For members of Generation X and the Millennials - at least the white ones - Kurt Cobain's suicide was one of those "where were you when it happened" moments. Little earnest kids caught up in the height of grunge rock had lost their downcast messiah and were going to express their grief in the most melodramatic way possible. For the very young, it was seriously intense. Imagine the reaction if the actors in Twilight died tomorrow, just with fewer sparkles and humiliating source material. â†µ

â†µIt wasn't just the emo kids, either. Mostly because being emo wasn't a defined thing yet. But also because everyone felt the pain to some extent, even the dreaded jocks. This might help explain why future Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira changed his first name to Kurt (not legally, of course) for a spell after the news came out regarding Cobain's suicide. In fact, he told MLB Network's Harold Reynolds in an interview last night that he even signed documents using that name. â†µ

â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥HR: What is this stuff about Kurt Teixeira? â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥MT: You know what? When I was a kid I was a big Nirvana fan. And, uh, Kurt Cobain unfortunately passed away when I think I was in eighth grade. And when you're twelve or thirteen years old and your favorite band isn't gonna make any more music, you take it pretty tough. So, uh, I went by an alias for a little while. â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥HR: Yeah, your mom said... â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥Mark's mom (on video): Mark tried to change his name to Kurt when he was, uh, because he loved Kurt Cobain when he filled our forms he would put, he would sign "Kurt Teixeira", so we had Kurt Teixeira things coming to the house for a while. I'd go, "what is this?" and it was because he had this thing for Kurt Cobain. â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥HR: You had the mail coming to your house? â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥ â†µâ‡¥MT: I would fill out...anytime I'd fill anything out whether it was for comic books or CD clubs or anything I would write Kurt Teixeira just because I didn't know what I was doing. I was twelve years old and I was having fun with it. â†µâ‡¥ â†µ

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â†µWe all take the loss of our childhood heroes hard. I'll never forgot the period where I went as Optimus Prime Tunison. The Transformers animated movie was tough on everyone. YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWAHHHH! YEAH! â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.