Kurt Cobain

**Kurt Donald Cobain** (February 20, 1967-April 5, 1994) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with American grunge band Nirvana.

### Born

February 20, 1967Grays Harbor Hospital
Aberdeen, Washington, USA

### Death

April 5, 1994 (age 27)Seattle, Washington, USA

## Early Life

Kurt was born at the Grays Harbor Hospital to Wendy Elizabeth Cobain and Donald Leland Cobain on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. His family was known to be artistically-inclined, with uncle Chuck Fradenburg being a guitarist for a band named the Beachcombers, his aunt Mari Earle playing guitar for bands throughout Grays Harbor County, and his great-uncle Delbert Cobain having a career as an Irish tenor. Kurt would also have a younger sister, Kimberly, born on April 24, 1970. He was described as a happy and excitable child in his early years while also showing a sensitive side.

It wouldn't take long for Kurt to gain an interest in the arts, starting singing at the age of 2 and starting to play piano by the age of 4. He had also begun taking up drawing as a hobby, drawing pictures of characters he liked such as the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Donald Duck with his grandmother, Iris, encouraging his artistic tendencies.

At the age of 9, Wendy and Donald divorced, which affected Kurt deeply as his parents noticed he had become more withdrawn. Kurt had went to live with his father while having occasional visits with his mother in Aberdeen. Despite Donald promising Kurt he wouldn't remarry, he would marry Jenny Westeby later on. Donald and Kurt would move in with Westeby and her 2 children, Mindy and James, into an apartment building. While Kurt initially liked the arrangement, he would grow resentful after the birth of his step-brother, Chad Cobain, in January 1979 as he was used to getting more maternal attention before Chad was born. Wendy had married an abusive man, with Kurt regularly witnessing domestic violence occur while visiting his mother, with one incident in particular causing Wendy's arm to be broken. In a 1993 interview with Jon Savage, Kurt said he felt ashamed of his parents as a child and just wanted a typical family.

Kurt would become more defiant in his pre-teen and adolescent years, bullying another student at school and eventually being taken to a therapist for his behaviour. While the therapist had concluded that the best thing for Kurt was to live in a single family environment, attempts to reunite Wendy and Donald failed with Wendy eventually giving sole custody of Kurt to his father on June 28, 1979. With his defiance getting worse as time went on, his father felt it was overwhelming and had him stay with friends and family. During his time with the Reeds, a born-again Christian family, he would have a brief stint as a devout Christian but would later renounce his faith and go on anti-God rants. Donald would also try and attempt to get his son into sports which were unsuccessful, with Kurt intentionally striking out in order to get out of playing Little League baseball as well as intentionally losing high school wrestling matches to disappoint his father.

During his time in high school, he would befriend a gay student. This caused Kurt to be mocked and bullied, with classmates questioning Kurt's sexuality. Kurt didn't mind being thought of as gay since people would leave him alone, later stating he was proud of being associated with being gay even though he wasn't. The friend would eventually try and kiss Kurt, but Kurt backed away although they remained friends at the time. Kurt would also start experimenting with marijuana during his teen years and had begun a delinquent streak, spray-painting "God is Gay" on pickup trucks in the Aberdeen area before being arrested on May 25, 1986 for spray-painting "Ain't got no watchamacallit" on a building. Kurt would move back in with his mother during his sophomore year of high school, but would be kicked out at the age of 18 after he dropped out of high school 2 weeks prior to graduation after realizing he didn't have enough credits to graduate.

Cobain would move into an apartment in late 1986 while working at the Polynesian Resort in Ocean Shores, Washington. During this time, he would regularly visit Olympia to attend rock concerts. Kurt had grown a fascination with the punk rock scene in the Pacific Northwest after watching the Melvins perform outside a Thriftway supermarket where the guitarist, Buzz Osbourne, worked. Buzz and Kurt had struck a friendship after being classmates during high school in arts and electronics classes. During one of his visits to Olympia, he would meet his first girlfriend, Tracey Marander. The couple's relationship was close, but strained due to financial issues and Cobain being absent during tours. The relationship ended after Tracey told Kurt to get a job to support the couple. A little while later, Kurt would get into another relationship, this time with Tobi Vail of riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. While the relationship was close, the couple parted ways as Kurt wanted a typical relationship which Tobi was against.

## Career

### Early projects

For Kurt's 14th birthday, Kurt's uncle had asked if he wanted a bicycle or a used guitar. Kurt would take the guitar and would begin practicing in his bedroom. It wouldn't take long before Kurt began writing his own music. In 1985, Kurt would form a joke band, Fecal Matter, with Melvins drummer Dale Crover on bass and Greg Hokanson on drums. They would disband after releasing a demo album due to Dale touring with the Melvins to support their EP, *Six Songs*.

