Nirvana songwriter Kurt Cobain passed at the age of 27 on this day, April 5, in 1994 placing him on a long list of singers, songwriters, and countless other musicians who have also been lost before reaching their 28th birthdays due to a number of debilitating mental health issues.
Musical mental health organization Over The Bridge has used Google's "Magenta" AI software to create tracks that sound almost indistinguishable to the stylings of late songwriters like Cobain, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, and more in order to bring awareness to the struggles that musicians and countless others face on a daily basis.
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The aim of this daring project, which uses Google's software to analyze an artist’s work to then learn how to compose similarly, is to create an album "lost to music's mental health crisis." You can hear the AI penned "Drowned In The Sun," composed in the vein of Cobain, above.
"As long as there’s been popular music, musicians and crews have struggled with mental health at a rate far exceeding the general adult population," Over The Bridge says on the project's website. "This issue hasn’t just been ignored. It’s been romanticized, by things like the 27 Club—a group of musicians whose lives were all lost at just 27 years old."
The organization explains their hope is that the use of "artificial intelligence to create the album the 27 Club never had the chance to," will encourage industry insiders to get the mental health support they need in order to "continue making the music we all love for years to come."
For more information on mental health in the music industry and how you can join the conversation, visit Over The Bridge's 'Lost Tapes of the 27 Club' project here.
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Audacy's I’m Listening initiative aims to encourage those who are dealing with mental health issues to understand they are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-273-8255.
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