Immortality Through Music

Everybody has a favourite music artist, whether it be a vocalist, guitarist, drummer etc, the list is endless. Our obsession with both the music and its creators keeps the industry thriving.

A common goal we all desire, is to find meaning in life and creativity often allows us to do this (Kaufman, 2018). Musicians aim for their music to be heard and sold worldwide, allowing them to have a large impact on the industry and be remembered. Leaving behind a legacy (Lifton 1979 in Kaufman, 2018) is a way for their work to not be forgotten and to not be left in the past. It brings the past forward and keeps their work alive in the present, whether this is through a specific song or their contribution to the overall evolution of music. People’s devout love for these musicians, keeps the music industry alive and creates a market for the past.

I grew up listening to rock music and my love for this music has carried on into my adult life. Nirvana played a huge role in this. As legends of the industry, they changed the way that rock music was both produced and portrayed. Before Nirvana, ‘rock stars’ had big hair, stage makeup and tight leather trousers. Kurt Cobain epitomised the image of the ‘baggy-tee and jeans’ look, forever recreating what rock music meant to people. The Nirvana legacy can be summarised as the creation of grunge rock and the evolution of what it was to be a rock star. 

Leaving a legacy allowed the economic activity of Nirvana to be sustained. On the 5^th April 1994, Cobain killed himself, resulting in the inevitable end of Nirvana (Kot, 2014). Despite this premature end, fandom continued through history and the business of Nirvana still thrives to this day all thanks to the legacy that their creative genius left behind. There are some very passionate fan pages still active today: 

2013 marked the 20^th anniversary of In Utero, the third LP that Nirvana released. To celebrate, a deluxe album was released which included demos and outtakes. This example of past being repackaged and resold in a new format is common across the industry. If you are to browse Spotify, or any other mainstream music platform, you will see multiple Nirvana albums released in 2019 alone, mainly consisting of past live recordings.