Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 03, 2024

I don’t know if “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is an oldie, but it’s certainly no goodie.

Who now?

To hear Cobain sing was to achieve true NIRVANA.;-D

Cobain? I remember when Elvis died. I must REALLY be old.

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s, it’s hard for me to think of 90s songs as ‘oldies’.

I remember the day the music died, with Buddy Holly’s plane crash in Iowa.

I do remember seeing Huckleberry Hound in the first run.

My favorite memory of Colbain is Weird Al making fun of him.

Now I’m mumblin’, and I’m screamin’

And I don’t know what I’m singin’

I never heard of him UNTIL he died.

Nirvana were OK.

John Lennon was much sadder.

Man when you listen to the alternative station here, you STILL hear Nirvana.

The local classic rock radio station has a special after midnight on Saturdays where they play “that new-fangled Nirvana stuff”.

I remember when Janis Joplin died. Then Jim Morrison. Then Mama Cass.

So what does it mean if I remember the day Jimi Hendrix died?

I remember when Jim Morrison died. I went from shock to grief to denial! So, what’s beyond “old”?

I was most sad while working at the radio station and heard Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash. Also remember when Elvis, John Lennon, Michael Jackson and Robert Palmer.

I don’t remember what I dropped on the floor 20 minutes ago.

The question used to be “where were you when you heard JFK was killed?” Well, I was in kindergarten so a little too young for it to register at the time. But I do remember three years later when I learned that Walt Disney was dead.

O well, whatever… nevermind…

Is it just my impression, or is the average age of gocomics users 70+?

Was never really a Cobain fan. But I remember Elvis’s death, and the morning I learned on the car radio that Lennon had been killed, I wept all the way to work.

I don’t remember Kurt Cobain, but I do remember when JFK died.

John Denver, Jim Croce, Stan Rogers — these hit me more than about any other singers who died by misfortune.

Rat if Stephan is old where is the Gray Hair ;-)

Lessee, I kinda knew who Cobain was, I couldn’t name any of his songs or albums, and I’m pretty sure my reaction to his death was “Ok, so???” The “Paul is dead” thing, on the other hand, was a major topic of discussion when I was in high school.

I remember being sad when I heard the news about Kurt Cobain, as well as Chris Cornell, Robin Williams etc in more recent years. I thought “why would such a talented, successful person who seemingly had everything going for them choose to do that?” You never know what’s going on in a person’s life or mind.

I still remember… No wait, no I don’t.

Old? I was sad when John Lennon died. Now THAT’S old!

I remember where I was when Elvis died. Not that I really cared.

I remember back when Micheal Jackson died.

if I don’t remember it, does that make me even older?

His music was too modern for me.

I remember I heard Marilyn Monroe died on the car radio. Drives down long country roads still remind me of it.

Didn’t he died in 1994?

I was shocked and saddened when JFK was killed and then when Bruce Lee died. Still am as a matter of fact.

I was sad when I heard that Mozart had died.

Admittedly I was really late in hearing the news.

Hah! You think that makes you old?

Old is when you have to look Cobain up, because your music decades were 50/60/70.

I’m so old, Kurt Cobain was after my time.

I was devastated the first time I heard Nirvana played on a classic rock station.

I saw Nirvana live about four months before Kurt Cobain died. I had to sneak out of the house to see them. My mom threw away my concert t-shirt. Good times.

How old are you if you remember him dying but didn’t know who he was at the time?

John Lennon’s death got more than 20 minutes on a national CBS news cast. Now that’s old.

Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) – 2002, much better band than Nirvana

Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon) – 1995, much better band than Nirvana

Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) – 2015, much better band than Nirvana

Never could understand how Nirvana is treated with such reverence. Best thing to come out of Nirvana was the Foo Fighters.

You know, people, too many of you COULD just give Cobain a moment of quiet without all the OLD PEOPLE NEGATIVITY. Jesus! GC is full of narcistic bleeps!!!

Who is this Kurt Cobain of whom you speak?

Anyone remember when Johnny Ace shot himself in the head playing Russian roulette in the dressing room before a show in Houston, Texas, on Christmas Day 1954? For those of you who don’t, he lost.

I remember when the Free Bird crashed into the woods. I guess that makes me ancient.

… and my 2 least favorite characters make an appearance. But that’s ok. I sailed away to my happy place with pig yesterday.

Of course he’s old … a millennial wouldn’t be caught dead with a backwards cap.

That’s not old. Try remembering Kennedy’s assassination.

I’m almost 64 and was only vaguely aware of Cobain and Nirvana. I was more affected by the deaths of John Lennon, Michael Jackson and Prince. All were shocking to me..

i still mourn Janis Joplin…

Never heard him. Preferred Croce.

This is going to be my Brother’s Birthday Card!

I’m TOO old to have been a fan of Nirvana.

I remember JFK, though I was a little kid. But for me, the REAL shocker was John Lennon.

You want to know what old is ? I remember the day Elvis died

Is being old a bad thing?

If Nirvana’s songs are oldies the I’m ancient. My idea of oldies is Elvis, Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, etc.

I saw him on that unplugged TV special and thought he was really talented because all the songs were different from each other

Who the heck is Kurt Cobain?

Neither, pig…

This “comic” strip is getting too strange.

too soon

Gee, “I have millions of dollars and a worldwide network of adoring fans, all on the strength of cranking out some of the most forgettable drivel ever recorded; I just can’t take it!”

Kurt Cobain’s death left a lot of unanswered questions – the biggest one being “What took him so long?”

Comeback would be a rat’s lifespan is 2 to 4 years

If you remember when The USA had 48 States……….

I am so old I did not care the day Cobain died

You know you’re old when they play your favorite songs in the grocery store.

