Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the founder and frontman of Nirvana, the band that pioneered grunge.
Briefing[]
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967-April 5, 1994) was an American singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Nirvana, the band responsible for creating Alternative Rock.
He was born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington, a small logging town in Western Washington.
He shot himself with a shotgun on April 5, 1994 in his waterfront Lake Washington home. His body remained undiscovered for three days.
Early Life[]
Kurt Cobain was born on February 20th 1967 at Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, WA, to Donald and Wendy Cobain. Donald worked at Derrell Thompson’s Chevron Station in Hoquiam, WA. His mother Wendy was a stay at home mother. From an early age, Kurt Cobain showed an interest of art and music. It was apparent that he excelled in drawing in kindergarten, and he learned piano by ear. In 1972 Cobain attended Robery Gray Elementary School. In 1976, Cobain’s parents divorced and he moved in with his father to Montesano, WA, where he attended Deacon Elementary School. For Cobain’s fourteenth birthday in 1981, he received his first guitar from his uncle. He began to become interested in playing guitar even though it was a cheap one.
Cobain met Buzz Osborne of the Melvins in 1983, where young Cobain would attend practice sessions and he would hang out with the band, and friends. He then moved back to Aberdeen to live with his mother, where he enrolled at Weatherwax High School. Cobain eventually dropped out of school and moved out of his mother’s house. Cobain, at times found himself homeless and would resort to sleeping at friend’s houses, apartment building hallways, and hospital waiting rooms. In 1985, Cobain was arrested for vandalism. He was caught writing “Aint’T goT no how waTchamacalliT”, on an alley wall. May 18th 1986, he was arrested for trespassing and was said to be intoxicated on the roof of an abandoned building. Soon after, he moved in to his first house. To pay rent, he worked at Polynesian Inn Resort at Ocean Shores. In 1987, he formed a band called the Sellouts with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burchkhard. They played Creedence Clearwater Revival covers at local bars.
Nirvana Days
In May of 1987, Cobain and Novoselic moved to Olympia, and by 1988 the band Nirvana was formed. The band consisted of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Chad Channing. They played many shows and they started becoming more popular in the Seattle music scene. Nirvana released their first album, Bleach, in 1989. Even though the album was not a huge success, Nirvana still went at it. In 1990, Cobain met Courtney Love, but they did not start dating right away. Nirvana got to be a part of a tour with Sonic Youth, one of Cobain’s favorite bands. Before the tour, Cobain and Novoselic kicked out drummer Channing, and replaced him with their friend Dale Crover. After the tour, they stumbled across Dave Grohl and replaced Crover with Grohl. Nirvana signed to Geffen Records in 1991, where in the same year, they created the album Nevermind. This was one of the biggest albums of the 90’s and the album that labeled their sound as “grunge”.
In the early 90’s Cobain began using heroin to escape, and for stomach problems. He met back up with Courtney Love before the recording of Nevermind, and soon after, they started dating. In 1992, Cobain and Love got married. They also gave birth to a baby girl, that they names Frances Bean Cobain in August. Cobain and Love’s relationship was toxic and both fell into doing drugs together. They both had to fight for custody of their daughter Frances, because they were being investigated by social services. Love apparently told Vanity Fair that she was using heroin while pregnant. They won the legal battle granting them full custody. In 1993, Nirvana released an album titled In Utero that went to the top of the album charts. Cobain became more distant from his band members than before, but he kept on playing gigs, including MTV’s Unplugged series. In 1994, while in Rome, Cobain attempted suicide by overdosing on drugs. Official reports said that it was an accident, but Cobain left a suicide note on the scene. After the tour in Europe, he returned to the U.S. Cobain often spent time by himself getting high. According to a police report, Cobain locked himself in a closet with guns and medication, which the police later confiscated. On April 4, 1994, Kurt Cobain took his own life. He shot himself with a shotgun place in his mouth, and left another suicide note. There have been a lot of conspiracies about Cobain’s suicide, including one that points the finger at Courtney Love. After his death, Nirvana released the album Unplugged in New York, and a few years after they released a bunch of songs titled, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.
Bands
1985-1986: Fecal Matter (Kurt Cobain, Dale Crover, Greg Hokanson
1986: Stiff Woodies (Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic
1985-1986: Brown Towel/Brown Cow (Kurt Cobain, Dale Crover, Buzz Osborne)
1985: The Sellouts (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Steve Newman)
1987-1988: Skid Row (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Aaron Burckhard)
1987-1988: Throat Oysters (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Aaron Burckhard)
1988-1994: Nirvana (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl)
1989: Go Team (Kurt Cobain, Tamara Ohrmund, Tobi Vail, Louise Olsen, Donna Biddle, Calvin
1989: Jury/Lithium (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Mark Lanegan, Mark Pickerel)
Albums[]
1989 - Bleach
1991 – Nevermind
1992 – Nevermind, It’s An Interview
1993 – In Utero
1994 – MTV Unplugged In New York
1996 – From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah
2009 – Live At Reading
Kurt Cobain on the web[]
- discogs.com
- musicbrainz.org
- listenmusic.fm
- http://www.goalweb.com/nirvana2/kurts_bands.htm
- http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=10378
- http://www.aberdeen-museum.org/kurt.htm
- http://www.biography.com/people/kurt-cobain-9542179?page=1
- http://www.nirvanaguide.com/related.php
- http://www.discogs.com/artist/Nirvana]