### Nirvana

By the time Fecal Matter disbanded, Kurt had started growing a friendship with bassist Krist Novoselic while the pair hung out in the Melvins' rehearsal space. Krist's mother owned a nail salon and the pair would practice in the upstairs room of the salon. After a few years of practicing, Kurt asked Krist if he wanted to start a band together. While Krist initially refused, he would agree months later after Kurt continued asking. The band was initially named the Sellouts and was nothing more than a cover band of Creedence Clearwater Revival upon their formation in 1986. Krist was on guitar and vocals, Kurt was on drums, and the pair enlisted Steve Newman to play bass, but the Sellouts quickly disbanded.

In early 1987, Kurt and Krist enlisted Aaron Burckhard to be the drummer of their next project as well as adding Jason Everman as an additional guitarist. The band wend under several different names (Pen Cap Chew, Ted Ed Fred, and Skid Row) before settling on Nirvana. After temporarily losing contact with Aaron, the band began practicing with Dale Crover and demos began recording in January 1988. Dale suggested the band use a friend of his, Dave Foster, as Dale was moving to San Francisco. Foster's tenure was short-lived after he went to jail for assault and was no longer able to attend rehearsals due to having his driver's license revoked. Aaron would make a brief return in 1988, but would leave due to alcoholism. In 1989, the band enlisted Chad Channing as a drummer and the band would release their first album, *Bleach*, on June 15, 1989 under the Sub Pop record label. Everman had left before recording began, but is still credited as a guitarist on the back cover. While not heavily promoted, the album was a favorite among college radio stations and had initial sales of 40,000 copies. The band would also release an EP, *Blew*, in November 1989.

In April 1990, Nirvana began working on their next album with Butch Vig producing at the Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. During the writing time, Kurt had grown dissatisfied with Channing's playing style and he was fired. In September 1990, the band would hire Dave Grohl on the recommendation of Buzz Osbourne. Dave's former band, DC-based Scream, had recently broken up on tour and he was hired after an audition. After being disenchanted with Sub Pop and Smart Studios, the band began searching for a major record label as no indie label would have the funds to buy them out of their contract. The band consulted Susan Silver, the manager for fellow Seattle-based grunge band Alice in Chains, who they had met in Los Angeles. Silver set the band up with Alan Mintz, a music business attorney who specialized in getting bands their first major record deal, and agent Don Muller. After being recommended by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, the band would sign with DGC Records in 1990.

After signing, the band immediately began working on their major-label debut album. DGC offered many producers, but the band held on to Butch as a producer. The recording moved from Smart Studios to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Recording lasted for 2 months, but the recording was behind schedule and the resulting mix was deemed unsatisfactory with DGC hiring Andy Wallace to complete the mix before being released on September 24, 1991. Kurt would later claim he was dissatisfied with how poppy the final mix came out on the album. DGC initially planned for the album, *Nevermind*, to reach a total sales figure of 250,000 copies but the album's first single, *Smells Like Teen Spirit*, quickly gained momentum in large part due to major airplay on MTV. By late 1991, the band's concerts were oversold during the European leg of their Nevermind tour, journalists and television crews were a constant, and Smells Like Teen Spirit had become omnipresent in both radio and television. By Christmas of 1991, Nevermind was selling at a rate of 400,000 copies a week. The album would eventually sell seven million copies in the US and 30 million copies worldwide. In January 1992, Nevermind would replace the Michael Jackson album *Dangerous* on the top of the Billboard 200 charts and would remain there until 1993. Due to exhaustion, the band decided not to do a second American leg of their Nevermind tour.

In March 1992, Kurt talked with Krist and Dave regarding songwriting royalties. As Kurt was the sole songwriter, he wanted 75% of the band's royalty money. The band initially came to an agreement before things turned sour when Kurt said the agreement would be retroactive. Rumors began circulating that Nirvana was disbanding during this time due to the health of Kurt. Despite this, the band performed at the 1992 Reading Festival as well as the 1992 Video Music Awards with Nirvana receiving the Best Alternative Video and Best New Artist awards. DGC was also planning on having a new album release by the holiday season of 1992, but as the deadline approached with no new music, the label released compilation album *Incesticide* on December 14, 1992 in Europe and December 15, 1992 worldwide.

In February 1993, Nirvana would release a split single, *Puss/Oh, the Guilt*, with The Jesus Lizard and would begin work on their third and final album, *In Utero*. The band chose Steve Albini to produce the album due to his natural recording style, although rumors were circulating Albini was chosen for his underground credentials as well as his prominence in the indie rock scene. The album was recorded over 2 weeks for $25,000 at the Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Rumors began circulating that DGC was unhappy with the result, deeming it unreleasable, but the album would release on September 21, 1993. Kurt was dissatisfied with the mix, believing the bass was too low, and had *Heart-Shaped Box* and *All Apologies* remixed by Scott Litt. The album was both a critical and commercial success, selling over 5 million copies in the United States alone.

