Kurt Cobain is a singer known by the band Nirvana. He is one of the most famous artists in the world who has performed grunge music. Cobain was also recognized as a guitarist, ranking 12th out of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time listed by Rolling Stone magazine. How are the discography and the greatest hits of Nirvana presented? What addiction ruined Kurt Cobain by causing him to commit suicide? Find out about the biography of Kurt Cobain's cult alternative music figure.
Kurt Cobain was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen (Washington). The date of birth of the musician is February 20, 1967. Kurt was the son of waitress Wendy Elizabeth Fradenburg and car mechanic, Donald Leland Cobain. Kurt also had a younger sister, Kimberly, who was born on April 24, 1970. Young Kurt's family has been associated with music for many years. His uncle played in a band, his aunt played guitar, his grandmother was a professional artist and his great-grandfather was an Irish tenor. So it is possible that Kurt inherited his musical talent along with his genes. Little Cobain has always been a very happy child, distinguished by honesty and extraordinary sensitivity. As a child, he showed a love of art, expressing it through, inter alia, drawing beloved cartoon characters.
For Kurt Cobain, music became a very important part of his life already in childhood. When he was only 2 years old, he began to sing. At the age of 4, he began learning to play the piano, as well as writing his first texts. He loved songs by The Monkeys, Ramones, and also The Beatles. When the boy was 9 years old, his parents decided to divorce. Kurt used to say all his life that mum's and dad's divorce had a very bad effect on him. He contributed, inter alia, to the fact that Cobain later reached for alcohol and other stimulants. After the divorce of his parents, Kurt changed a lot, from a joyful boy turning into an increasingly rebellious character. Kurt's parents found other partners. Unfortunately, Wendy (Cobain's mother) chose a man who abused her. This also affected the boy's behavior.
Kurt Cobain was getting more and more insolent. He abused one of his friends at school, so his parents had to enroll him in psychological therapy. The boy tried in vain to unite his separated mother and father. In 1979, Cobain's father was given full custody of his son. This, however, could not take care of him, so the boy ended up in the religious family of a friend of Jesse Reed. Religion was later an important part of the beliefs as well as of Kurt Cobain's personal life (though he renounced Christianity). At school, he made friends with a homosexual, saying that he liked to be considered gay - after that people left him alone, which was good for Kurt.
Over time, Kurt began looking for an escape from reality, finding it in the Pacific Northwest punk scene. He started going to concerts in Seattle on a regular basis. He later entered Aberdeen High School, staying with his mother. Two weeks before graduation, he quit, and his mother told him to find a job or leave the house. Cobain chose the latter as a rebel, so he started wandering around the city aimlessly - living, among others, under the bridge over the Wishkah River.
In 1986, he moved into his own apartment as he joined The Polynesian Resort. During this time, he attended rock concerts many times. Cobain quickly quit his job and hooked up with Tracy Marander, who worked at the Seattle airport - often stealing food to keep them from starving. She was furious with Kurt that her boyfriend slept until the evening and was only involved in concerts. The quarrelsome relationship and breakup with Marander inspired the musician to write "About a Girl," which Tracy only found out after his death. Kurt later dated Tobi Vail, a former member of the band Bikini Kill.
It is worth mentioning that in Kurt's life his fascination with music manifested itself not only in the concerts he attended. At the age of 14, Kurt received a guitar from his uncle, on which he himself learned to play songs, among others, Queen or Led Zeppelin. Interestingly, Kurt played with his left hand, even though he wrote with his right. In early 1985, he formed the punk band, Fecal Matter, right after dropping out of school in Aberdeen. Together with two friends, they played covers and tried their hand at new arrangements. However, the band broke up in 1986. Cobain met bassist Krist Novoselic, who also loved punk rock. The two of them often played in front of Novoselic's mother's hairdressing salon. Kurt has long tried to persuade Krist to start a band. Soon that's what happened. Nirvana was born.
The name of the band was taken from Kurt's interest in Buddhist philosophy, described by Cobain as free from suffering. At the very beginning, the singer and guitarist could not attract an audience. Especially that for many years they changed drummers and still couldn't find the right one. Finally, they were joined by Chad Channing, with whom the band Nirvana later recorded the album Bleach (1989). Later, however, he was replaced by Dave Grohl. In 1991, Nirvana released another album, Nevermind. It included the band's most famous song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". At that time, the type of music performed by the boys was defined as grunge. Nirvana suddenly began to become famous throughout the United States, and over ... 80 million of its albums have been distributed around the world. The team was surprised by the great success and confusion that suddenly arose around them. Kurt Cobain wasn't entirely convinced that fame was something he wanted.
