Research Paper On Kurt Cobain

The world of music is not only full of new adventures and excitement, but also pressure. This can be seen first hand with Kurt Cobain, who was the lead man in one of the most well known grunge bands, Nirvana. In the beginning, it was all fun and games for Cobain. He was doing what he loved since the age of only two years old, making music. Throughout Cobain’s short, yet successful lifetime, he had been through a lot. This included dealing with a difficult childhood, health problems, depression, and drugs. To this day, Kurt Cobain will always be known for Nirvana and is cherished by many. It is unfortunate how everything turned upside down from Kurt's addiction and depression spiraling out of control and leading to his suicide
Kurt Cobain was
born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. His mother was named Wendy Cobain, who was a waitress and his father was Donald Cobain who was a automotive mechanic. Cobain was one of four children, he had two sisters and one brother. Cobain's family had a musical background which was probably a big factor in what struck his interest in music at such an early age. At the age of two years old he began singing. At the age of only 4, he started playing piano as well. When Kurt Cobain was nine years old, though, his parents divorced. He has said in an interview that he felt ashamed as a child that his parents got divorced. He also said he could not face classmates at school because he wanted to have that “classic” family. (Savage) It was not only the divorce that Cobain struggled with as a child, but he also struggled with his identity. In the same interview, Cobain talked about how everybody thought he was gay even though he had never experimented, although he did have one gay friend. He even says it got to a point where he himself thought he could be gay as well. Cobain never cared that people called him gay, in fact he has stated that he believed that he was “gay in spirit” (Mashable)
Cobain dropped out only weeks before he was due to graduate so he could make time for his newly formed band.
However, soon after he left high school, he got a job at that very high school as the janitor. THe band, Nirvana finally started to write songs, and come up with their music. The band's first released single was a cover was “Love Buzz” a cover of Shocking Blue's song. Shortly after that they had their first interview with a man by the name of John Robb.(Clash Music) Soon, they started recording their first ever album, Bleach sometime in the 1980s. After the release of the album they began to touring. Their music began to play on radios more often, and the began quickly rising up, setting the bars up higher for other grunge bands. In the early 1990s, they released one of their biggest hits, “Smells like teen spirit” which was a single released off their album Nevermind began to be played so much on radio stations. That album was bought by millions around the
world.
Not only was the new music that Nirvana was bringing to the table helping them stay relevant and loved by many. It was also that the band as a whole supported not only the LGBT community, but also women, and those of color. Often Cobain would speak out about the topics in full support with every single one. Saying things such as in a note he wrote as an extra to be in one of the bands CD, In the note he states, "If any of you, in any way, hate homosexuals, people of a different color or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the **** alone. Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records." (Bass) In that same note he also said, “If you're a sexist, racist, homophobe or basically an *******, don't buy this CD. I don't care if you like me, I hate you." (Bass) Kurt's bluntness was something that many admired about him, he nor the rest of the band did not care if they would lose fans, they were all for equality and they made that very clear many and many of times. Throughout everything that was happening from the beginning Cobain had been using drugs for awhile. Eventually, he met Courtney Love, who would soon become his wife, who also used drugs. The two had a child together and Cobain was still struggling with not only his drug addiction, but also his depression and health problems. He became a hermit and spent most of his time alone and high. At one point, Love called the police claiming that Cobain had locked himself in the bathroom with a revolver. When authorities arrived Cobain said he was not going to kill himself. Shortly after Love and a few other people Cobain was close to had an intervention for him. After that Cobain checked into a clinic to seek help. Only two days later, he left the clinic after telling the workers he was going out to smoke, he never came back.(Strauss) After he flew back to Seattle he was found with a gunshot wound, it was said he had been missing for several days.
In the beginning, it seemed clear to everyone that Cobain had killed himself, because of the gunshot wound and his obvious depression and usage of drugs he had dealt with.
But suspicions started to rise when Tom Grant, a private investigator who was hired by Love, Kurt’s wife, to at first keep an eye on Cobain and his whereabouts. One of the biggest things that led Grant to believing that Cobain was murdered was because at the time he was found it was noted that “Cobain had at least three times the lethal dose of heroin (by injection) in his blood system AND the wherewithal to “self-administer” a coup de grace by shotgun to his mouth. In reality, that level of heroin would have immediately incapacitated him. There were no legible fingerprints found on the shotgun” There were also forensic investigators that had questioned the authenticity of Cobain's alleged suicide note. Love, was never found guilty and it is still said that it was suicide and not murder. Many people still question the verdict of Cobain’s alleged suicide.
Kurt Cobain was known for being in Nirvana, one of the biggest bands of that time. He was even named the best songwriter of the generation at one point. With his addictions holding him back, on top of his depression everything started to go downhill for him. Unfortunately, instead of being able to slow down and accepting that help he could have got, he let the drugs completely take him over. Cobains abuse on drugs and his depression is what ultimately led
him to his downfall and his death.