Childhood of Kurt Cobain
A serious influence on the formation of the creative side of Kurt was his mother's brother Chuck Fradenburg, who was a member musical group. Mary Earl - Kurt's aunt, played the guitar virtuoso and often performed in the various ensembles. On his seventh birthday, Cobain received a drum set as a gift from his beloved aunt. Kurt's great-uncle - Delbert chose a tenor career for himself and even starred in one little known movie. Cobain's grandmother, who was a professional artist, saw in her grandson the hidden potential of a talented and skilled artist and encouraged him in every possible way. various manifestations. Given so many creative personalities among Cobain's relatives, it was not surprising that with young years parents began to notice in Kurt some manifestations of creative inclinations. Already at the age of three or four, he enthusiastically sang songs bands The Beatles. In the same years, Kurt wrote his first song, which he was inspired by an exciting trip to the park. At the age of seven, Kurt had a serious shock associated with painful experiences after the divorce of his parents. Both father and mother found new partners for themselves and began to improve their personal lives, forgetting that they have a joint little son who needs attention and support from family members. Responsibility for the upbringing of Kurt was taken over by caring grandparents. At the age of 14, Kurt became seriously interested in playing the guitar, and also became interested in punk. The idea to create his own punk band practically never left his mind. After graduating from school, Kurt was not able to firmly connect his life with music, as his mother was categorically against her son's admission to an art college. Due to disagreements with his mother, Cobain had to leave own house and spend the night with friends for a long time, and sometimes even on the street.During the wanderings of Kurt, inspiration often visited, and in these moments he wrote his first adult songs. After some time of wandering, Kurt still had to get a job in order to somehow improve his life. At the age of eighteen, Kurt created his own musical group called Fecal matter, in which he took on the duties of vocalist and guitarist, however this union it was not destined to achieve serious success, the team was inharmonious, the group was doomed to collapse. Nevertheless, the recordings of the group's songs were pretty good and it was thanks to them that Kurt still managed to create a new rock band, eventually called Nirvana.
Kurt Cobain's career with Nirvana
In 1989 the band released their first music album called Bleach. The 1991 album "Nevermind" produced the effect of an exploding bomb in the music industry. The song "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the success of which the band members had little hope for, quickly became a hit on all radio stations and even on the incredibly popular American channel MTV at that time. This hit in its popularity significantly surpassed the lead song of the album "Lithium", on which the band members made the main bets. Nevertheless, Nirvana's second album was a defining moment in the band's career, propelling them to the pinnacle of fame. Not only did Nirvana have a huge following, it also had imitative bands.
Kurt began to be weighed down by the popularity that had suddenly fallen on him, and he decided to add heavier-sounding songs to the next album, which, according to his calculations, should have weeded out the broad masses of listeners so that only true connoisseurs rock music. Nirvana's third album, In Utero, eased the hype around the group a little, but still, the songs of Cobain and his team still conquered the music charts with ease. Apart from musical activity Kurt was also active social life. He defended the rights of women, sexual minorities, and also spoke rather sharply in defense of the members of the pro-choice movement, for which he repeatedly received written threats from representatives of the opposing pro-lifer movement.
Personal life of Kurt Cobain
Kurt met his future wife Courtney in 1990 at one of the musical concerts. Courtney was also seriously interested in music and was even a member of one little-known musical group. Courtney Love and Kurt got married on February 24, 1992 on a beautiful Hawaiian beach. The extravagant couple bore little resemblance to the classic bride and groom: Courtney was dressed in the dress of her favorite actress Frances Farmer, and Kurt could not even bring himself to wear a classic suit, so he attended the ceremony in pajamas. On August 18 of the same year, the couple had a beautiful daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
The Cobains' family life was marred by heavy media intrusion into their personal lives, thanks to an unfortunate interview with Courtney in which she accidentally mentioned that she had used heroin during pregnancy, when she did not yet know that she was expecting a child. This interview cost the Cobain family dearly, law enforcement agencies raised the issue of depriving both parents of parental rights and even ordered them to undergo regular drug tests. Such an accusation against Kurt and his wife deeply offended the musician, but, unfortunately, he failed to stop the scandal that unfolded around his personal life.
Death of Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994. His body was found in the greenhouse three days after his death. The police concluded that Kurt committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a gun, having previously taken a large dose of drugs that were incompatible with life. Cobain's death can be attributed to many different factors, ranging from childhood neglect from parents to wildly life in school years, as well as a serious experience of taking hard drugs, as a result of which his family life turned into a living hell.sub pop,
DGC Records
Kurt Donald Cobain(Kurt Donald Cobain, February 20 - April 5) - vocalist and guitarist of the famous American group Nirvana, as well as its leader and spiritual center. With the band's success, he became an international celebrity.
