This Paste article by Niko Stratis, prompted by Nevermind's 35th birthday last month, is an eloquent, deeply personal piece that underlines how music can resonate with the soul in a manner that's hard to articulate. There was something in the songs, Kurt Cobain's lyrics, "the way depression leaked through the cracks of him", that spoke to Stratis at a fundamental and intimate level.
But, crucially, she's not one of those fans who jealously and fiercely guards artists and albums as their own. On the contrary, she describes Nevermind as "a record that belongs to each new listener in a different and perfect way": "That the words that once told of grief and sinful things have become something new for kids as they grow old is a blessing Kurt Cobain never got to see."
I've often wondered what Kurt would make of seeing kids in factory-faded smiley face T-shirts, were he still alive today. I used to think he'd be appalled, but no longer - he might be astonished, yes, but surely it would be a wonderful thing to know your music continues to connect with generation after generation.
Needless to say, Stratis' acclaimed book The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman is on my reading list.
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