Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of
Nirvana, the multi-platinum 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withdrawn after his parent's divorce.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
a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music.
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.
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.
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 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. 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. Several
distressed teenagers in the U.S. and killed themselves. The mainstream media was
lambasted for it's lack of respect and understanding of youth culture.
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