Biography
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in the port town of Hoquaim, Washington. Six months after the birth of Kurt, his family moves to the town of Aberdeen, located near this place.
Kurt Cobain's father was auto mechanic Donald Cobain, a German by birth. His wife, Wendy O'Connor, was Irish. She changed several professions, among which were the work of a waitress and a teacher. Kurt had a sister, Kim, who was three and a half years younger than him. The main part of Kurt's upbringing was taken over by numerous uncles and aunts. As a child, Kurt loves to draw and wins several awards for school competitions for your work. His interest in music appears after Uncle Chuck, the brother of Cobain's mother, takes his two-year-old nephew to a rehearsal of a rock band in which he was the guitarist. Aunt Mary gives little Kurt records from The Beatles and The Monkees, and also gives the first guitar lessons. While learning the songs of The Beatles, a lot of time is devoted to the children's drum kit Mickey Mouse. His mother recalled: “Kurt started singing very early. Even when I sent him to the store, he sang at the top of his voice along the way. The son enjoyed every new day, he tried to avoid the company of other children and spent most of his time alone. True, later, he became even too active. At the age of about eight years, he is taken to the school band, where Kurt plays the guitar.
Over time, Kurt develops hyperactivity, which prevents him from communicating normally with peers. Crucial moment in Cobain's life came when he was only 7 years old - his parents decided to divorce. This radically changes his character - he withdraws into himself, avoids other children, falls into depression and often gets sick. "He became sullen," Wendy recalls, "angry and derisive." In addition, hyperactivity interferes with learning at school, since perseverance and concentration on the subject is a very difficult task. Cobain, like many children of his generation, is undergoing treatment medicine Ritalin. The insomnia caused by taking this drug forces him to take sleeping pills, which cause him to fall asleep in class.
In 1981, when Kurt Cobain turns 14, his uncle Chuck gives him a used electric guitar with a twenty-watt combo. After that, the guitar becomes his favorite pastime. From that moment on, he spends a lot of time with Warren Mason, a friend of Uncle Chuck and a musician in his band. Warren Mason gives Kurt guitar lessons, after which he learns the AC / DC rock and roll song "Back in Black" and tries to compose his own songs. His first attempt to create his own group, along with high school friends Andy and Scott, turns out to be a failure. After several unsuccessful rehearsals, disagreements arise in the group, as a result of which the guys leave the idea.
In 1984, Kurt quit high school six months before graduation and decided not to study anymore. After several scandals, his mother kicked him out of the house. At first, Kurt slept either under the bridge over the Uishka River or in the cabs of trucks. At that time, Kurt was a fan of the Sex Pistols and The clash, and managed to understand the ideology of punk well. Therefore, such a situation did not confuse him, but on the contrary, he was proud of his position, which, in his opinion, made him a real punk rocker. In the summer, Kurt's company often arranged drinking parties, at which they crushed and broke everything around. Once he was detained by the police, fined $180 and 30 days probation for vandalism.
Kurt begins to play in the "three chords and a lot of screaming" style. According to Kurt, his first music "was like Led Zeppelin, only rougher, and I tried to make it as aggressive and angry as possible." His group, formed in 1985, bore the characteristic name - Fecal Matter (since 1988 - Nirvana).
Family
Kurt also listened to Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Sonic Youth, H.R. Puffnstuff, "Marine Boy", "Young Marble Giants", "Slayer", Leadbelly, Iggy Pop, Scratch Acid.
Kurt Donald Cobain. Born February 20, 1967 - died April 5, 1994. Songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for the North American rock band Nirvana.
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, the son of housewife Wendy Elizabeth (maiden name Fradenburg) and car mechanic Donald Leland Cobain. Cobain's pedigree included Irish, English, Scottish and German roots. Cobain's Irish ancestors migrated in 1875 from the county Northern Ireland Tiron to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada and then to Washington. Cobain has a family younger sister, Kimberly, born April 24, 1970.
Kurt grew up in musical family: his maternal uncle, Chuck Fradenburg, performed with the band under titled The Beachcombers, Aunt Mary Earle played guitar in various local bands, great-uncle Delbert made a career as a tenor and appeared in the 1930 film King of Jazz. He showed interest in music quite early: according to his relatives, already at the age of two he sang with pleasure songs Beatles. At the age of four, he wrote his first song about a trip to a local park. At the age of seven, he received a drum set from Mary Earl as a gift. In addition to the ability to music, he showed himself as a talented little artist. In this he was encouraged by his grandmother, a professional artist.
For some time the boy lived with his mother, but he did not have a relationship with her new friend, 22-year-old Mike Medak, and he moved to his father in Montesano. Donald soon married Jenny Westby, who had two children, Mindy and James. In January 1979, Jenny gave birth to another child, Chad, stepbrother Kurt. But Kurt also did not get along with Jenny, and therefore he had to leave his father - the boy lived either with Leland and Iris, Donald's parents, or with relatives on his mother's side.
