Biography and episodes of life Kurt Cobain. When born and died cobain, memorable places and dates important events his life. musician quotes, Photo and video.
Kurt Cobain years of life:
February 20, 1967 - April 5, 1994
Epitaph
"Better to burn than to fade away".
Words from Kurt Cobain's suicide note, quote from Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)"
Biography
As a child, he was prescribed Ritalin to reduce hyperactivity, and, alas, this was not the strongest drug that he had to take in the future. All his life he suffered from stomach pains, chronic bronchitis and even manic-depressive psychosis. So no one could answer this question - was he talented because he was sick, or was he sick because he was talented and could not cope with the glory that fell upon him. One way or another, for his short and tragic life Kurt Cobain managed to become a legend and a star of such a scale that many musicians could only dream of.
The biography of Kurt Cobain is the story of a difficult child from incomplete family: divorce of parents, quarrels, conflicts with foster parents, spending the night under the bridge and in hospitals, drugs, arrests. When Cobain, together with his friends, decided to create his own group, he was already a drug addict, and he only seriously thought about giving up drugs when Courtney Love, his big love, got pregnant. For the sake of his daughter, he wanted to change his whole life, but, alas, it was not so easy. His albums were sold instantly, and he himself, from a poor teenager, suddenly became a millionaire who had everything: fame, success, money, love, family, friends. He became more and more addicted to heroin, justifying his addiction by saying that he had worse stomach pains, but the truth was that he was a drug addict and the more successful his life seemed, the stronger his addiction became.
Of course, he struggled - especially with the birth of his daughter. Quote from Kurt Cobain: “I knew that when I had a baby, everything would change, and that pure truth. I can't tell you how my life changed when we got Francis. When you hold a child in your arms, you feel that this is the best drug in the world. I really don't want my daughter to be told when she grows up that her parents were drug addicts." He even took Francis with him on a tour of the United States, assuring that he got rid of both stomach pains and drug addiction and generally feels great. But soon he again acquired heroin, and after him depression, isolation, aggression, and pain returned.
At some point, he just lost control of himself. Neither Courtney Love nor his friends could help Kurt no matter how hard they tried. He "accidentally" drinks Rapnoll with champagne and falls into a coma, then locks himself in the bathroom, so Courtney has to call the police to confiscate all the weapons in the house. Just a week before his death, Kurt goes to rehab at the Daniel Freenan drug center and everyone seems to be calm and determined, but two days later he escapes. On March 30, he buys a gun, on April 1 he calls Courtney and says: “No matter what happens, I love you”, on April 3, friends find him and bring him to the Seattle airport, but he manages to escape. last hours Almost no one saw Kurt Cobain - it is only known that he bought heroin, that he called a friend and mentioned that the best way to end everything is to shoot him in the head. Finally, on April 5, he returned to his home on Lake Washigton, and the police decided that the danger had passed and removed the surveillance. Only three days later, the body of Kurt Cobain was found by an electrician. According to the results of the examination, the musician took a dose of heroin incompatible with life, but the cause of Cobain's death was the ensuing gunshot to the head. Experts have also set the date of Kurt Cobain's death to be April 5. In Kurt Cobain's suicide note, he confesses his love to his daughter, asks for forgiveness for everything and quotes Neil Young - "it's better to burn out than fade away."
Come to terms with the fact that the 27-year-old talented musician committed suicide, it was not easy for thousands, if not millions of his fans. Perhaps that is why many of them were haunted by the question, who really is Cobain's killer? How did Cobain die? Did the investigation raise doubts about the fact that Cobain was so drugged that he could not be able to lift a gun? Many blamed Cobain's death - directly or indirectly - on Courtney Love. One way or another, all these conjectures and conjectures remained unproven.
The funeral of Kurt Cobain, or rather, a public farewell ceremony (Cobain was cremated and his ashes scattered), took place on April 10. Seven thousand people came to say goodbye to the legend. Biographies of Cobain, films and books about his life are still being released, but, alas, his departure was irreversible. Therefore, all that remains is to listen to Cobain's music, which, unlike him, turned out to be immortal.
life line
February 20, 1967 Kurt Donald Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington.
April 24, 1970 Birth younger sister Kurta, Kimberly.
1975 Divorce of Cobain's parents.
1985 Cobain formed his own band called Fecal Matter.
1987 The band's new name is Nirvana.
1988 The release of the first single Nirvana.
1989 Debut album Bleach.
1990 Meet Courtney Love.
1991 The release of the album Nevermind, the success of the group.
February 24, 1992 Marriage to Courtney Love.
August 18, 1992 Birth of daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
March 30, 1994 Appeal to the rehabilitation clinic "Exodus" in Los Angeles, escape from the clinic.
April 5, 1994 Date of death of Kurt Cobain according to experts.
April 8, 1994 Kurt Cobain's body found at musician's home in Seattle.
