first annual ‘kurt cobain day’ on 20th feb 2014

Kurt Cobain is to be honoured in his former home town of Aberdeen, Washington, with his birthday (20th February) being formerly known as Kurt Cobain Day. The officials of Aberdeen may not stop there, either, apparently they’ve been dropping hints of a whole annual Kurt Cobain Week, but these reports have yet to be confirmed. 

They’ve got competition, Aberdeen – as the nearby town of Hoquiam, also in Washington, has declared that they, too, will be honouring the grunge god with another, different Kurt Cobain day on 10 April. 

The city council of Aberdeen were previously reluctant to shine a light on one of their most famous sons – a motion to name a bridge after Kobain was shot down, with concerns raised over the singer’s sex, drug and rock and roll legacy. On that occasion, they opted for the safer option of naming a ‘patch of river bank’ after him – the ‘Kurt Cobain patch of River Bank’, how grandiose. But they’ve now done a volte-face – could it be anything to do with the fact that Nirvana are about to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Or perhaps that Kurt Cobain’s former home in the town is physically valued at $67,000 but currently on the market for $500,000?  

That isn’t the smell of teen spirit wafting over the town, it’s the smell of the tourist dollar.