At the age of 14, Kurt gave up drumming and began learning to play the guitar given to him by his uncle Chuck for his birthday. Warren Mason, musician of The Beachcombers, became his first teacher. Around the same time, Kurt became interested in punk after reading an article about the Sex Pistols in Creem magazine. It was almost impossible to buy their records in Aberdeen, so he had a rather vague idea of \u200b\u200bhow such music should sound (according to him own definition- “three chords and a lot of screaming”), but in his heart Kurt was already on fire with the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a punk band. Soon he met the members of the Aberdeen Melvins, who played music that combined elements of punk and hard rock (later this style was called "grunge"). Chris Novoselic also came there, as a result of which they became friends.
In 1984, Wendy Cobain married Pat O'Connor, an alcoholic dock worker who once broke Wendy's arm. Kurt returned to his mother's house, but his relationship with his family did not develop well. After leaving school, he decided not to go to art college; his mother put him before a choice - either he goes to work or leaves home. He had to leave. For most of the rest of the time, Kurt lived with his friends, moving from house to house every day. Often he had to sleep in the yards of friends' houses, the rest of the time he spent in the library, "waiting for the end of the day." According to Kurt, he lived for some time under the bridge of the Uishka River, which inspired him to write the song "Something in the Way". Later, he still had to get a job. On May 18, 1986, Kurt was arrested for trespassing and drinking alcohol and was imprisoned for 8 days.
In 1985, Kurt formed a group called Fecal Matter; It consisted of bass guitarist Dale Crover, drummer Greg Hokanson and actually Cobain - vocalist and guitarist. About a year later, Fecal Matter broke up without releasing a single disc; after that, Kurt began to distribute the Fecal Matter demo among his acquaintances - he wanted to create a new group. One of the cassettes went to Krist Novoselic, Kurt's friend. For a while, he seemed to forget about it, but a few months later he suddenly started a conversation with Cobain about the fact that they should start a rock band (he listened to the tape and liked the material). The newly formed team (which soon included a third member - drummer Chad Channing) changed several names: "Skid Row", "Ted Ed Fred", "Bliss", "Pen Cap Chew", but in the end "Nirvana" was chosen. "I was looking for a title that was pretty or nice," Cobain explained. In 1988, the band's first single, Love Buzz/Big Cheese, was released, and Nirvana's debut album, Bleach, went on sale the following year.
In 1991, Nirvana's second album, Nevermind, was released, which became an unexpected breakthrough for the group into the mainstream. The single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", to everyone's surprise, became a hit on MTV (although "Lithium" was originally supposed to be the lead single from the record). Nirvana's sudden success on the international scene brought the Seattle grunge scene to the attention of the public and spawned a wave of imitators. The media called Nirvana "the flagship of generation X", and Cobain himself - "the voice of the generation." Cobain himself experienced discomfort from the unexpected popularity that had fallen on his head: he himself saw himself primarily as a representative of the independent rock scene, and he was annoyed that he had become the idol of the masses. The band's next album, In Utero, was deliberately made much heavier and darker in order to scare off the general public and proclaim Nirvana's return to its "independent" roots (the album was produced by Steve Albini, leader of the noise rock band Big Black). However, the album, although it did not become as successful as Nevermind, was still popular with listeners and reached high positions in the charts.
Despite the fact that Nirvana was an "apolitical" group and did not pay of great importance social issues, as many punk bands did, Cobain nevertheless used his fame to get his ideas across to the public. He was an active advocate for the rights of women and gays and supported pro-choice (despite the fact that he personally admired motherhood and women mothers), as a result of which he received repeated threats from militant pro-lifers. The liner notes for the Incesticide compilation included the words: "If any of you hate homosexuals, people of a different race, or women for anything, please do us a favor - go fuck yourself and leave us alone! Don't come to our concerts and don't buy our albums."
Family life:
Kurt Cobain and his future wife Courtney Love met in 1990 at a concert in a Portland club, where both performed with their bands. Courtney, who, according to her, saw Nirvana at a concert in 1989 and already drew attention to Cobain, immediately showed interest in him, but Kurt behaved evasively. He later explained: "I wanted to be single for another year, but I realized that I was really crazy about Courtney, and it was difficult to stay away from her for so many months." In 1991, after learning from Dave Grohl that Cobain had a keen interest in her, Courtney again began to "stalk" him. They began an affair. In 1992, Love discovered that she was expecting a child from Cobain, and on February 24, 1992, their marriage ceremony took place on a Hawaiian beach in Waikiki. Courtney was wearing a dress that once belonged to actress Frances Farmer, whom both newlyweds admired, and Kurt was dressed in pajamas - "because he was too lazy to put on a suit."
The daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, Frances Bean Cobain, was born on August 18, 1992. She got her name from Frances McKee, the vocalist of Cobain's favorite Scottish twi-pop band The Vaselines. Shortly before the birth of the girl, Courtney's infamous interview with Vanity Fair's Lynn Hirshberg took place: in it, Courtney mentioned that she used heroin for some time during pregnancy, not yet knowing that she would have a child. Hirshberg, however, made it look like Love continued to use drugs after she found out she was pregnant, and expressed her "concern" about what was happening. Courtney said that the journalist distorted her words, but she insisted that she had records. The Cobains did not immediately realize that because of this article, a huge stain falls on their reputation. Shortly after Frances was born, they had to face law enforcement- The Los Angeles Department of Children's Affairs filed a case against them to deprive spouses of parental rights, based on this publication. Litigation continued for several months, as a result, the Cobains were still allowed to raise their daughter on their own, but they were required to undergo regular drug tests. Kurt was deeply offended by what was happening, believing that a real war was going on against him and his wife, and compared himself with Frances Farmer, whom many considered the victim of a conspiracy (in 1942, an actress who had visited the USSR a few years earlier and was suspected of communist sympathies, forcibly hospitalized with manic-depressive psychosis and subjected to a lobotomy). The following year's album In Utero featured a number of scathing references to the Hirshberg article scandal and the "witch hunt" launched by the press against Courtney Love.
On April 8, 1994, an electrician named Gary Smith arrived at the Cobain home at 171 Lake Washington Blvd East in Seattle at 8:30 a.m. to install a security system. Smith rang the house several times, but no one answered the door. Then he noticed a Volvo car parked in the garage next to the house, and decided that the owners of the house, perhaps in the garage or greenhouse, which was located directly above the garage. Smith checked the garage, then climbed the stairs to the greenhouse. Through the glass door of the greenhouse, Smith noticed the body and assumed that someone was sleeping, however, looking closer, he saw blood at the left ear and a gun lying across the body. This is how Kurt Cobain was discovered. At 8:45 a.m., Gary Smith called the police and the local radio station. Kurt left a suicide note written in red pen.
The protocol of the inspection of the scene was drawn up formally, without an in-depth analysis of the details. According to one version of the investigation, Cobain injected himself with a dose of heroin that was incompatible with life, and shot himself in the head with a gun. Forensics also concluded that Kurt died on April 5 and his dead body stayed in the house for three days. There is also speculation about the deliberate murder of Kurt. The list of suspects unofficially included Courtney Love.
After cremation, some of Cobain's ashes were scattered over the Wishka River in his native Aberdeen, and Courtney kept some for herself. The unofficial place of worship for the singer's memory is a memorial bench in Viretta Park, located near Cobain's last home in Seattle. The greenhouse above the garage where Kurt's body was found was demolished in 1997 and the house sold.
Kurt Cobain holds the record for earning more after his death than during his lifetime. As of 2011, the copyright holders of his work have earned over $800 million.
On April 5, 2011, a monument to Kurt Cobain was unveiled in Aberdeen, Washington. The monument is an enlarged concrete copy of one of the musician's guitars, over which a bronze ribbon "flutters" with lines from the band's song "On a Plain". The opening was attended by Nirvana's first drummer Aaron Burkhard and Kurt's grandfather Leland Cobain, with whom Kurt had a very warm relationship.
The Kurt Cobain Museum has opened in Seattle, where his manuscripts, guitars, photographs, etc. were displayed.
On July 27, 2011, in Aberdeen, Washington, the City Council wanted to name a bridge after Cobain, but Aberdeen authorities refused to do so due to the fact that he showed hostility towards this city and its inhabitants.
In September 2013, the house Kurt Cobain grew up in was put up for sale. The object was previously valued at $67,000, but the musician's mother, Wendy O'Connor, set a price of $500,000 for it. The musician's relatives say they are ready to consider partnership proposals to make a museum in the house. According to them, stencilled names of his favorite bands are still on the walls in Kurt's room. “We decided to sell the house to create Kurt's legacy,” the musician's sister Kim Cobain told the agency. - Of course, we have mixed feelings, because we all loved this house very much, many wonderful memories are associated with it. But our family left Washington State a long time ago, and we feel it's time to leave home." The house was built in 1923. The Cobains bought him in 1969 when Kurt was two years old. He lived in this house until his late teens: until the age of nine, with both parents, and after their divorce, with his mother.
And auto mechanic Donald Leland Cobain. Cobain's pedigree included Irish, English, Scottish and German roots. In 1875, Cobain's Irish ancestors migrated from Northern Ireland's Tyrone County to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, and then to Washington. On April 24, 1970, Cobain had a younger sister, Kimberly.
