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Kurt Cobain's Goodbye Letter Makes Google Ad Sense

*Has it really been 20 years and two days since seminal grunge outfit Nirvana released _Nevermind_, the record which, for many, became the battle cry for an apathetic generation hellbent on whining its way into our hearts? Yes, the time really flew by...

Has it really been 20 years and two days since seminal grunge outfit Nirvana released Nevermind, the record which, for many, became the battle cry for an apathetic generation hellbent on whining its way into our hearts? Yes, the time really flew by. In two decades a recognized genre of music, comprised of outcasts even the punk community didn't want around, slipped awkwardly into the history books (read: Wikipedia), doomed to live out its days a lowly subgenre informed by hardcore, indie and metal.

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In defense of Nirvana, they didn't like the "grunge" tag anyway. And despite his hokey behavior in front of a camera, I tend to believe Kurt Cobain didn't give a shit about fame or winding up the man in charge of a cultural phenomenon. Obviously he did anyway and (depending which story arc you choose to follow) it killed him.

Four months after its release in 1991, Nevermind replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous on the Billboard charts. I've actually heard that the story is even more impressive than that and that Nirvana's usurping of Jackson was a direct result of people who actually returned Dangerous—a popular gift during the 91-92 holiday season—in exchange for Nevermind.

To keep with the onslaught of news celebrating the 20th of Nevermind, Motherboard set out to write something nice, but got really busy. Luckily we had this post lying around, and even more luckily, it's super interesting, if not kind of dark.

As a plaid-clad dad once maniacally declared: "I feel stupid and contagious." Contagious you were, Mr. Cobain.

By Sean Yeaton


Cory Archangel, the Brooklyn, New York-based digital artist who we met with a video camera in tow recently, looks at bits like Lego blocks, colorful parts of a whole just begging to get wrecked and rearranged, maybe sometimes put in your mouth, with all the weird taste that implies. Though he's known for beautiful-strange visuals, in 2006 he set Kurt Cobain's suicide letter to a medley of Google Ads. Uncomfortable, inspired, and even, yes, profitable.

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A while back, I made a web page which paired Kurt Cobain's suicide letter with Google Ads (google ads are generated from the text of the page they appear on). It was up for a while but after getting digged google decided to remove the ads from the page. I took some screen shots while it was up and below are two examples of what it looked like. Also below are the checks that google sent me!

While you're reading, you might enjoy this classic 2001 version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' by another Motherboard alum, Alexei Shulgin, and his cyberpunk rock outfit 386 DX.

Originally published on 4/14/10.