Love this song.

So I always assumed this song is well-known even among casual fans, but is that true?

I know PJ was huge in 1994, but for people (like me) who were a little bit younger and became a fan much later on, the "hits" from Vitalogy that I knew by heart (Corduroy, Betterman) had no overlap with the original singles (STBC, Not For You, Immortality) from this album. Immortality is probably the only one of those singles where I could have said "oh yeah, I've heard that song before" when I first became a fan.

Currently at least, the only songs from Vitalogy I've heard on the radio (not on the PJ station obviously) have been Corduroy and Better Man.

Before Sirius XM when I just listened to local rock stations in high school (2007-2010) I heard Alive, Black, Even Flow, and Jeremy all the time. Those would be the only ones I knew. When I started listening to more specific Sirius XM stations (Lithium), I would have heard Corduroy, Better Man, Rearviewmirror, Daughter, Animal, and maybe Elderly Woman.

That same list is true for me, except for Animal. I didn't know about that song until I started buying the albums.

I'll just leave this here. Ed sounds amazing. Dave A. is off the charts.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t_uLLzra0kM

This one is pretty fucking rad too. Stone for the win.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2_BFCl1Zyg

This song deserves everything good that's ever been said about it.

What’s the consensus on whether this is about Kurt?

that its not, but it is broadly about some of the things they were both going through

Thank you, that makes sense. I’ll always think of Kurt when I hear it.

yea even if he did not directly inspire it the song speaks to his experience

What is the evidence for those in the "it's about Kurt" camp? Just the cigar box line?

And they debuted it right after his death.

I'd say that's a dead giveaway

I think the cigar box image was probably taken from Kurt’s suicide, but I don’t think that means the whole song is about Kurt. It’s just a powerful image.

In the context of all the other lyrics, I'm not sure it is. But that's why I asked the question.

I guess another way to approach this is, if it's not about Kurt, what is the song about?

I think it’s generally about disenfranchised or otherwise lost souls latching onto hollow idols — could be drugs, celebrity, certain social circles — at their peril

man, its been so long since i thought this one was about Cobain. Yeah the cigar box on the floor is a direct reference to his suicide but thats about it i guess.

eddie has said somewhere that he kept lyrics he was working on in a cigar boz
x, which tracks with the scrawl disolved lyric preceding it

what is the cobain connection with the cigar box again?

I kept wanting to post "did y'all know what a cigar box was before Cobain?" but I didn't want to come across like a snarky asshat.

But really I understand why that's such a touchpoint/reference for so many. It was a powerful image at the time and something I'm sure a lot of people of a certain age associate with Kurt.

To answer your question (trigger warning):

Spoiler: show

I'll be totally honest... this is a safe space, right?.... but honestly, I always thought the song was about Native Americans. It wasn't until much, much later that I considered it was about Kurt or what trag was saying or anything else.