At the age of two, Kurt showed an aptitude for music, which is not surprising, since he was born into a family of musicians. According to Aunt Mary Earl, Wendy's sister, at the age of four the boy sang and wrote songs. She even tried to teach him to play the guitar, which she herself played, but nothing worked. Kurt enjoyed listening to songs from bands such as The Beatles and The Monkees; he often visited rehearsals with Aunt Mary Earl and Uncle Chuck Fradenburg, Wendy's brother, who were then performing in a country ensemble. Cobain has been described as a happy, excitable and sensitive child. When he was 7 years old, Aunt Mary Earl gave him a Mickey Mouse drum kit.
Nirvana
After the cremation, some of Cobain's ashes were scattered over the River Wishka in his native Aberdeen, while Courtney kept some for herself. The unofficial place of worship for the singer's memory is a memorial bench in Viretta Park, located near Cobain's last home in Seattle. The greenhouse above the garage where Kurt's body was found was demolished in 1997 and the house sold.
Kurt Cobain holds the record for earning more after his death than during his lifetime. As of 2011, the copyright holders of his work have earned over $800 million.
Solo career
Musical influence
Cobain has loved music since childhood. One of his earliest and favorite bands was The Beatles: his aunt Mary said she remembers him singing "Hey Jude" at the age of about two. In his diaries, he calls John Lennon his idol. Influence The Beatles felt in Nirvana songs like "Polly", "All Apologies" and "About a Girl" (which he own confession, wrote after listening to the album for three hours straight Meet the Beatles!). As he got older, he discovered hard rock and heavy metal and started listening to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, KISS, Aerosmith and AC/DC, and in adolescence became interested in punk after reading a magazine article about the movement. The first punk album he could get his hands on was Sandinista! The Clash, which initially disappointed him, but he fell in love with the Sex Pistols very much. His favorite album of all time, he called in his diaries Raw power cult proto-punk band The Stooges; another important punk band for him was the American Wipers, whose "dirty" guitar sound and depressive mood heavily influenced Nirvana. Early Nirvana was heavily influenced by its countrymen, the founders of grunge and sludge Melvins. Another major source of inspiration for him was the American independent scene, in particular bands such as Sonic Youth and the Pixies. The latter had a decisive influence on the formation of his style: thanks to them, he turned to writing more melodic and catchy songs, built on their signature loud / quiet dynamics. He was a fan of twee-pop and lo-fi music and named The Vaselines, Beat Happening, Marine Girls, Young Marble Giants, Shonen Knife and others among his favorite artists. Also among his favorites were performers such as Leadbelly, Devo, David Bowie, MDC, Daniel Johnston and others.
Nirvana acoustic concert, posthumously released in 1994 under the title MTV Unplugged in New York may have provided a hint of Cobain's future musical direction. The recording was compared to the R.E.M. 1992 Automatic for the People, and in 1993 Cobain admitted that Nirvana's next album would be "quite spiritual, acoustic, like latest album R.E.M." .
Cobain's friend and lead vocalist for R.E.M. Michael Stipe, in a 1994 interview with the magazine Newsweek said, “Yes, he talked a lot about the direction in which he would move. I mean, I know what the next Nirvana album would sound like. It would be very quiet and acoustic, with a lot of string instruments. It would have been an amazing album and I was a little mad at him for killing himself. He and I were supposed to demo the album. Everything was planned. He had a plane ticket, a car that was supposed to pick him up. And at the last minute he called and said, “I can’t fly.”
Literary influence
Movies and books
In 1997, the film "Kurt and Courtney" ("Kurt & Courtney") was filmed. This is a documentary trying to figure out if Kurt Cobain's death was a suicide or if he was murdered. And if they killed, then who. However, the film did not turn out to be full-fledged due to huge claims from Courtney Love.
In 2003, comics about the life of Kurt Cobain were published in Britain. The plot consists of real facts from his life, and from fictional ones.
In 2004, Russian director Vasily Yatskin made a feature documentary film Blessing or Cursing, in which he tried to comprehend the spiritual side of Kurt's life and death. The film includes interviews with family and friends of Kurt, his mother, sister, wife - Hollywood star Courtney Love. The film draws parallels with the life story of another gifted person - the unique pianist Polina Osetinskaya.
Several books have also been written about Kurt's biography. One of the latest is Heavier Than Heaven by Charles Cross.
