. There was a big recruitment rally in the spring of 1996.

However, there’s more to the story.

The whole thing was a stunt created by an art director named Jerry Ketel who wanted to make a statement against celebrity culture and society’s fascination with drug abuse and suicide. Katel actually fooled some big media outlets into thinking this was real.

The last post was about the days when money flowed like water in the music industry.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39188 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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