On January 11, 1992, Nirvana's Nevermind hit number one on the Billboard Album charts, officially putting Seattle on the map. Just over a week later, on January 23rd, George Karl became head coach of the Seattle Supersonics. Both events marked the beginning of an unprecedented and completely unexpected period of success for the band, the team and the entire city.
And then, in 1994, it was all over.
On April 5th, 1994, Kurt Cobain killed himself in his Seattle home. A month later, on May 7th, the Sonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in the the biggest upset in NBA Playoffs history.
Obviously, someone losing their life is a much bigger tragedy than a team losing a game, and in the Big Picture, neither really affected me directly. But, being a stupid 22-year-old at the time, I was utterly devastated by the double whammy. I dropped out of school (take that, Green River Community College!) and got a job working at a video store. I couldn't listen to Nirvana for more than a decade and barely watched the Sonics the next season, fearing they would choke again in the playoffs (they did).
And while the Sonics managed a few more good years and the Seattle music scene survived, nothing in this town seemed as good or as important after 1994.