Equipment
guitars- Martin D-18E
- Boss DS-1
- Boss DS-2
- Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
- Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus
- Sansamp Classic
Memory
Sources
- Azerrad, Michael. . Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8
- Burlingame, Jeff. Kurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind. Enslow, 2006. ISBN 0-7660-2426-1
- Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9
- Kitts, Jeff. Guitar World Presents Nirvana and the Grunge Revolution. Hal Leonard, 1998. ISBN 0-7935-9006-X
- Summers, Kim. Biography of Kurt Cobain on Allmusic
Notes
- Kurt Cobain's death certificate. findadeath.com. Archived
- 1994: Rock musician Kurt Cobain "shoots himself". BBC. Archived from the original on June 24, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
- Cross, Charles - Cobain Unseen
- Halperin Ian Who Killed Kurt Cobain?. - London: Carol Pub. Group, 1999. - ISBN 0-80652-074-4
- Azerrad, p. 13
- Ancestry of Frances Bean Cobain
- Cross, s. 7
- Nirvana legend Kurt Cobain's roots traced to Co Tyrone
- True Everett Nirvana: The True Story. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2009. - 640 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-367-01151-7
- "If not for my family." Kurt Cobain, abandoned and talented. Life of wonderful people. My family. Articles MISSUS.RU
- Michael Azerrad Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. - Three Rivers Press, 1993. - P. 37. - 336 p. - ISBN 978-0385471992
- Michael Azerrad. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, pp. 172-173
- Michael Azerrad. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, page 256.
- Even In His Youth: Interview with Beverly Cobain
- , Rolling Stone
- Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) - Find A Grave Memorial. findagrave.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- Eric Erlandson says Kurt Cobain recorded full solo album before he died - NME.com
- Butch Vig: "Kurt Cobain's solo album was just in his head" - NME.com
- Kurt Cobain. Journals
- MTV Unplugged in New York-Nirvana
- Fricke, David. "Kurt Cobain: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling stone. January 27, 1994
- Everybody Hurts Sometime
- Kurt Cobain - all about celebrity
- Kurt Cobain - Guitar
- Kurt Cobain and Nirvana
Everyone who has a gun in the house is equal to Kurt Cobain, everyone who can read between the lines is doomed to have a gun in the house ...
Alexander Vasiliev
Born somewhere between Apollo 1, which burned down at the start, and the flight to the USA of Joseph Stalin's daughter - in February 1967. The Jews had not yet kicked the Arabs, the Chinese had not detonated their hydrogen bomb, and the Beatles had not released "Sergeant Pepper" - "the best album of all times and peoples ”- all this happened in the first months of his life.
Like all children, he, of course, will not notice all these important world events, lying in Grays Hospital next to his mother - Wendy Elizabeth Cobain, nineteen years old and doing the same as thousands of other babies.
Kurt was born in the middle of nowhere, as the Americans say. "The center of yo ... nothing" was located in the town of Aberdeen - and this is not even the same Aberdeen that is in Scotland, but just a pale copy of it near Seattle. Speaking of Scotland, the Cobains had Scottish roots, as well as German, Irish and English.
By 1967, when Kurt was born, Wendy and Donald Leland had been together for about 2 years. Wendy Elizabeth worked as a teacher, then as a secretary, and sometimes as a waitress, Leland worked as a mechanic at the service station.
Three years after the birth of Kurt, in 1970, he had a sister, Kim.
Until I was 9 years old, I was firmly convinced that I would become either a rock star, or an astronaut, or a president.
Kurt's relatives were very musical - his mother sang well, aunt Mary Earl played the guitar and, together with Kurt's uncle Chuck, performed in a country ensemble. But, of course, they were all surpassed by Delabert, Cobain's great-uncle, the famous Irish tenor who starred in The King of Jazz.
Against this family background, Kurt's passion for music arose. At four, he sang with pleasure, composed lyrics and tried to learn how to play the guitar from Mary, but nothing came of this idea. However, Kurt still disappeared at her rehearsals.
I was incredible happy child. I screamed and sang all the time. I just couldn't stop in time. I was truly happy
As a child, Cobain was unrestrained and sensitive. The boy liked to listen to The Monkees and The Beatles, he enjoyed drawing - mostly Disney characters“Pluto, Donald Duck, or superheroes like Aquaman.
At seven, live music was added to singing and composing texts - having failed with a guitar, Mary Earl gave him drum set"Mickey Mouse". Unlike Mary, Donald wanted to introduce Kurt to the game of baseball, but to no avail - Cobain would later say that he would always prefer the company of losers and a cigarette to the company of those who are crazy about baseball.
Apart from minor childhood griefs, Cobain's childhood was happy, and happiness was short-lived.
…today I found my friends.
In my head
In 1975, Kurt's mother leaves her husband. Wendy believes that Leland does not pay attention to her and the family, devoting all his time to basketball and baseball. Despite Donald's apparent reluctance, the Cobains disperse. Kurt is eight. His sister is five. The impression made by the breakup of parents on Kurt is huge. He is ashamed of his mother and father and wants to have a normal family.
Kurt did not get along right away with his mother's new roommate, 22-year-old Michael Medak. It was then, according to his mother, that he became gloomy, angry and cynical. Having failed to establish contact with Wendy's roommate, Kurt decides to move to his father in Montesano. One wilderness gives way to another, and a teenage conflict with Michael conflict with his father's new wife.
