Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses

Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses is the name of exhibition by Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum that will exhibit Nirvana's memorabilia and "rare and unseen pieces from the band, their crews and families".

The exhibition runs from April 16, 2011- April 23, 2013.

As stated in the press release, the exhibition will include, but not limited to:

• Kurt Cobain’s never-before exhibited, high school painting of two aging, Reagan-era punks in the post-apocalypse, informally known as “punk American gothic.”
• The Teac reel-to-reel tape machine owned by Mari Earl, Cobain’s aunt, on which a young Kurt recorded material for his early bands, Organized Confusion and Fecal Matter.
• Cobain’s handwritten lyrics for Nirvana songs including “Spank Thru” and “Floyd the Barber.”
• Numerous instruments, including pieces of the first guitar Cobain destroyed onstage (a Univox Hi-Flyer); Dave Grohl’s Tama Rockstar-Pro drum kit; and Krist Novoselic’s Guild acoustic bass guitar and Buck Owens American acoustic guitar used during the recording of “MTV Unplugged.”
• The yellow cardigan worn often by Cobain between 1991 and 1994.
• The winged angel stage prop featured on Nirvana’s In Utero tour.
• Scores of candid snapshots capturing the band’s early years, from their beginnings in Aberdeen, Washington to the media frenzy that erupted after Nevermind.

As we know, Kurt Cobain died this week, 17 years ago from an alleged suicide, although some people think he was murdered.

You can't separate Kurt from Nirvana and vice versa. Speaking as a die-hard fan, Nirvana had split the world into before and after Nevermind, a status not even U2 or Pearl Jam can achieve (sorry for both band's fans, but that's the truth, man!)

Kurt Cobain. You have to either hate or love this guy. The hair metals, Axl Rose in particular, hated him because he killed their careers with his music. Teenagers love and idolize him to this day for who he was and what he'd done to music. No one would consider your rock band seriously if you don't know Nirvana in some extent and Dave Grohl's drumming in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is still the most simple-sounded yet most difficult drumming in the history of rock n roll.

Even the most prominent Nirvana haters have to admit that no band with so troubled front man and so short of career span can last these long and  bring so massive a change the world will never be the same again.

Therefore, I guess it is safe to say that Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses is a long-awaited homage to Nirvana, to Kurt and to the undying spirit of punk rock and rock n roll.