NIRVANA : KURT COBAIN

Kurt was born on the February 20, 1967, in Hoquaim, a small town southwest of Seattle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an auto mechanic. Cobain soon moved to nearby Aberdeen, a depressed and dying logging town. For most of his childhood, Cobain was a sickly child with many bronchial/pneumonia attacks. Matters became worse, with his parent's divorced when he was seven. Kurt said he never felt loved or secure again after-wards. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in his music. After his parent's split, Kurt found himself shuttled back and forth between different relatives and homeless, living under a bridge.

When Cobain was eleven, he heard and was captivated by the Britain's Sex Pistols. After the Sex Pistol's self-destruction, Cobain and his friend, Krist Novoselic, continued to listen to the wave of British bands including Joy Division, the post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality. Cobain's artistry and his attacking settled beliefs, didn't win many friends in high school and sometimes earned him beatings from jocks. Kurt got even by spray painting, "QUEER", on their pick-up trucks. By 1985, Aberdeen was dead and Cobain's next stop was Olympia. Cobain formed and reformed a series of bands before Nirvana came to be in 1986. Nirvana was an uneasy alliance between Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and eventually drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl.

By 1988, Nirvana was doing shows and had demo tapes going around. In 1989, Nirvana recorded their rough-edged first album "Bleach" for local Seattle independent label, Sub-Pop. The recording cost all of $600.00. In Britain, Nirvana received much recognition and in 1991, their contract was bought out by Geffen. They signed to the mega-label, the first non-mainstream band to do so. Two and a half years after Nirvana's first cd "Bleach" was released, they released "Never-mind", a series of different, crunching, screaming songs, that along with it's first single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would rocket Nirvana to absolute stardom.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" became Nirvana's most highly acclaimed and instantly recognizable song. Not many people can decipher it's exact lyrics but Cobain used a seductive hook-line to mesmerize the listeners. "Never-mind" went on to sell ten million copies and made a reported $550 million, making Nirvana over-night millionaires. Cobain was shocked at the reception of his highly personal and passionate music. He repeatedly told reporters that none of the band ever, ever expected anything like this. It became obvious to many that the obsessively, sickly and sensitive 24 yr. old was not going to cope well with the rock lifestyle. "If there is a rock star 101 course, I really would like to take it," Cobain once said. Cobain got hooked on heroin in the early 90's. He said he used it as an escape shield against the rigorous demands of touring and to stop the pain of stomach ulcers and irritated bowel. Cobain continued to write his personal thoughts and focused lyrics during the tours, despite the pressures and pain.

Cobain was distressed to find out that what he wrote and how it was interpreted could quite often be miles apart. He was appalled when he found out that "Polly", a heavily ironic, anti-rape song, had been used as background music in a real gang-rape. He later appealed to fans on the "Incesticide" cd liner notes "If any of you don't like gays, women or blacks...please, leave us the fuck alone and out of it." It was to no avail. Cobain found that he had very little control being an overnight millionaire. He worried that his band had sold-out, that it was attracting the wrong kind of fans, the type he despised, the ones who used to beat him up.

In February 1992, Cobain headed off to Hawaii, to marry the already pregnant, Courtney Love. Later in the year, Nirvana released "Incesticide". In August, Kurt received hospital treatment for heroin abuse. Shortly after, his baby girl was born: Frances Bean Cobain. In early 1993, "In-Utero" was released, taking the top spot on the music charts. "In-Utero" was widely acclaimed by the music press and it contains some of Cobain's most passionate work. "In-Utero" was a lot more open than Nirvana's previous albums. Songs like "All Apologies" and "Heart Shaped Box" detailed aspects of Cobain's sometimes shaky marriage, other songs like "Scentless Apprentice" detailed the agonies and struggles of Cobain's experiences.
Nirvana embarked on a support tour and was recorded and filmed for "Unplugged", the acoustic performance for MTV, in November of 1993. Nirvana's choice to honor bands and people that had influenced them, along with Kurt's passionate, intense vocals especially on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", silenced many of those who had labeled Cobain talentless. Rumors circulated that the MTV Unplugged compilation would be Nirvana's last album and the band was splitting up.

Cobain was a gun fanatic. He always had several in his possession. In the winter of 1993-94, Nirvana took on an extensive European tour. Twenty concerts into the tour, Cobain developed throat problems and their schedule was interrupted while he recovered. While recovering, Cobain flew to Rome to join his wife, who was also preparing to tour with her own band. On March 4th, he was rushed to the hospital in a coma, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, in which he took about fifty prescription pain-killers with champagne. The suicide attempt was officially called an accident and was not even made known to close friends, associates, nor the fans. Several days later he returned to Seattle. Courtney, friends and Nirvana's managers convinced Kurt, who was still in deep depression and pain, to enter a detox program in L.A. Cobain fled after only a few days in the program, according to a missing person's report that was filed by his mother.

Cobain was cited in the Seattle area with a shotgun. Days later on April 5th, he barricaded himself into the granny flat behind his mansion, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. On Thursday April the 7th,just two days after a medical examiner says Cobain shot himself and the day before his body was found police say Courtney Love herself was taken to hospital in L.A. for a drug overdose. Released on bail, Love checked herself into a rehab center but left soon after a friend called her the next day with news of Cobain's death. Cobain's body was found when an electrician visiting the house to install a security system, went round the back of the house when no one answered the front door and peered through windows. He thought he saw a mannequin sprawled on the floor, until he noticed a splotch of blood by Cobain's ear. When police broke down the door they found Cobain dead on the floor, a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to his wife and daughter. Toxicology officials have stated that even though Kurt's tolerance level was extremely high, the amount of heroin injected into Cobain's body would have been enough to kill him immediately, so how could he hold a gun? Other people who were on the crime scene have pictures that show no blood on floor. The only blood was a small smear on Cobain's temple.

Two days after Kurt Cobain's body was found about 5,000 people gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. The distraught crowd filled the air with profane chants calling Courtney out as a murderer, burnt their flannel shirts and fought with police. They listened to a tape made by Cobain's wife in which she read from his suicide note. Several distressed teenagers in the U.S. and Australia killed themselves. The mainstream media was blasted for it's lack of respect, interest and understanding of the youth culture. Kurt's death inspired a host of copycat suicides and conspiracy theories regarding his death. Many of these theories centered around accusations that Courtney Love, in a fit of insecurity or depression, had hired a hit on her husband. A documentary film was made on this theory, entitled "Kurt and Courtney". The theory has quite a large following among Cobain's fans, many of whom never approved of his marriage in the first place. Many fans and some of Kurt's own relatives and friends believe Courtney organized his death.

Kurt Cobain was cremated. One third of his ashes were scattered in a Buddhist temple in New York, another third were scattered in the Wishkah River in Washington State, and the rest are still with Courtney Love. Writer Charles Cross published a biography of Cobain titled "Heavier than Heaven" in 2001. The next year a collection of Cobain's journal excerpts was released. Years after his passing, the musician continues to intrigue and inspire fans, most notably with the release of a new track "You Know You're Right" in the fall of 2002, along with a greatest hits album, called "Nirvana". The release of both had been held up by legal wrangling between Love, who demanded nothing could be printed/recorded and the remaining Nirvana members who felt Kurt's words/music needed to be out for his fans and followers.