Kurt Cobain Biography

Alt Text Kurt Cobain was a musician who catapulted to fame as the lead singer and guitarist for the alternative rock band Nirvana in the early 1990s. He helped propel the new sound that was germinating in the Seattle, Washington area - a fusion of rock, punk and heavy metal music, into the mainstream, where it was labeled "grunge". Cobain was greatly influenced by an array of mainstream and alternative bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Pixies, and The Melvins - an underground Washington based band that he befriended and strove to emulate.

Cobain tapped into a generation of disaffected youths with angst-ridden lyrics that questioned societal values. He was thrust into the forefront of the grunge movement with the seemingly overnight success that came with the release of Nirvana's second album "Nevermind" in 1991 and the hugely successful single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was heralded as the anthem for the apathetic Generation X. But the already socially uncomfortable Cobain became increasingly distressed over the misinterpretation and commercialization of his music and retreated further into a world of depression and drugs. His marriage to fellow rocker Courtney Love in 1992 and the birth of their child Frances Bean, brought attention and scrutiny to his heavy drug use, and soon Cobain and Love were being compared to the self-destructive punk rock couple Sid and Nancy.

Kurt Cobain proved to be more than the quintessential reluctant star, when at the height of his fame in 1994, he shot himself and ended a life he described in his suicide note as being drained of enthusiasm, and filled with frustration, guilt and empathy for everyone. He is remembered as a profound songwriter and music legend who pioneered alternative rock music.

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Interesting Facts

  • Cobain was prescribed the drug Ritalin to treat his hyper-activity as a child.
  • At his father's insistence, Kurt joined the wrestling team in junior high school, the local baseball team while in high school, and took the entrance exams to join the Navy (which he passed).
  • As a child, Cobain had an imaginary childhood friend named Boddah.
  • While living with his paternal grandparents, Cobain attended church regularly and sang in the church choir.
  • Cobain worked several different jobs before forming a band, including as a janitor, and a children's swimming instructor.
  • Cobain suffered from chronic stomach and back pains most of his life.
  • Cobain gained a fascination with the late Seattle-born actress Frances Farmer after reading her biography as a teenager. A tribute song to the actress "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" appears on the 1993 "In Utero" album.

Discography

  • "Bleach" - 1989
  • "Nevermind" - 1991
  • "Hormoaning" (Import) - 1992
  • "Incesticide" - 1992
  • "In Utero" - 1993
  • "MTV Unplugged in New York" - 1994
  • "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" - 1996

BIOGRAPHIES

  • "Never Fade Away: The Kurt Cobain Story" by Dave Thompson (1994)
  • "Kurt Cobain" by Christopher Sandford (1994)
  • "Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain" by Charles R. Cross (2001)

Kurt Cobain Timeline

  • 1967
    1. Kurt Donald Cobain is born at the Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington on February 20th. His parents Donald, an auto mechanic, and his mother Wendy bring him home to the nearby small town of Hoaquim, before moving to Aberdeen months later.
  • 1975
    1. His parents Donald and Wendy divorce and he stays with his mother for about a year before going to live with his dad in a trailer park in Montesano, Washington.
  • 1978
    1. After his father remarries in February, they move from the trailer into a house. In the following years Cobain's introverted yet rebellious nature grows and he is shuttled between the homes of both parents, and various aunts, uncles and grandparents.
  • 1981
    1. On his 14th birthday, his uncle Chuck gives him a choice between a bicycle and an electric guitar as a gift. Cobain chooses the latter and receives some lessons from his uncle's band mates.
  • 1985
    1. Cobain returns to live with his father in Montesano, then a few months later drops out of high school, rejects his father's idea about him joining the Navy and returns to live with his mother in Aberdeen. His mother puts him out of the house after barely a month, and he crashes with various friends and spends most of his time reading at the library and loitering under the North Aberdeen Bridge.
      Cobain forms the band Fecal Matter with Dale Crover of The Melvins (a band Cobain admired) and Greg Hokanson.
  • 1986
    1. Fecal Matter plays a few small gigs locally and records a demo album at Cobain's aunt's house.
  • 1987
    1. Cobain forms a new band with high-school friend Krist Novoselic and Steve Newman. They go through a series of name changes from Sell-out, to Ted Ed Fred, to Throat Oysters, to Pen Cap Chew, before finally settling on Nirvana.
  • 1988
    1. Nirvana, which is now Cobain, Novoselic and Dale Crover, record their first demo album and release their first single "Love Buzz/Big Cheese" in October.
  • 1989
    1. Nirvana contributes the song "Mexican Seafood" to the compilation album "Teriyaki Asthma, Volume 1" for C/Z Records. Cobain is credited as "Kurdt Kobain" on the album. Nirvana's debut album "Bleach" is released on the Sub Pop label in June.
  • 1991
    1. Nirvana, which is now Cobain, Novoselic and Dave Grohl, signs on with Geffen's DGC label.
      Cobain begins dating fellow alternative rocker Courtney Love of the band Hole in late summer.
      Nirvana's first and biggest hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is released on September 10th and the album "Nevermind" is released on September 24th - it reaches number one on the music charts in January of the following year.
  • 1992
    1. Nirvana performs on "Saturday Night Live" on January 11th. They trash the stage and kiss each other on the lips at the end of the show, just to "piss off the rednecks and homophobes" back home. The "make-out session" is edited out of the show. Cobain marries Courtney Love in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii on February 24th and their daughter, Frances Bean, is born on August 18th. After a Vanity Fair article is published that quotes Courtney Love admitting to using heroin while pregnant, she and Cobain lose custody of their newborn daughter for a few weeks.
  • 1993
    1. Cobain overdoses on heroin and Courtney Love injects him with Buprenorphine to revive him on May 2nd. Two months later Cobain overdoses on heroin again and Courtney Love revives him out of an unconscious state with an injection of Narcan. That same night he performs at the New Music Seminar in New York City.
      Nirvana's third album "In Utero" is released on September 21st and they perform again on "Saturday Night Live" on September 25th - this is the first time a band plays the live comedy show twice.
      The band performs on "MTV Unplugged" on November 18th. and the recording is released as an album the following year.
  • 1994
    1. Cobain is diagnosed with bronchitis and laryngitis in March, while on tour in Germany. A few days later in Rome, he is rushed to the hospital for an overdose of alcohol and the prescription drug Rohypnol.
      Courtney Love organizes a drug intervention for Cobain on March 25th, with his friends and band mates. Cobain enters the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles on March 30th, but then leaves the next day.
      On April 5th, Kurt Cobain is found dead, with a shotgun by his side, at his Lake Washington home by a service man.
      A candlelight vigil is held for Cobain in a park at the Seattle Center on April 10th, where Courtney Love reads Kurt's suicide note to thousands of young fans.

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