Let Us All Be Happy About How Few Nirvana Songs Show Up In Movies

You should know that as much as we love movies and Roger Ebert and Woody Allen and the Cardinals and all the things we love, we probably love Kurt Cobain more than all of them. (We tried to explain this once here.) There's a lot of Nirvana talk out there these days, with the 20th anniversary of "Nevermind"'s release coming in a couple of weeks, and we got to thinking about how Nirvana and Kurt have been used (or even portrayed) in movies. It's been a lot more sparse than you might think, mercifully.

When Courtney Love sold the rights to much of Nirvana's catalog for commercial use, the general fear among Nirvana freaks -- who, across the board, loathe Love -- was that we'd suddenly hear "MV" playing in Summer's Eve ads. But that hasn't really happened, which speaks well to Nirvana and Kurt's legacy: Turns out corporate America thinks Nirvana songs are too "revolutionary." Our resident Nirvana experts at The Amp say there was a "Cold Case" episode about Nirvana, which makes us hate ourselves and want to die, and "All Apologies" showed up in a "Six Feet Under" episode. (And the Republican Debate last night, for that matter.)

Movies-wise, though, we could only find five. One is the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" mix in "Moulin Rouge," which doesn't count. We've never seen "Definitely, Maybe," but from all accounts, "Come As You Are" is in there. Two of the others aren't so bad. "Something In The Way" is used effectively in "Jarhead," and we actually kind of love the "Shoot 'Em Up" scene with "Breed." (Kurt would have LOVED using one of his songs during a childbirth scene, actually.)

And then there are the opening credits of 1995's "Mad Love," with Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell.

Oy. By the way, we are not talking about the monstrosity that was "Last Days" WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT, EVER.

Republican Huntsman Abuses Kurt Cobain's Good Name at Tea Party Debate [The Amplifier]