Thurston Moore has a great editorial marking the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death today. Moore really shows the lasting influence Cobain had on the rock underground, which continues to produce vital music that the commercial venues mainly ignore. He also gets a chance to tweak the Grey Lady for publishing the made-up grunge lexicon foisted on it by clever PR folks at Sub Pop (Nirvana's first label).
Here's the nut of Moore's editorial:
When Kurt died, a lot of the capitalized froth of alternative rock fizzled. Mainstream rock lost its kingpin group, an unlikely one imbued with avant-garde genius, and contemporary rock became harder and meaner, more aggressive and dumbed down and sexist. Rage and aggression were elements for Kurt to play with as an artist, but he was profoundly gentle and intelligent. He was sincere in his distaste for bullyboy music — always pronouncing his love for queer culture, feminism and the punk rock do-it-yourself ideal.
(Devoted Nick Hornby fans will recognize my subject as a line from About A Boy.)