     kurt donald cobain (february 20, 1967&nbsp;â  april 5, 1994) was an american musician who was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the grunge band nirvana. cobain formed nirvana with krist novoselic in aberdeen, washington, in 1985 and established it as part of the seattle music scene, having its debut album bleach released on the independent record label sub pop in 1989. after signing with major label dgc records, the band found breakthrough success with "smells like teen spirit" from its second album nevermind (1991). following the success of nevermind, nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of generation x, and cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". cobain, however, was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. he challenged nirvana's audience with its final studio album [[i
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