Kurt Donald Cobain

February 20, 1967- April 4, 1994 (happens to be my birthday)



       Born in Aberdeen Washington, Kurt Cobain grew up in the house of an auto mechanic and a housewife. He hadn’t always been a rebellious kid, and was often described as perpetually happy in his very early years. With the break up of his parents and his constant moving between different homes and schools, he became more and more of the loud authority defying figure many people knew him to be. His father tried to be the best father he could, but Kurt just didn't like him. His father wouldn't keep his promises, and he hated his step mom. His mom was a bad example. She taught him to flick off policemen at the age of two. These are two main factors why he became the man he became.

      He had music around him constantly since he was a child, from his mother’s family being heavily littered with musicians. Kurt had also had a guitar in his hands off and on since pretty much the beginning of his life. His uncle actually gave him a drum set at the age of five, but when he got got his first guitar was when he really hit it off. Always working on his music and learning more and more about himself and different styles along the way, he passed through many likes and dislikes until reaching a point at which he started to create his own. In his middle school and early high school years, punk rock took a large part of Kurt’s interest as a movement, even though he had never heard any. He began to create music that was an aggressive mix of repetitive guitar and screaming in an attempt to recreate what he thought punk would sound like. He was not far from the mark.

      Along with his creative outlet in music, Kurt developed other outlets for the stresses of living in a town largely populated with people he dispised. He turned to vandalism, mainly graffiti jobs with friends of his. Defacing his school’s property, and then moving onto town walls and even his own apartments over the years, he developed into a vandal with a purpose to confuse and anger certain viewers, as well as decorate to his own taste. A lot of his art work over the years would follow these lines. Always creating things in the image of punk rock, giving off a twisted and disturbing image using raw and basic techniques and materials.

      After finally getting a taste of punk rock, his musical travels once again took off. Being friends with a local band called The Melvins, Kurt found himself being exposed to many sounds over the years, he would not have discovered otherwise. After being in the entourage of the band for quite some time, he finally started his own musical project along with members of The Melvins, calling themselves Fecal matter. Recording onto Kurt’s aunt’s 4 track tape recorder, this project put out one demo tape on their own. Shortly after the whole idea dissolved and fell apart.

      Throughout his life, Kurt found himself homeless from time to time. Loosing apartment after apartment for lack of being able to pay rent, he would sneak into places to sleep for a night including his mother’s house after she had kicked him out. He also made a home for himself under the North Aberdeen bridge which crosses the Wishkah River near his mother’s house. This bridge later became a well known time in his life through the song “Something in the way” off of NIRVANA’s Nevermind LP.

      Hanging out with The Melvins and getting high with groups of kids in town, Kurt was able to finally meet Chris Noveselic. They had gone to high school together but hadn’t spoken or been friends until then. Both ended up having a lot in common, mainly their outlook on life and their disinterest in the way things worked in the world around them. Becoming strong friends and finally agreeing to collaborate musically together, they started practicing with a drummer in an empty apartment above Chris’s mother’s beauty shop.

Thus begins Nirvana's Great History

      NIRVANA's rollercoaster ride to the top of music history came to a sudden halt on April 4th, 1994 when Kurt was found in his seattle home after apparently commiting suicide. He was 27 years old. Much discussion has gone on about the validity of the suicide explanation, but no matter what the cause, the outcome of his passing was the loss of a great musician, friend, father, and american icon.