I was sad on the day John Lennon died. Jimi, Janis, & Jim Morrison too.

Time is cruel. Just yesterday I saw a video analyzing Sweet dreams by Eurythmics. Great song and one I remember hearing them play live, only then I realized that concert was almost four decades ago!Time happens when you’re having fun, but also when working, waiting in a queue and sleeping. Great music makes everything better, except for when sleeping.

I only know who Kurt Cobain is because of a poster my daughter put up in her bedroom when she was in high school. It’s still there. Subsequent occupants of the room seem to like it.

What does it mean when I remember being sad when Bob Keeshan, Fred Rogers and Jim Hensen died?

Wow, all those references to the past. The last Civil War Veteran, WW2 Vets, JFK, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Lennon, so many others named. I remember watching the original Star Trek before it was in reruns.

Hmm, I wonder what other celebrity deaths that had a wide impact could be used for this. If you don’t remember Kurt Cobain dying, maybe Steve Irwin? If not Irwin, Robin Williams?

♫ ‘It was the third of September

That day I’ll always remember, yes I will

‘Cause that was the day that my daddy died

I never got a chance to see him, never heard nothin’ but bad things about him

Momma I’m depending on you to tell me the truth

Momma just hung her head and said, sonPapa was a rolling stone

Wherever he laid his hat was his home

And when he died, all he left us was alone

Papa was a rolling stone (my son, yeah)

Wherever he laid his hat was his home

And when he died, all he left us was alone’ ♪

Oh, for goodness sake, THAT is NOT old! Old is before John Lennon was shot, back when or before “American Pie” (the song) was written. Remembering when the Beatles broke up. When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, etc. I go back before Kennedy was shot, but I was too young to remember. And there are lots of people decades older than I am.

I was sad when I heard Janis Joplin died! :-(

I was already old THEN.

Nothing wrong with grunge according to this senior!

To date me:

I remember after-school cartoons being interrupted with “Special Reports” (nothing more than a logo graphic and voiceover) to inform us of the passings of Eisenhower and Johnson. I remember the passings of Bing Crosby (just after taping his last Christmas Special in advance), Guy Lombardo, Ferde Grofe, Aaron Copland (yes, was and still am a classical and Big Band geek) and Elvis. And I remember my reflexive response to the early morning news of John Lennon’s shooting as “Well, bang goes all that stupid Beatles reunion talk…..”

And, tragically, I’m also old enough to be awaiting the inevitable passings of several favorites and worrying that the news won’t make mainstream media and I’ll only find out about them the hard way months or years later (Richard Thompson, for example, or more of Fairport Convention, several Scots folk singers, etc.) Maggie Roche’s 2017 passing almost escaped my knowledge.

Kurt Cobain? Meh. See “Death/Suicide As a Career Move”……………

Meh.

“Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is about 50.

So by this metric, I’m not old… I don’t remember feeling sad… because I remember feeling kinda meh about it. Never much cared about Nirvana, so his death didn’t really affect me. “Oh that’s a shame” and went on with my life.

Stephan, you are not old, I’m old. When they made a big deal when he died – I said – “Who?” He was after my radio listening days, I had not a clue who this singer was. A single?? part of a band?? – So, no clue how really old you are – or Rat accuses you of being. LOL

I’m old enough to have been sad when the poet Li He died (in 817 CE).

Li He is my choice to be the spiritual father of the whole “27 Club” (although he may have been 26 or 28). He wrote poems about death and wine and aging, using a lot of symbolism that, while beautiful, was considered shocking and inauspicious in lyric poetry: “His poems famously explored ghostly, supernatural and fantastic themes.” He’s still considered one of the great masters of classical Chinese poetry, but the authorities have always shied away from exposing him to students because he set an example they didn’t want followed.

He even had a shocking appearance; illness caused his hair to turn prematurely white, and his early death was brought on not only by his illness but from wine and courtesans.

He was the rock star of the Tang Dynasty…

Fun Fact: Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” lifts most of its lyric (not the title, obviously) from a Li He poem.

Buddy Holly. Sadly Waylon Jennings missed the plane.

Does anybody here remember the day the music died?

I still can’t understand the lyrics to “Teen Spirit” and don’t care enough to look them up and try to memorize them (same with “Sunglasses at Night”…)

Smells like old man.

We have such a sad and bassackward view of old age in this culture.

Anybody here remember when Timothy Leary wasn’t dead?

To really be old you were sad the day JFK was assassinated.

Let’s see… if you were an angsty teen in the 90s, you are now in your (counts on fingers) in your 40s. That’s where I was when Nirvana hit the big time.

I six years old when Kurt Cobain died. Didn’t know him then. Don’t really know much about him now. All I know is that he had drug addiction, so it isn’t all that shocking

You’re “old” if you replace Kurt Cobain with John Lennon

Remember or not, he’s a sunbeam now.

i was in my late 20’s when nirvana hit big. after years of listening to black flag, dead kennedys, etc., i found nirvana to be too wimpy.

Generalismo Francisco Franco is still dead. (I am that old. )

The word came out on Usenet. Remember that? Yup, you’re old.

No Deadheads on GC? RIP Jerry.

zzzzz…zzzzzz…..zzzzzz…..

I remember Robert Kennedy being shot. I remember the Moon Landing. And Watergate. And the Bicentennial. And people dancing on top of the Berlin Wall. And Kristen shot J.R.

Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King??? Yes, yes, yes, I remember them all. I even remember when Jimmy Hoffa disappeared but I thought we were talking about musicians we admired?

I was too old to be part of his target audience. That’s old.

My sympathy for self-destructive singers ended after Judy Garland

My (now) 29-year-old son was sad… and he was still in the oven.

They were never even goodies.

Shouldn’t this comic have run in April, on the 30th anniversary of Cobain’s death?