Kurt Cobain Memorial Park

I was a sophomore in college at West Texas State (now A&M) in Canyon, Texas when Nirvana broke through with their second album Nevermind. I was a big fan of hair/glam metal in the late 80s as you can tell from pictures of me back then, puffy hair and a fringed leather jacket. There was a girl that I wanted to date, but never did, and one day we were sitting together after lunch. She was wearing my leather jacket and asked if I liked Metallica. I told her that I didn't listen to them. She said, "Hm. You should." When I got my jacket back at the end of the day, a copy of the "...And Justice for All" cassette was in the pocket. I took it home, played it, was in awe, and began my love of music that was way heavier than the "Living on a Prayer" style of music that I was used to. I didn't replace anything, I just added to the list of music I had been acquiring since I started playing my parent's Freedom Rock albums when I was five or six.

Cut to a couple of years later and I hear another style of music that I had never heard before and it really grabbed me. On MTV I saw "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains. I didn't hesitate. Right then I drove a half hour to Enid and bought the tape. It came with a free VHS tape of a live AIC show in Seattle. BONUS!! That cassette spent the next four months in my car stereo. Not even exaggerating about that. Since the internet wasn't really a thing yet, I relied on music magazine for information. Alice in Chains was from Seattle, so who else was from there? Not much information was available. The record execs hadn't started swarming Puget Sound yet. But after a lot of digging, I did find Soundgarden's album "Ultramega OK" and Nirvana's first album "Bleach". If I'm being honest, after my first listen to those albums my thought was, "That's pretty noisy. I'm not so sure about this. Soundgarden is like, a metal band and Nirvana is kind of a punk band. I'll keep listening though." I'm glad I did because they became staples in my tape case rotation. My brain essentially had to shift into a different gear that wasn't my high school playlist. It's good to evolve.

I eventually became a fan of a lot of bands from the Seattle area over the years, but Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Nirvana still meant a lot to me because they were my firsts. I was dead broke when Nirvana came through on their In Utero tour so I couldn't go. I thought, "Ah, well. I'll catch them next tour." But that tour would never come.

I had heard that there was a memorial park set up in Aberdeen, Washington where Kurt had grown up and Krist Novoselic had lived. I've never been the type of person who needs to do a pilgrimage, but I understand if others do. Since I was vacationing in Washington, I decided that I should stop in Aberdeen and pay my respects to a guy that helped change the music industry's focus and brought punk to the masses. It's a sad little park in a spot where Kurt used to hang out and possibly live for awhile. It has a picnic table, a statue, some plaques, and a bridge (referenced in "Something in the Way") that all have graffiti on them.

Like I said, it wasn't a pilgrimage, but I'm glad I stopped at got a picture "Underneath the bridge..."

Also, my salute to the people that live right next to the park. They erected this sign after years of being pestered by young travelers. Be kind. Leave them alone.

Jonathan Elmore ©2025