Kurt Cobain
The Nirvana singer and songwriter whose Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard chart in January 1992 and pulled grunge and Aberdeen, Washington, into the mainstream. He was called the voice of his generation and never made peace with it, and his death in April 1994, at 27, is the line a lot of people draw under their adolescence.
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, the son of a waitress and a car mechanic. He met Krist Novoselic at Aberdeen High School and in the practice space of the Melvins, whose singer Buzz Osborne had introduced him to punk rock by lending him records. He dropped out two weeks before graduation, and after months of asking, Novoselic agreed to start a band: Nirvana, formed in Aberdeen in 1987. The debut, Bleach, came out on Seattle's Sub Pop in 1989; Dave Grohl joined on drums in 1990, and on Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon's recommendation the band signed with DGC that year.
Nevermind was released on September 24, 1991, and debuted at No. 144. Then "Smells Like Teen Spirit" took off, and on January 11, 1992, Nevermind replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling roughly 300,000 copies a week. It has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and brought grunge and alternative rock to a mass audience, with Cobain dubbed the voice of his generation. He struggled to reconcile that success with his underground roots and felt persecuted by the press. On February 24, 1992, he married Courtney Love on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, and their daughter Frances Bean was born that August 18.
In Utero, the raw follow-up produced by Steve Albini, topped the American and British charts in 1993. That November 18, Nirvana taped MTV Unplugged at Sony Music Studios in New York. Cobain asked for stargazer lilies, black candles and a crystal chandelier on the stage, and when the producer asked, "You mean like a funeral?" he answered, "Exactly. Like a funeral." The performance aired on December 16, 1993. Through these years he struggled with heroin addiction, chronic stomach pain and depression, and in March 1994 he was hospitalized in Rome after an overdose.
On April 8, 1994, an electrician arriving to install a security system found Cobain dead at his home on Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle. He had taken his own life; the coroner estimated the date as April 5. He was 27. A public vigil at Seattle Center on April 10 drew about 7,000 mourners, and Novoselic's statement was simple: "We remember Kurt for what he was: caring, generous, and sweet." MTV Unplugged in New York, released that November, debuted at No. 1. Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, its first year of eligibility, and fans still gather at Seattle's Viretta Park every April.
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