April 10, 1994 Cobain's funeral (public farewell ceremony) in Seattle.
Memorable places
1. Grays Harbor Hospital, where Kurt Cobain was born.
2. Kurt Cobain's first home in Aberdeen.
3. The city of Waikiki (Hawaii), on one of the beaches of which the marriage of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love took place.
4. Music store Rosevear's Music Center, where Kurt Cobain bought his first guitar.
5. Linda's tavern - the place where Kurt Cobain allegedly last time seen alive.
6. Kurt Cobain's house where his body was found.
7. Viretta Park, Kurt Cobain's unofficial memorial near his last home in Seattle.
8. Kurt Cobain Memorial Park with a monument to the musician in the city of his childhood in Aberdeen.
Episodes of life
Kurt was very upset by the divorce of his parents. Once he wrote the following on the wall of the bedroom: "I hate my mother, I hate my father, my father hates my mother, my mother hates my father, it's just impossible not to be sad from this." At that time he was only 9 years old.
When the album Nevermind was released in 1991, the songs from it immediately became hits, and the disc received the status of "diamond". This puzzled Cobain greatly: “Of course, I couldn’t let my ego admit that we are so great that we deserve so much attention ... I felt stupid that there are many bands in the underground scene that are as good as we, or better than us, but for some reason only we attract attention. An even greater chagrin for Kurt was the received title of "voice of a generation", from which he tried to disown all his life.
Kurt had already attempted suicide - a month before he died. During the tour on March 3, he stopped in Rome with his wife and daughter and in the middle of the night unexpectedly drank 50 tablets of Raipnol, washing them down with champagne. Courtney claims she found Kurt Cobain's suicide note, but didn't make it public. By the morning of March 4, Cobain was in a coma, an ambulance took him to the hospital, where his stomach was washed. The media at this time erroneously report the musician's death. The next day, Cobain came to his senses, cursed, asked for yogurt and left the hospital a few hours later.
Testaments
“Anything can be experienced if you choose the right song.”
"Make your work full of life, not life full of work."
"I'm not afraid of death. When you die, your soul continues to live and becomes absolutely happy. Complete peace after death, rebirth into someone else - this is the greatest hope of my life.
Discovery film "The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain"
condolences
“He was a very aggressive singer and musician, but also a very quiet, homely guy. He shouldn't have left his apartment in Aberdeen at all - then everything would have been fine.
Chris Novoselik, Nirvana musician
"Kurt was clean and incredibly ambitious, whatever he wanted, he got."
Courtney Love, singer, wife of Kurt Cobain
"I don't think of Kurt as 'Kurt Cobain from Nirvana'. I think of him as just Kurt. This is something that comes back again and again. Almost every day".
“You know, it happens that you meet in life certain people and you understand that they are not destined to live to old age. And, realizing this, you emotionally prepare yourself in advance for this thought. But at the same time, Kurt's death was still a shock to me. I will forever remember the hardest day of my life when I woke up in the morning with the thought that my day had begun and his had not.”
Dave Grohl, former Nirvana drummer, musician
The artist Nicholas Otero recalls seeing Nirvana in Paris when he was 17 years old - after that day his life has never been the same. Many years later, after reading the novel The Story of Bodda by the French author Heloise Guay de Bellissen, Otero created the graphic novel Who Killed Kurt Cobain, illustrating the nightmares that haunted the blue-eyed 27 club legend from birth until the very last minutes. This book, in an amazing and unique way, combines a success story and a countdown to that very day and the little room above the garage at 117 Lake Washington Boulevard.
Usually, when it comes to Kurt, the first reason he premature death called heroin addiction. However, in his book, Otero goes much deeper and further, listing drugs as only one of the items in long list the people and things that killed Kurt Cobain.
1. Childhood
Otero is merciless and brief in his description of the Cobain family: their house was sparkling clean, smelled of bleach and was completely devoid of even a hint of real family comfort and love. Kurt's father, an authoritarian patriarchal man, considered physical punishment the best way deal with a hyperactive child.
2. Love
Kurt loved love and dreamed of it, he dreamed of the home and family he wanted and was deprived of as a child. This desire made him extremely vulnerable. Now, and even then, it is very difficult to imagine a rock star who, at the age of 25, having first tasted money, fame and universal adoration, will propose to his girlfriend to have a baby, buy a house and get married. That was all he was. Therefore, any threat to his family happiness from the hostile world around him was deadly for him, whether it was fans who did not share his enthusiasm for Courtney Love, or journalists who endlessly hounded the couple.
Of course, Love herself has done a lot to add fuel to the fire that eats her soul alive. young husband, so there will be a separate paragraph about it. For now, let's just say that love and the fear of losing her killed Kurt like a bullet.
