Kurt Cobain's hometown honours late musician with sad, crying statue

Artist Randi Hubbard and Aberdeen Mayor Bill Simpson unveil a statue of Kurt Cobain during the first annual Kurt Cobain Day on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014, in Aberdeen, Wash. (AP / seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo)

Kurt Cobain was honoured by his home town of Aberdeen, Wash., on Thursday. What resulted was a tribute gone wrong, judging by online reaction to a crying statue of the singer.

Cobain rose to fame in the 1990s as the frontman of the band Nirvana. Cobain, however, had a well-publicized struggle with the constant spotlight, battled a fierce heroin addiction, and died of suicide in 1994.

And apparently for the last two decades, the town has debated whether to honour him. According to local media reports, many in the town are still embarrassed by Cobain’s drug use and offended by some unflattering lyrics he wrote about Aberdeen.

But the city finally decided to honour him in 2014, proclaiming Feb. 20 “Kurt Cobain Day.” He was celebrated with a concert and an exhibit at the Aberdeen Museum of History, that includes T-shirts and a couch that Cobain once slept on.

And then there was the statue.

A local man had created a larger-than-life statue of Cobain nearly 20 years ago and had offered it to the city. It was only last Thursday that the statue finally had a dedication ceremony by the mayor.

A nice tribute, right? Well-intentioned, perhaps. But there were several odd things about that statue, including the fact that many people thought it looked nothing like Cobain.