Jewel discussed Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic in a new Variety article:
I was a product of the ‘80s and came of age in ‘90s like many of you — when Nirvana was king. They were king and deservedly so, because they saw a gap. They felt a gap between where culture actually was, and what was being played on the radio.
And that gap wasn’t small, it turns out. It ended up being a revolution.
Nirvana was part of the real world, the world that didn’t think it was a shiny happy place, a carry-over of the glitz, stadium rock and material-girl realness of the 80’s. Kids were in pain. And Kurt, Krist and Dave were those kids. And they gave a voice to a generation that felt the same as they did. Outsiders.
I was that generation. I was one of those kids. How I felt on the inside wasn’t what I saw on TV or heard on the radio. But as the decade progressed, and a disengaged apathy began to set in and even become cool, I couldn’t afford to be disengaged and hopeless. I didn’t want to kill myself. I didn’t want to numb myself. So as the whole world was saying, “I am in pain,” I began to say, “I’m in pain… now what?” I began to write music about “now what.”
And I began to see a gap: a gap between what I was hearing on the radio and what I was seeing around me. The tide was going to shift. Kids wanted solutions. They needed to hear a new truth. That no one will save your soul if you aren’t willing to save your own. That no one is coming for you — you are coming for you. We are going to be okay. Kindness matters.
