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Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was the lead singer,
guitarist, and songwriter of the Seattle-based rock band Nirvana. Cobain was born
in Aberdeen, Washington and grew up with a troubled childhood, which he frequently
addressed in his songs and interviews. Known for his abrasive and often disturbing
songwriting as well as his distinctive vocal style, Cobain is often cited among the
most influential musicians of his time.
Cobain formed Nirvana in 1987 with Krist Novoselic. Within two years, the band
became a fixture of the burgeoning Seattle grunge scene. In 1991, the arrival of
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" marked the beginning of a dramatic shift of
popular rock music away from the dominant genres of the 1980s (glam metal, arena
rock, and dance-pop) and toward grunge and alternative rock. The music media
eventually awarded the song "anthem-of-a-generation" status,[1] and, with it,
Cobain ascended as the reluctant "spokesman" for Generation X. Other songs written
by Cobain include "Come as You Are", "Lithium", "In Bloom", "Heart-Shaped Box",
"All Apologies", and "About a Girl".
During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with drug addiction and the
media pressures surrounding him and his wife Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994,
Cobain was found dead in his home. His death was ruled a suicide by self-inflicted
shotgun wound to the head. Since then, the circumstances surrounding his death have
fueled much analysis and debate.
At the age of 14, Cobain was given his first guitar by his uncle. Cobain was
offered the choice of a guitar or a bicycle as a birthday gift, and chose the
guitar(Gibson SG). Cobain started by learning a few covers, including AC/DC's "Back
in Black" and The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl". He soon began working on his own
songs.
In high school, he often found himself without anyone to jam with, as none of his
friends had any particular musical talent. Eventually, Cobain met Krist Novoselic,
a fellow devotee of punk rock, who lived across from the Young Street bridge.
Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon and they would practice on occasion in the
upstairs room. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band
with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band,
Fecal Matter. After months of prodding, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain,
forming the beginnings of Nirvana.
During their first few years playing together, Novoselic and Cobain found
themselves host to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on
Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album Bleach, released on Sub Pop
Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style,
leading the band to seek out a replacement, eventually settling on Dave Grohl. With
Grohl, the band found their greatest success via their 1991 major-label debut,
Nevermind.
Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana with his underground
roots. He also felt persecuted by the media, comparing himself to Frances Farmer,
and harbored resentment for people who claimed to be fans of the band but who
completely missed the point of the band's message. One incident particularly
distressing to Cobain involved two men who raped a woman while singing the Nirvana
song "Polly". Cobain condemned the episode in the liner notes of the US release of
the album Incesticide: "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs
while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly.' I have a hard time carrying on
knowing there are plankton like that in our audience. Sorry to be so anally P.C.
but that's the way I feel."
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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