One of the biggest rock stars of the 20th century, Kurt Cobain personified the grunge movement of the early 1990s. We can only guess what other songs the world might have heard from him, but unfortunately Kurt Cobain also became a member of the Club 27: Both Cobain and other musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse all died at the age of 27.
1. Suicide in the Cobain family
To this day, conspiracy theories surround Kurt Cobain’s death. Followers of these stories claim that Courtney Love hired a hitman to kill her husband after he filed for divorce. Abstruse variants are also circulating, in which Cobain only faked his suicide on April 5, 1994, and then emigrated to Peru.
The fact is, however, that two of his uncles took their own lives. Both with a shotgun. Kurt Cobain has faced such tragedies since childhood. This was also unavoidable for his daughter Frances Bean Cobain, who, however, developed her own version to deal with her father’s early death. For her 16th birthday, she celebrated a suicide themed party.
2nd concert after overdose
In July 1993, Nirvana performed at the New Music Seminar in New York City. Unbeknownst to many concert-goers, Kurt Cobain was found unconscious in a toilet the same day after overdosing on heroin and had to be rescued by Courtney Love, who called 911.
Rumors of a previous argument with Courtney Love are circulating here with enormous intensity. According to the MTV post, fans’ opinions on the band’s performance after the show were divided. Some liked the direction of the new material that appeared on Nirvana’s third album In Utero in September of the same year. Others questioned whether Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl even knew the key of the songs they had previously played.
3. The imaginary friend
Kurt Cobain addressed his suicide note to Boddah, his imaginary childhood friend. Based on Cobain’s own descriptions, Boddah is also credited with acting as the evil alter ego depending on your perspective. As an adolescent, he was once accused of torturing a cat, which he blamed on Boddah.
The said farewell letter states, among other things: “Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complainee, this note should be pretty easy to understand.”
In German: “Speaking with the tongue of a seasoned fool who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complainer, this letter should be fairly easy to understand.”
4. A sad reunion
One of the very first Nirvana shows was organized by Nikolas Hartshorne. Back in the late ’80s, no one knew which band would perform at Seattle’s Central Tavern. Hartshorne’s professional career was also under a different star at the time, because after his career as a concert promoter for punk bands in the US state of Washington, he threw on the scrubs of the medical examiner.
The same, then Doctor, Nikolas Hartshorne was the chief medical examiner who performed Kurt Cobain’s autopsy. The conspiracy theorists mentioned earlier see this as part of the plot and do not believe it was a coincidence. He was said to be friends with Courtney Love before he also died in a skydive in 2002.
5. The 4th album
In the wake of the hugely successful MTV Unplugged album, Kurt Cobain said the next Nirvana effort would have more acoustic influences. After discovering Lead Belly – whose song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” was covered on the Unplugged record – he had spoken to REM frontman Michael Stipe about breaking away from grunge. Stipe later reported:
“It was supposed to be very calm and acoustic, with lots of string instruments. It should be an excellent fucking record and I’m a little mad at him for killing himself. He and I wanted to do a practice run of the album, a demo tape. Everything was prepared. He had a plane ticket. He had a car pick him up. And at the last minute he called and said, ‘I can’t come.'”
6. MTV Unplugged before failure
The famous MTV unplugged concert almost never happened. At first, Cobain was unhappy with the way Dave Grohl played drums in the significantly stripped down Nirvana version. Grohl is known as an extremely energetic drummer who, since his early experiences as a drummer in punk bands like Scream, has exhausted himself when he sits down on the instrument. However, Kurt Cobain feared that Grohl’s energy would be too much for the quiet acoustic versions of the Nirvana songs. Too loud, too inappropriate. The discussions about it led to internal tensions between the two musicians, which left the band’s house blessing hanging awry.
But Dave Grohl wasn’t the only one who had a headache about the planned concert. MTV executives weren’t too thrilled when they heard that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” wouldn’t be on the setlist. In addition, the announced guests were by no means of the rank that the makers of the show wished for. They expected other greats from the grunge world – Eddie Vedder or Tori Amos. However, Nirvana came around the corner with the Meat Puppets.
7. Michael Stipe and R.E.M
It was by no means a coincidence that Michael Stipe was one of the first to be initiated into the plans for a fourth Nirvana album. Kurt Cobain was a big fan of REM. So much so, in fact, that he was rumored to be listening to the Automatic For The People album on repeat before taking his own life.
But that’s not all. The songs “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies” from the album “In Utero” were remixed by REM producer Scott Litt after Cobain initially expressed displeasure with the sound of the songs. Last but not least, he made Michael Stipe godfather to his daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
8. From school to the Navy
Cobain was a bad student who was plagued by hyperactivity and was therefore prescribed Ritalin. To convince him to take control of his life, his father Donald sent him to the nearest US Navy recruiting office. Cobain ended the recruitment process in 1984, but just before completing the recruitment process, Kurt Cobain chose to get stoned and walk away.
9. The petting zoo
Bruce Pavitt was the founder of Sub Pop, Nirvana’s first record label. He recalled having a discussion with Kurt Cobain after Nirvana appeared on the television show Saturday Night Live. With a lot of energy and the realization that anything is possible, Cobain brought up the idea that he might start a petting zoo. How seriously he took this project remains unclear to this day, but his pronounced love of animals makes the idea seem plausible.
10. The smell of rock ‘n’ roll
After a long night of partying, Cobain and many of his friends kept partying until Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna started spray-painting the walls of his house. The sentence was among the graffiti “KURT SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT”. Teen Spirit was the deodorant brand of Cobain’s then-girlfriend Tobi Vail.
Apparently, that sentence stuck with Cobain. Also considering other Nirvana song titles, the rather silly sounding name fits the pattern. Humor and provocation often go hand in hand. Little did Kathleen Hanna know at the time that she gave his name to one of rock’s biggest hits.