Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old

I've been pretty busy, so this is almost a week old now, but 15 years have passed since I watched the news of Kurt Cobain's death on MTV. It seems incredible to me that so much time has passed. I am often turned off by hype and exaggeration of greatness, but Kurt Cobain is my one exception - if anything, his talent isn't talked about enough (with the exception of each April), or the praise confined to the narrow sphere of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Kurt's premature death has resulted in his untainted image and memory, reaching almost mythical heights, but that does not discount his incredible ability to produce music that was both lyrically brilliant and emotionally charged.

Here are some of my favorites:

Nirvana - Serve the Servants
from In Utero
buy

Nirvana - Drain You
from Nevermind
buy

And as a 5th grade fan of Nirvana, cover songs and Kurt's name-dropping were my gateway to some of my now favorite bands: Meat Puppets, Vaselines, Wipers, Young Marble Giants, etc. So, here are some of my favorite cover songs:

Nirvana - Molly's Lips (Vaselines cover)
from Incesticide
buy

Nirvana - Plateau (Meat Puppets cover)
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Lead Belly) - kind of cliche to say this, but the ending of this song makes this possibly my favorite performance of any song ever
from MTV Unplugged in New York
buy