Kurt Donald Cobain (pronounced /koʊbeɪn/, /kʌbeɪn/; February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was an American songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Nirvana.With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, popularizing a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained wider audiences, and as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. Nirvana became considered as the "flagship band" of "Generation X", and Cobain, as its frontman, found himself anointed by the media as the generation's "spokesman." Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing the band's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).
During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with drug addiction, illness and depression, his fame and public image, as well as the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife, musician Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The circumstances of his death have become a topic of fascination and debate. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide.
Biography
Early life
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. He lived his first six days in the city of Hoquiam, Washington, before the family moved back to Aberdeen. His father, Donald Leland Cobain, was of Irish and French descent, and his mother, Wendy Elizabeth Fradenburg, was of Irish, German and English ancestry. After researching his heritage, Cobain would discover his surname originated from the Coburn clan, who migrated to North America from County Cork, Ireland. Cobain had one younger sister named Kimberly, born on April 24, 1970.
He was born into a musical family. His mother Wendy's older brother Chuck was in a band called The Beachcombers, his Aunt Mari played guitar and performed in bands throughout Aberdeen, and his great-uncle Delbert had a career as an Irish tenor; making an appearance in the 1930 film King of Jazz .
His talent as an artist was evident from an early age. His bedroom was described as having taken on the appearance of an art studio where he would draw his favorite characters from films and cartoons such as Aquaman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Disney characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Pluto.
He began developing an interest in music early in his life. According to his Aunt Mary, he began singing at the age of two. At four, Cobain began singing and playing the piano, writing a song about their trip to the park. He would listen to artists like the Ramones and sing songs like Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcyle Song," The Beatles' "Hey Jude,"Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun" and the theme song to The Monkees television show.
Cobain's parents divorced when he was eight years old, an event which he later said had a profound effect on his life. His mother noted that his personality changed dramatically - Cobain became more withdrawn. In a 1993 interview, Cobain elaborated:
"I remember feeling ashamed, for some reason. I was ashamed of my parents. I couldn't face some of my friends at school anymore, because I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family. Mother, father. I wanted that security, so I resented my parents for quite a few years because of that."
After one year of living with his mother following the divorce, Cobain moved to Montesano, Washington to live with his father. After several years, however, his youthful rebellion became too overwhelming for his father and he was shuffled between friends and family.
Teenage years
While living with the born-again Christian family of his friend Jesse Reed, Cobain converted to Christianity, regularly reading the Bible and attending church services. Cobain later renounced Christianity, engaging in what would be described as "anti-God" rants. The song "Lithium" is about Cobain's experience with the Reeds.
Religion would still play an important part in Cobain's personal life and beliefs, as he often used Christian imagery in his work and maintained a constant interest in Jainism and Buddhist philosophy. The band name Nirvana was taken from the Buddhist concept, which Cobain described as "freedom from pain, suffering and the external world," which paralleled with punk rock ethic and ideology. Cobain would regard himself as both a Buddhist and a Jain during different points of his life, including through watching late night television documentaries of both subjects.
At school, Cobain took little interest in sports. At his father's insistence, he joined the junior high school wrestling team. Though skilled, he despised the experience because of the abuse he received from his teammates and coach. He allowed himself to be pinned in order to spite his father, to his father's disgust and disownment. His father later enlisted him for a local baseball league, where Cobain would intentionally strike out to avoid having to play.
Cobain focused on his art courses instead. He often drew during classes, including objects associated with human anatomy. When given a caricature assignment, Cobain drew a posing Michael Jackson. When told this would be inappropriate to be displayed within the school, Cobain drew an unflattering sketch of then President Ronald Reagan.
Cobain was friends with a homosexual student at his high school, sometimes suffering bullying from homophobic students who concluded that Cobain was gay. In a 1993 interview with The Advocate , Cobain claimed that he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual." He also stated that he used to spray paint "God Is Gay" on pickup trucks around Aberdeen. However, Aberdeen police records show that the phrase for which he was arrested was actually "Ain't got no how watchamacallit." One of his personal journals states, "I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes."
As attributed to numerous of Cobain's classmates and family members, the first concert he attended was Sammy Hagar and Quarterflash at the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1983. Cobain, however, claimed his first attended concert to be the Melvins - an experience of which he wrote prolifically in his Journals . As a teenager living in Montesano, Cobain eventually found escape through the thriving Pacific Northwest punk scene, going to punk rock shows in Seattle. Eventually, Cobain began frequenting the practice space of fellow Montesano musicians the Melvins.
In the middle of 10th grade, Cobain moved back in with his mother in Aberdeen. Two weeks before graduation, he dropped out of high school after realizing that he did not have enough credits to graduate. His mother gave him a choice: get a job or leave. After a week or so, Cobain found his clothes and other belongings packed away in boxes.
Forced out of his mother's home, Cobain often stayed at friends' houses and sneaked into his mother's basement occasionally. Cobain later claimed that when he could not find anywhere else to stay, he lived under a bridge over the Wishkah River, an experience that inspired the Nevermind track "Something in the Way". However, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said, "He hung out there, but you couldn't live on those muddy banks, with the tides coming up and down. That was his own revisionism."
In late 1986, for the first time, Cobain found his own residence and paid his rent by working at a Polynesian coastal resort 20 miles from Aberdeen. At the same time, he was traveling more frequently to Olympia, Washington to check out rock shows. During his visits to Olympia, Cobain started a relationship with Tracy Marander, who reportedly was the subject of the song "About a Girl", and is listed in the photo credits on the album Bleach .
After breaking up with Marander, Cobain began a relationship with Tobi Vail, an influential DIY punk zinester of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. After meeting Vail, Cobain vomited due to being so overwhelmed with anxiety through his infatuation with her. This would inspire the lyric; "Love you so much it makes me sick," which would appear in the song "Aneurysm". While Cobain would regard Vail as his female counterpart, his relationship with her waned: Cobain wished for the maternal comfort of a traditional relationship which Vail regarded as sexist within a countercultural punk rock community. Partners to Vail would be described by friend Alice Wheeler as "fashion accessories." They would spend most of their time as a couple discussing political and philosophical issues. Cobain's experience of his relationship with Vail would inspire the lyrical content of numerous of the songs on Nevermind . When discussing topics such as anarchism and punk rock with friend Kathleen Hanna, she once spraypainted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall. Teen Spirit being the name of a deodorant Vail would wear, that Hanna joked Cobain smelled like. Cobain however was unaware of this, and would interpret the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning, inspiring
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