Kurt would also give more attention to the indie rock scene, covering songs from The Vaselines, Meat Puppets, Wires, and Fang either during a concert or in studio. Kurt also had lesser known bands open for Nirvana during the In Utero tour from 1993-1994 such as Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, Chokebore, and Half Japanese. He would also enlist Meat Puppets to join for an acoustic concert for *MTV Unplugged* on November 18, 1993 as well as having ex-Germs guitarist Pat Smear do additional guitar work during the In Utero tour. The band would perform their final concert on March 1, 1994 in Munich, Germany. The band went on hiatus and the rest of the tour was cancelled after Kurt overdosed on Rohypnol and alcohol in his Rome hotel room on March 4, 1993. He had been diagnosed with bronchitis and laryngitis.

## Death

On March 9, 1994, Kurt had returned to Seattle with his wife Courtney Love, who he had married in February 1992. Nine days later, on March 18, Courtney would call the Seattle Police Department, claiming that Kurt had locked himself in a room and threatened to commit suicide. Police arrived and confiscated a firearm and several pills in the home with Cobain claiming that he'd locked himself in to get some alone time and that he wasn't suicidal.

An intervention was staged on March 25 due to Kurt's heroin addiction and while the intervention initially failed with Kurt locking himself in a bedroom, he agreed to go into a detox program. He would arrive at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles on March 30, 1994 with counselors being unaware of his depression and previous suicide attempts. On the night of March 31, Kurt would walk outside for a cigarette before jumping a 6-foot-tall fence and escaping the facility. He would take a taxi to the LAX Airport and booked a flight back home to Seattle. Kurt sat near Duff McKagan of Guns n Roses, a band Nirvana had animosity towards. McKagan said he felt that something was wrong with Kurt, but left him on his way. Kurt's whereabouts from the time he landed in Seattle on April 1 to the time of his death are unclear, as Kurt was sighted in various locations around Seattle. On April 3, Courtney would hire private investigator Tom Grant in order to find Kurt as his friends and family became aware that he had escaped rehab. Cobain was not seen alive afterwards.

On April 5, 1994, Kurt was in the greenhouse behind his home in the Denny-Blaine neighborhood of Seattle and had a shotgun he had a friend purchase before going to rehab. He would shoot himself in the head after taking a large amount of heroin and would pass away at the age of 27. Kurt's body was found on April 8 by Gary Smith, an electrician who had arrived at the home in order to install a security system.

Nirvana would disband immediately after Kurt's death and a public memorial was held at the Seattle Center on April 10, 1994. A private funeral was held 5 years later on May 31, 1999 with his ashes scattered into the McLane Creek in Thurston, Washington. Kurt's hometown of Aberdeen wouldn't officially recognize him until 2005 when they placed the phrase "Come As You Are", one of Nirvana's song titles, underneath a welcome sign. Aberdeen would later create Kurt Cobain Memorial Park, which would open in 2011. Kurt also left behind a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.

## Discography

### Nirvana

* *Love Buzz b/w Big Cheese* (Single, 1988)
* *Bleach* (Album, 1989)
* *Blew* (EP, 1989)
* *Sliver* (Single, 1990)
* *Candy (Live) / Molly's Lips (Live)* (Split Single with The Fluid, 1990)
* *Here She Comes Now / Venus In Furs* (Split Single with Meat Puppets, 1991)
* *Smells Like Teen Spirit* (Single, 1991)
* *Nevermind* (Album, 1991)
* *Drain You* (Single, 1992)
* *Hormoaning* (EP, 1992)
* *Nevermind, It's An Interview* (Interview, 1992)
* *Come As You Are* (Single, 1992)
* *Lithium* (Single, 1992)
* *In Bloom* (Single, 1992)
* *On a Plain* (Single, 1992)
* *Incesticide* (Compilation, 1992)
* *Molly's Lips* (Single, 1992)
* *Puss / Oh, The Guilt* (Split Single with The Jesus Lizard, 1993)
* *Heart-Shaped Box* (Single, 1993)
* *In Utero* (Album, 1993)
* *All Apologies / Rape Me* (Single, 1993)
* *About a Girl* (Single, 1994)
* *MTV Unplugged* (Live album, 1994)
* *Singles* (Box set, 1995)
* *Aneurysm* (Single, 1996)
* *From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah* (Live album, 1996)
* *You Know You're Right* (Single, 2002)
* *Nirvana* (Compilation, 2002)
* *With the Lights Out* (Box set, 2004)
* *Sliver: Best of the Box* (Compilation, 2005)
* *Live at Reading* (Video album, 2009)
* *Icon* (Compilation, 2010)
* *Live at the Paramount* (Video album, 2011)
* *Nevermind: The Singles* (Compilation, 2011)
* *Live and Loud* (Video album, 2013)
* *Pennyroyal Tea* (Single, 2017)

### Solo

* *The Priest They Called Him* (Poetry single with William S. Burroughs, 1993)
* *Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings* (Soundtrack, 2013)