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 Love and the couples then
19 month old daughter Frances Bean.
BIOGRAPHY
Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana,
the multiplatinum grunge band that redefined the sound of
the nineties.
Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in
Hoquaim, a small town 140 kilometres south-west 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
Cobain was for most his childhood a sickly bronchitic
child. Matters were made worse when Cobain's
parent's divorced when he was seven and by his
own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure
again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social
and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also
said that his parent's traumatic split fueled
alot of the anguish in Nirvana's music
After his parent's divorce Cobain found himself
shuttled back and forth between various relatives and at
one stage homeless living under a bridge
When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captivated
by the Britain's Sex Pistols and after their
self-destruction Cobain and friend Krist Novoselic
continued to listen to the wave of British bands including
Joy Division the nihilistic post-punk band that
some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of
mood, melody and lyrical quality.
Cobain's artistry and iconoclastic attitude didn't
win many friends in high school and sometimes earned him
beatings from "jocks" Cobain 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 were 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
In Britain Nirvana received a lot of 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
C.D. Bleach was released they released Nevermind,
a series of different, crunching, screaming songs that
along with it's first single Smells Like Teen
Spirit would propel Nirvana to mainstream stardom.
Smells Like Teen Spirit became Nirvana's most
highly acclaimed and instantly recognizable song. Not
many people can dechiper it's exact lyrics but
Cobain used a seductive hook line to hook the listener.
Nevermind went on to sell ten million copies
and make a reported $550 million (US) leaving Nirvana
overnight millionaires. Cobain was shocked at
the reception of his highly personal and passionate music
repeatedly telling reporters that none of the
band ever, ever expected anything like this. It quickly became
obvious that the obsessively sickly and sensitive
24yr old was not going to cope well with the rock'n roll
lifestyle. "If there was a rock star 101 course,
I'd really have like to take it," Cobain once observed.
Cobain fell into heroin in the early 90's, he
said he used it as a shield against the rigorous demands of
touring and to stop the pain of stomach ulcers
or an irritated bowel. Through the touring and pressure
Cobain continued to write his very personal acutely
focused lyrics.
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 liner notes "If any of
you don't like gays or women or blacks, please
leave us the fuck alone." It was to no avail, Cobain found
that as an overnight millionaire musician control
was something he had very little of. Cobain also worried
that his band had sold-out, that it was attracting
the wrong kind of fans (i.e the type that used to beat him
up.)
In February 1992 Cobain skipped off to Hawaii
to marry the already pregnant Courtney Love. Later in the
year Nirvana released Incesticide and in August
Cobain had hospital treatment for heroin abuse. Shortly
after Frances Bean Cobain was born. In early
1993 In Utero was released into 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 recorded
and filmed an "unplugged" (acoustic) performance for
MTV in November of 1993. Nirvana's choice to
honour bands and people that had influenced them and
Cobain's passionate and intense vocals especially
on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" silenced many of
their who had labeled Cobain talentless. Rumours
circulated that the MTV Unplugged compilation would
be Nirvana's last album and the band were splitting
up.
Cobain was a gun fanatic and always had several
in his possession or in various forms of confiscation. In
the northern winter of 1993-94 Nirvana embarked
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 the 4th Cobain was rushed to hospital
in a coma after an unsuccessful suicide bid in which he
washed down about fifty prescription painkillers
with champagne. The suicide bid was officially called an
accident and was not even made known to close
friends and associates. Several days later he returned to
Seattle. Cobain's wife, friends and managers
convinced Cobain, who was still in deep distress to enter a
detox program in L.A. According to a missing
person's report filed by his mother Cobain fled after only a
few days of the program.
Cobain was cited in the Seattle area with a shotgun.
Days later on the 5th of April 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 ~ 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 Love and the couples then 19 month old daughter
Frances Bean.
The suicide note ended with the words "I love
you, I love you." 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, burnt their flannel shirts and
fought with police. They also 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 lambasted for it's lack of respect and
understanding of youth culture.
We'll Always Remember Kurt D. Cobain 1967-94