Kurt always wanted to combine the spectacular success of the team with his vision. He made the greatest grunge hits, becoming popular like Lemmy Kilmister. However, he felt that the media was starting to persecute him. He spoke loudly about his views, incl. supporting homosexuality and anti-abortion activists. Some people threatened the singer with death. In February 1992, the musician married Courtney Love, who was then the leader of the band Hole. Their marriage was consummated in Hawaii, where 8 people attended the ceremony. Cobain was dressed in pajamas for his wedding. A few months later, the couple's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was born. That same year, Nirvana released another album, Incesticide.
Kurt focused his songs most on the melody, not the lyrics themselves. Whenever someone tried to interpret the meaning of his texts, Cobain became frustrated that 90% of the pseudo-journalists did not do it correctly at all. He often emphasized that the texts were irrelevant. To emphasize it, even more, he regularly changed both the content and the order of his texts while giving concerts. Cobain often wrote about fame, talked about drugs, sex, and topics that were uncomfortable for some (including in the songs "Rape Me", "Polly," Scentless Apprentice "or" Heart-Shaped Box "). He added his dark and macabre sense of humor to important topics. Kurt Cobain's unusual concepts often led to quarrels between the band and the video producers.
The band's concerts were among the most famous in the world. One of the best was played at the Reading Festival, where Coban entered the stage in a wheelchair, dressed in a hospital gown. Later he got up and gave an amazing concert. He came up with his stage make-up after a wave of rumors that publicized his growing addiction to drugs. During the MTV Video Music Award, Cobain started to destroy instruments on stage, Krist tossed a bass guitar (which landed on his head), and Dave greeted Axl Rosa from Guns N'Roses loudly through the microphone - Kurt had a conflict with him. In 1993, the band released their last album, In Utero.
Kurt Cobain struggled with chronic stomach disease and bronchitis throughout his life. Already as a young boy, he used cannabis for the first time at the age of 13. He regularly took the drug saying that it helped him with pain. Over time, Kurt began to fall from addiction to addiction - he drank alcohol and took large amounts of LSD. He also abused various solvents and other addictive substances. Many people said that Kurt Cobain struggles with depression. At the beginning of the 90s, the musician took more and more heroin, especially since it was then readily available in Washington - his home state. He became addicted to heroin, which began to take a toll on his health. Despite everything, the musician said that thanks to heroin, his stomach finally does not hurt. He was overdosing more and more - just as he had done with other rock stars (like Lemmy Kilmister).
On March 1, 1994, Kurt was diagnosed with severe laryngitis and bronchitis. He then flew to Rome with his wife to heal himself. There, his wife caught him overdosing on drugs and champagne, later claiming that it was possibly the first suicide attempt by the vocalist of Nirvana. When they returned to the US, Cobain wanted to commit suicide more and more. On March 18 of the same year, he locked himself in a gun room. Courtney then called the police and took his gun and medicine bottle from him. On March 30, 1994, Kurt Cobain went to rehab at a clinic in Los Angeles. It was there that he met his daughter for the last time. Facility personnel was unaware of Cobain's history of depression. He was visited by friends at the center, and there was no indication that the vocalist of Nirvana was still having suicidal thoughts.
In early April 1994, Kurt could not stand it. He left the facility on the pretext of lighting a cigarette and jumped over a high fence. He took a cab and then returned to Seattle by plane. No one in the family knew Kurt was back - although rumors began in the city that the musician was in Seattle. Courtney Love hired a private investigator to find Cobain. On April 8, he was found at his home on Lake Washington Boulevard, with a shotgun pointed at his chin. A suicide note was found nearby, stating that the musician no longer felt excited about music or life. The body had been in the house for at least a few days, and the date of death was set for April 5, 1994.
Everyone was shocked at the death of Kurt Cobain. Courtney Love distributed some of Kurt's clothing to the mourners who came to Cobain's watch on April 10, 1994. Dave Grohl said the news of Kurt's death was the worst moment he had ever had in his life. Cobain killed himself without seeming to care that people loved him. Everyone loved him. However, Kurt Cobain was unable to love himself enough.
Bibliography:
- Cross Charles R.: Under the weight of heaven. Kurt Cobain's biography, In Rock Music Press, Warsaw 2001
- David Aceituno, David Buisan: Kurt Cobain. Biography, Debit Publishing House, Warsaw 2019
- Michael Azerrad: Nirvana. Be whatever, In Rock Music Press, Warsaw 2001
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