Jenny Websty already had two children - James and Mindy, and in January 1979 gave birth to another - Chad. Life under the same roof with them seemed unbearable to Kurt, and he moved again - this time to his grandparents, Donald's parents. The periods when he lived with Iris and Leland were replaced by others where he had to live with his mother's relatives.
At the age of 14, Cobain throws drums and takes on Uncle Chuck's gift - a guitar, which Warren Mason of The Beachcombers teaches him to play.
By the way, about uncles - Kurt's uncle Berl, dearly beloved by his nephew, committed suicide in the year he moved to his father. A year later, Berl's brother Kenneth would shoot himself, also fatally.
Kurt returns home to his mother. Under the influence of all these events, he strongly closes, preferring once again not to leave the house. And when he does go out, he finds more than dubious entertainment for himself - drawing graffiti inscriptions, often with homosexual content. At the same time, he closely communicated with a couple of gay friends. It is difficult to say what was more here - homosexuality or protest. Soon, under pressure from society, their paths diverge.
His mother, Wendy, remarries in 1984. Her new chosen one, Pat O'Connor, is a dock worker and an alcoholic. During one quarrel, he breaks her arm, during the other she drowns his arsenal in the river. Kurt quickly hires two guys and pulls the trunks, and then, having driven them, buys himself powerful amplifiers, persuading their seller to take "herbs" from his drug dealer with the proceeds.
My name is Kurt, I sing and play the guitar, but in general, I am a walking and talking bacterial infection ...
Having learned to play the guitar tolerably, Cobain defines his style. After reading about the Sex Pistols in Creem, Cobain gets the idea to form a punk band. How do S.P. sound? Kurt doesn't know - you can't get their records in Aberdeen.
Cobain invents his own version of punk - "a lot of screams and three chords" and begins to look for something similar around. The Melvins, a band from Aberdeen that is trying to combine punk with hard rock elements, anticipating the upcoming grunge, seems to suit him. It is in the company of the Melvins that Cobain closely converges with the Croatian emigrant Chris Novoselic.
Soon Cobain collects the first viable group - "Fecal Matter". Kurt becomes the vocalist and guitarist of "Fecal Matter", Dale Crover works on bass, and Greg Hokanson is in charge of drums.
As Kurt dives deeper into music, giving up on everything, his relationship with his mother deteriorates. So, a case is known that occurred when he brought home a girlfriend and tried to have sex with her in his room. Then Wendy broke into them and threw both of them out of the house, not forgetting to call the girl a prostitute.
This was Cobain's first intimate experience.
Not finishing the tenth grade, he leaves school. His mother puts him before a choice - leaving home or looking for a job, and Kurt - leaves. For a while he sleeps with friends, then in the backyards of their houses, in public library and finally - under the bridge over the Uishka river.
This "white trash" life experience would later influence Kurt's work, especially on songs such as "Something in the Way". He also gave the name to Cobain's first group since Fecal Matter's demise, Skid Row, a street in Los Angeles that became a household name.
I was looking for a title that was pretty or nice or cute
After the collapse of "Fecal Matter", Kurt went around friends with the demo of the disbanded team, wanting to collect new composition. After listening to “his” record, Novoselic… forgot about it for several months. And then suddenly approached Cobain with a proposal to create a rock band. At first, their drummer was Bob McFadden, who left the group after a month.
"Skid Row", "Ted Ed Fred", "Bliss", "Pen Cap Chew", "Bliss Thrroad Oyster", "Windowpane" - the names of the newly formed team change with astronomical speed, and the basis of the music is the developments of "F.M.".
In parallel with the musical searches, Cobain is still forced to start earning money. In May 1986, a drunken Cobain, who has climbed into someone's private property, is "accepted" by the cops. He is sentenced to 8 days in prison.
Your right to... Nirvana
By the winter of 1987, Kurt and Chris changed drummers again, hiring Aaron Burkhardt. Soon he is replaced by Dale Crover, with the participation of which the first demos of the team are written. He is replaced by Dave Foster.
At the beginning of 1988, the kaleidoscope of names finally clicks out the coveted "Nirvana". A couple of months later, in March, the guys give their first concert under a new name, and around May they find a permanent drummer - Chad Channing. In the same year, the newly minted team released the first single "Love Buzz / Big Cheese"
In June 1989, the debut album Nirvana was released, published on the Sub Pop label and produced by Jack Endino. The recording money, $606.17, was lent by Jason Everman, a seasonal fisherman from Alaska and Channing's friend.
The album was called "Bleach" - bleach.
I never wanted fame or anything like that. That's how it happened...
In the wake of Bleach's success, Nirvana embarked on a major West Coast tour of the United States, performing in 26 cities.
Their debut, which combines the influence of punk and black metal, Black Sabbat, Led Zeppelin and The Melvins, attracted record sharks, including Geffen Records. Success was cemented by a European tour, when the guys staged 36 concerts in just 42 days, earning a resounding success with the British public.
