Kurt Cobain As important as Nirvana’s music was
for the burgeoning grunge scene in the early 1990’s,
Kurt Cobain was equally important as the personifica-
tion of the angst-ridden, identity-lacking, and disillu-
sioned Generation X. Born in 1967, Cobain lived
near the depressed logging town of Aberdeen, Wash-
ington, for most of his life. When Cobain was seven
years old, his parents divorced, an event that pro-
foundly affected him and contributed to the rebel-
lious tendencies that eventually attracted him to the
Pacific Northwest punk scene, where he met and be-
friended many of the musicians who would influence
him for years to come. Cobain received his first guitar
as a gift at the age of fourteen and finally convinced
Krist Novoselic, fellow denizen of Aberdeen and dev-
otee of punk rock, to begin playing with him in 1985.
In 1992, Cobain married Courtney Love of the
band Hole. They were immediately hailed as the next
Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen because of their copi-
ous heroin use and “live fast, die young” rock-star be-
havior. Cobain turned to drug use early in his life as a
response to depression and chronic pain due to an
undiagnosed stomach condition for which he tried to
find a cure for most of his life. Heroin dominated his
adult life, and although he would occasionally enter a
drug rehabilitation program, he always relapsed.
Cobain’s habit contributed to his grunge hero status
as he slurred and sometimes nodded off on stage and
during interviews and photo shoots, but he would of-
ten perform and speak lucidly even while under the
influence. As with so many other artists, heroin would
prove to be his final undoing.
On April 8, 1994, Cobain’s body was discovered
in a room above the garage of his Lake Washing-
ton home. Cobain had fled rehab just days be-
fore. The official cause of death was a self-inflicted
shotgun blast to the head; a suicide note was found
nearby, and heroin was in his system. Seven thou-
sand mourners attended a vigil on April 10 in
Seattle. Cobain’s death spawned conspiracy theo-
ries, but none were ever deemed probable.
Post-Cobain Nirvana In November, 1993, Nirvana
taped a popular and critically acclaimed perfor-
mance onMTV Unplugged, and an album of the show
was released in November, 1994. A “plugged-in” con-
cert compilation, From the Muddy Banks of the
Wishkah, was released in 1996, named for the river
that flows through Cobain’s hometown.
Grohl’s career flourished after Nirvana as he be-
came front man and the creative force behind the
Foo Fighters. Novoselic continued to be involved in
recording and playing live music and became in-
creasingly involved in politics.
Impact Nirvana inaugurated a new musical era
and managed to occupy the rare space of achieving
commercial success and critical acclaim while main-
taining artistic integrity. Cobain’s suicide rendered
him a John Lennon-esque figure for Generation X
and fostered a myth around his life.
Further Reading
Azerrad, Michael.Come as You Are: The Stor y of Nir-
vana. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Members of
Nirvana contributed to this biography, which
was amended in a 1994 reprint to include infor-
mation on Nirvana’s final tour and Cobain’s
death.
Cross, Charles R.Heavier than Heaven: A Biography
of Kurt Cobain. New York: Hyperion, 2001. Cross
conducted more than four hundred interviews
over four years for the book and was granted
exclusive interviews and access to Cobain’s pri-
vate journals, lyrics, and photos by Courtney
Love.
True, Everett.Nirvana: The Biography. New York:
Omnibus Press, 2006. Includes nearly full tran-
scripts of many interviews with Nirvana members
and their acquaintances and offers somewhat
more exhaustive details of the controversy sur-
rounding Cobain’s death and Nirvana’s place in
grunge music and the culture of the 1990’s than
previous biographies of the band.
Alan HaslamSee also Alternative rock; Drug use; Grunge fash-
ion; Grunge music; Heroin chic; Lollapalooza; Love,
Courtney;MTV Unplugged; Music.The Nineties in America Nirvana 613