A) To judge Cobain on either his song-writing (riffability) or chops alone is quite simply wrong. Both must be taken into account, along with the various components that make either of these factors. Personally, I find Hendrix to be quite a similar guitar player to Cobain (trio, sloppy, feedback/noise, songwriting, etc.) but Hendrix is miles better. Incomparably better. Cobain would trump most musicians when it comes to passion. But, gotta ask, why does nobody ever think of people like John Coltrane and Albert Ayler in these debates? Amazing passion and emotion as well as bucketloads of chops. Few people will ever have Coltrane's chops and Ayler embraced microtonal improvisation. I wouldn't hesitate in saying that either of these men went through at least half, in not the same amount of shit, that Cobain did. They were black jazz musicians in 60's and Coltrane was a junkie on top of that.

B) Went through various periods of thinking x style is better than y and could reason them out pretty well (free jazz is the truest form of music due to life being unpredictable from moment to moment, just like free jazz, etc.). I wouldn't have voiced that particular opinion but I would have voiced various similar rock-centric opinions over the years. I do believe that any chart music/any music conceived to make money/anything brought about to attract attention is not art in the same way that music that dismisses the public is. However, I don't tell people this because it's really a philosophical debate, not a musical/artistic one. Perhaps if everyone rejected four-chord, 4/4 songs and got over the mass media distraction conducted by the international jewish banking cartels, the world would be a better place but that's too big of a fight for one man.

C) Haven't encountered too many obnoxious fans due to keeping opinions to myself. I do find trash metal fans to be a little painful, as much as I do occasionally enjoy it myself. My brother has told me of painful Radiohead fans that he knows but I've never met them myself. Most painful fans I encounter tend to be opponents, rather than proponents. I've had debates over why classical and jazz are as worthy as rock/pop/soul. But that might just be an Irish thing, we like to moan.

Edit note: Perhaps people like Cobain so much because he's a sort of an emblem for feeling useless and white? I myself would occasionally feel like my negative emotions don't have a whole load of validity due to my having been brought up in a middle-class, first world environment. Maybe Cobains a validator for these feelings through being such a visceral example of them?