MTV's John Norris On Finding Out Kurt Cobain Died

Maybe it's because we just saw Hit So Hard, but the early '90s have washed back over us, and before we check out airfare to Portlandia, we thought we'd talk about Kurt Cobain some more on the 17th anniversary of his death. We asked former MTV veejay John Norris where he was when he found out that Kurt Cobain died. He tells us:

As un-rock n roll as it sounds, I was standing in Charivari, a one-time super trendy clothing store on West 57th Street, buying a suit for some upcoming event. This being the pre-mobile phone era, MTV called the store and asked to put me on the phone. They let me know the sickening, but sadly, somehow not entirely unbelievable news. I was back at the studio within fifteen minutes, where we put together several hours of programming, Kurt Loder conducting interviews (including David Fricke who famously called Cobain the "John Lennon of his generation"), while I talked music and intro'd music videos. It is to this day, one of the moments at MTV about which I get asked the most.

Where were you? (We found out watching MTV, of course.)

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on April 5, 2011 6:48 PM

Comments [rss]

unretrofiedforu

Rock music, nay modern western music wouldn't be the same without Nirvana. They saved guitar rock whether you believe it or not.

Tower18

I'm not sure if I just missed the "prime Nirvana years" by a little bit or what, but I can't say this really hit me that hard, now or then. Sucks that he killed himself, but I never felt like the world changed.

moe pintour

I was listening to the radio. They annoucned it as a body was found in his house...and it took me 10 minutes to realize they meant it was his body.

That afternoon I was in middle of drawing a submission for a comic book contest. The contest was to re-imagine the 90s comic book character Madman...my drawing submission was going to be the character as the grudge rocker...Kurt Cobain. Sad.

Guest

I was riding around in a crappy Ford Escort with my friend when we heard it on the radio. We were both in shock, but it didn't exactly ruin our day.

RobNYC

I never really cared for Nirvana and still don't. I forget how exactly I found out but I was in college so I probably found out a couple of minutes after it was announced on MTV. If Kurt Cobain hadn't killed himself we probably wouldn't have had to deal with Courtney Love.

Crack Rat

I acknowledge Nirvana's talent as songwriters and performers, but their music/message did nothing for me either. I'm a bad "Gen Xer" I guess...

shocktheday

If I only had Cobain, Lennon, and Elliott Smith songs to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be okay.

schmeep

I remember we all kinda expected it. Like if Charlie Sheen passed.

junkbucket

I don't exactly remember where I was when I first heard it; I think at my house watching MTV. This was in Florida. The whole day was a daze; I remember that much. A good friend of mine was a huge Nirvana/Beatles fan so I drove to his house and we watched all the reportage on his TV. It was also the first time I found out my friend's mother was a drug dealer, because when I showed up, she was sitting there in the living room with several pounds of pot on the coffee table alongside a weighing scale and hundreds of variously sized baggies. We ordered Domino's and spent the rest of the night watching MTV replay videos and interviews with Cobain while picking the stems and seeds out of what was just a massive amount of marijuana. She was kind that way, picking out stems and seeds for her customers. The candlelight vigil began and I remember we all cried a little. The outpouring of emotion from the fans was just entirely overwhelming.

Guest

BFD
I'm still alive

hunter_blatherer

No, that's Pearl Jam.

John

Being from Seattle and coming of age in that era Cobain's death still hurts. All the events in my life around the time of finding out about Kurt's death are still vivid. First a friend called me to tell me the news. Then I told some other friends while i was still in disbelief. Then I turned on MTV and saw John Norris. Whoa! The voice of my generation killed himself. It still feels like a dream even though reports of Cobain's troubles were authenticated enough to make some of us ponder that the event was close at hand. Still, no one really believed it would actually happen. But it did. And the gaping hole ensued. I went to the memorial at the Seattle Center. I listened to the recorded note Courtney prepared. I witnessed the mass mourning. I cried.

So on the 17th anniversary of his death I say to my hometown hero, god bless you. God bless the hurt. And for what could have been, fuck it.

soggy_trucker_dog_ranch

I'm with you, John. While attending college in Olympia, WA, I: recall the album 'Bleach' being sold door-to-door in dorms for 5 bucks a CD, shutting down Nirvana-in-dorm shows as an RA, saw Kurt get tossed out of a first-story window after arguing with a 6'7 mohawked friend of mine, was shocked to see "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on MTV, got introduced to Portishead by my girlfriend's roomate; who happened to be one of Kurt's cousins, and cringe as my vitrioloc best friend loudly announced that he was "Glad he was dead!", in an Olympia sushi house --- only to look up and notice that Kurt's sister had been sitting quietly at a corner table.

So much of my experience as a young adult was framed by the meteoric rise and climactic crash of Nirvana.

The most important thing that Kurt's suicide left me with was a sobering realization that if I didn't get some help for my own growing mental health issues; my life would end in a similar fashion. R.I.P. Kurt, thank you for the warning.