It was seventeen years ago today when the world learned that one of the most iconic rock figures in the history of the genre, Kurt Cobain, had taken his own life at the age of 27 in the apartment above the garage in his Seattle, Washington home.
Cobain, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the popular grunge rock band, ‘Nirvana’, had been missing for six days when he was found by an electrician going to his house to install a security system around 9 am. Police investigated and determined that Cobain had died roughly three days earlier, due to a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, although high traces of heroine and valium were later found in his bloodstream, as reported by the coroner’s report.
Although many were shocked by the news, those close to Cobain would see his suicide as no surprise, knowing of Cobain’s battle with drug addiction and depression, as well as his medical issues with his stomach and back.
Born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington to Wendy and Donald Cobain, Kurt showed his desire for art and music at an early age. And although there was encouragement by his parents to draw, paint and play various instruments, this was also where the roots of his depression began. “I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me,” Cobain once said in an interview.
But this parent’s divorce didn’t derail his goals of becoming a rock musician. Cobain went on to create one of the most influential grunge rock bands of all-time, Nirvana. Cobain and his band would go on to win a Grammy for their MTV Unplugged acoustic performance, as well as win an American Music Award, a handful of MTV Video Music awards and sell more than 50 million records worldwide, with their album “Nevermind” being certified 10 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Cobain eventually started a family, marrying Courtney Love on February 24, 1992 and had a child, Frances Bean Cobain, who was born on August 18, 1992. And although Cobain often described these times as the happiest in his life in many interviews, these moments would also not go on without strife, with Frances being taken away from the couple for several weeks after birth, when they were accused of being drug addicts during Love’s pregnancy.
Many of these events portrayed Cobain as a bad and negative person, associated with the stereotypical rock star lifestyle until his untimely death, but he ultimately became the voice of Generation X’s youth, becoming the catalyst for teen angst.
And although Cobain’s image may be shrouded by depression, misunderstanding and suicide, many friends and family will remember him as a happy and funny guy. “Kurt really wasn’t the tortured artist, like, the sulking tortured person. He was a really funny person,” says long-time friend and Nirvana bass player, Krist Novoselic in an interview.
The impact that Cobain had on people became apparent during his public vigil on April 10, 1994 at a park at the Seattle Center when approximately seven thousand people showed up and mourned the death of Cobain.
People who spoke at the vigil included Love, read passages from Cobain’s suicide note, along with the remaining members of Nirvana and various family members.
“I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, 'Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't,'" said Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters guitarist and vocalist, Dave Grohl, in response to Cobain’s death.
“He had the desperation, not the courage, to be himself. Once you do that, you can't go wrong, because you can't make any mistakes when people love you for being yourself. But for Kurt, it didn't matter that other people loved him; he simply didn't love himself enough,” said Dave Reed, who was Cobain’s foster father for a short period of time.
And with the seventeenth anniversary of the finding of Cobain’s body and death happening this week, people are finding entirely new ways to pay tribute to his legacy. Many people are going to social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter and posting about Cobain and his death. Many magazines and rock news websites are running memorial articles on him. Even his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington has gone as far as to create a guitar shaped memorial in his honor.
Kurt Cobain became a rock icon, voice of a generation, loving family man and a tragic case of when fame goes wrong. But then again Cobain did once say “It’s better to burn out than fade away,” which he surely did.
No comments:
Post a Comment