It was not without difficulties. The label tried to fit the music to the “grunge” as much as possible, severely pressing Kurt on this topic, and discord began among the musicians themselves, which resulted in the expulsion of Chad, who claimed big role in creating texts from a group.
I love everyone - that's what's sad...
What is love for Cobain is difficult to say. While shocking the audience, he passionately kissed the bassist, dressed in women's clothing and declared that he could be as feminine as he wanted. He loved everyone - blacks, gays, women and asked their haters not to come to his concerts. Kurt walked around the stage in heels, a bra and a crown, and stated that he would like to be gay, only to annoy the homophobes more.
And then I met Courtney.
This happened in 1989, their acquaintance was fleeting, but later both said that they felt sympathy for each other.
In 1991, Love began to communicate with the band's new drummer, Grohl, who introduced her to Kurt's circle. Their relationship developed rapidly, and in 1992, Kurt's pregnant Courtney married him. Cobain was happy.
When I started taking heroin, I knew it would be as boring as smoking marijuana.
In parallel with the passion for Love, Cobain begins to experience a passionate craving for heroin, which will soon become "air" for him. The inevitable problems mount after the release of Nevermind, Cobain's most "positive" album, released in 1991.
The album becomes "multi-platinum", and Lithium, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are - MTV hits. "Voice of a Generation" Kurt is shocked by the fame that has fallen on Nirvana - after all new album seemed to him sugary, too poppy and smooth.
On the Nevermind support tour, Chris and Cobain heat themselves up with high doses of alcohol, smoke weed, and break guitars. Grohl sits behind the drums and, after sternly warning Cobain not to dare jump on his kit, sips agadam.
After the "alcotour", in 1992 after the birth Francis Cobain, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Love casually says that she shot heroin during pregnancy, not knowing that she was expecting a child. But the article, which comes out later, claims that she was on heroin in the last months of her pregnancy. Against Kurt and Love begins a campaign in the press, and then the court. The court verdict is soft - just regular drug tests for Kurt and Love.
Shortly thereafter, Cobain began work on "In Utero", shielding his vision of the sound in new job. The deliberately rough, raw album produced by Albini did not suit Cobain in some details, and it was already finalized by Scott Little. Rumors spread about the conflict between Cobain and the DGC label. As a result, the album, although it was commercial, still did not achieve the success of Nevermind, but did not go into the mainstream either.
Better to be dead than cool
In early 1994, Nirvana toured Europe, and on March 1, after a concert in Munich, Cobain fell ill with acute laryngitis and bronchitis. Some concerts have been cancelled.
On March 4, Love finds Kurt unconscious at the hotel. According to the conclusion of the doctors, he is in a pharmacological coma, which came from a "cocktail" of Rohypnol and champagne prescribed to him.
Cobain is pumped out after 20 hours. There are no traces of drugs in his blood.
March 18 between Kurt and Love there is a quarrel. Love calls the police, telling the cops that Kurt is threatening to commit suicide. She is lying. Kurt denies everything, saying that he simply does not want to see his wife - that's why he closes himself in his room.
At this time, Courtney begins to spread rumors that their relationship is in decline due to her husband's increased heroin addiction. This is refuted by Nirvana's opening guitarists Barber and Shelley, who claim that on the last tour, Kurt walked around with water without even touching alcohol.
On March 20, under pressure from Love, Kurt is sent back to the Exodus center for rehabilitation. In a conversation with a doctor, he denies having a problem with heroin, although he shows a desire to get out of the clinic "to be done with it."
April 1, 1994 Kurt runs from downtown by jumping over a fence. In Los Angeles, he orders a ticket to Seattle and, after signing autographs, goes home.
On April 8, 1994, electrician Gary Smith finds Cobain's body in the greenhouse. His corpse is ugly - his head was torn apart by a shot in the mouth.
On the hands of Cobain, traces of injections, in the blood a triple dose of heroin. There are no distinct marks on the trunk. Quite foggy nearby. suicide note written in red ink. There is no direct indication of his death in it, and the last lines, allegedly addressed to Love, may not have been written by him.
Love herself tells Detective Tom Grant that Kurt went missing on April 1st, but he later learns that on April 2nd Courtney and Kurt seen each other. He is also wary of Love's confusing testimony, and her attempts to block Kurt's credit card fraudulently.
The divorce proceedings, in which Love's share of Kurt's inheritance could be reduced from 30 to 1 million, are curtailed. Profit of copyright holders after Cobain's death- 800 million dollars
Well, to hell with him, with money. Let's talk about art. In one of the songs, "homosexual, pagan, and drug addict fucking potbellied pigs" wrote: "I'm in a daze because I found God."
Did you really find it?
Dmitry Melekhovets and Valeria Berekchiyan