Photo - Valentina Nazarova →
3. Pain
In addition to mental anguish, Cobain was subject to almost daily acute physical pain. He had problems with his stomach, which were greatly exacerbated at first by his poverty bordering on poverty and lack of funds for treatment, and then by his desire for self-destruction that intensified over the years. It's scary to imagine that Kurt's screams on tape and on stage could be the result of acute bouts of real physical pain.
4. Courtney Love
Oh that Courtney! Sure, she didn't (most likely) pull the trigger and physically kill him, but gosh, what a bad influence in Kurt Cobain's life she was. Yes, on the one hand, she is his unconditional soul mate. A punk, drug addict, feminist, child of a hippie commune who made a living stripping before she wore a bra. In addition to the fact that, according to Freud, she is an exact copy of his mother in appearance, she was able to give him what his mother deprived him of. Unconditional love and acceptance. No judgment, no interference, no showdown. Dying - so with music. To love - so with a needle in a vein.
Courtney is not to be underestimated: had she not been in his life, we might not have had Heart-Shaped Box, All Apologies, or Rape Me. By the way, about the latter and other sexual preferences of a rock star and his crazy girlfriend, literally in colors and colors, a few turns of Otero's book narrate.
5. Music
In his note, Kurt said something that breaks your heart every time you think about who wrote it: “All the warnings I heard in punk rock classes for dummies turned out to be true. For many years now I have not gotten any buzz from music, either my own or someone else's, neither on stage nor in the studio. You can't imagine how guilty I feel. When the lights go out before the concert and I hear the frenzied roar of the crowd, I no longer feel what I used to ... "
6. Fans
Kurt loved his fans. However, his love frightened him and made him feel a heavy burden of responsibility. Despite the beauty, wealth and fame, Kurt experienced severe self-esteem issues and could not love himself. From this, he experienced difficulties all his life with the acceptance of someone else's love. Kurt considered himself unworthy of adoration and was burdened by the love from the fans. According to Otero, "it's like when you smash your car to the ground, and you get a standing ovation for it and beg you to continue."
Infinitely talented, disarmingly handsome, sincere and smart, Kurt didn't really see what he could be loved for. At the end of his life, in one of recent interviews, he even said that he feels like everything around him is waiting for his death as a worthy logical end for any rock star. So he did not understand our feelings for him, poor fellow.
7. Mass media
Kurt was bullied at school. I don’t know where these people are now and how they feel about their actions then, but the journalists who staged a similar persecution of Cobain a decade after graduation are still satisfied and happy. They see no shame in invading his private life and speculating on it in order to earn a cheap reputation for themselves.
Yes, this story is as old as the world. But only Cobain was not ready for the fact that his life would be considered under a magnifying glass, and his wife would be branded and accused of terrible things. Someone will say: but this is part of the deal - you get money, fame and adoration, and in return you give up your freedom and much more. I agree, but nevertheless I can't help but list the attention of the press as one of the reasons that pushed Kurt over the edge.
8. Addiction
For many people, Kurt Cobain and heroin addiction are almost synonymous. However, contrary to popular belief, no addiction comes to rock stars just like that, because they are rich, famous, jaded and do not know how to entertain themselves. Kurt's history of addiction is rooted in childhood, when in search of love and understanding, he came across irritation and betrayal from his family. It was then that he found the only way to disconnect from problems and feel better, and soft drugs and alcohol became this outlet.
Kurt's romance with heroin began with the need to drown out the physical pain and anxiety that tormented him. Then, for some time, Kurt's main drug was the stage, however side effects the adoration of the people and the thrill of performing in front of a crowd of 100,000 seemed to him worse than the effects of opiate injections. Can we blame him for this? I think not, because we will never be in his place.
9. Depression
Depression and addiction are like swings that unfortunately end up on many of those we love and whose concerts we go to. Few manage to jump.
Depression and addiction almost always go hand in hand with world fame, they are like a chicken and an egg, one can only argue about which of them came first. For Kurt, it was definitely depression. It is known that Cobain made his first suicide attempt at school, sitting on the rails in front of high-speed train. However, the universe ordered otherwise: the train drove along the neighboring rails, and we got Bleach, Nevermind and In Utero. Were they worth the terrible price Cobain and those close to him paid for them? I think we all know the answer to this question.
10. Bodda
As is often the case with the famous and successful, there were many people who called Kurt Cobain their friend. Those whom he called a friend were much fewer, and one cannot fail to mention the only and closest and most faithful comrade that the rocker had. This is Bodda.
Kurt took it with him everywhere: on stage, on tour, in the dressing room with fans, and even through the vein. Bodda was there, in the room above the garage, when Cobain injected that last dose and when he tasted metal and gunpowder in his palate. Bodda saw everything, it was to him that Kurt addressed his suicide note.
Who is he? Why was he silent for so long, and now finally decided to tell about himself? The answer may be shocking, because Bodda is Kurt's imaginary friend, his second personality, which he invented as a child and whom he allowed to take the helm in moments when he did not feel the strength to move on at all. How do you know which one of them put the muzzle in his mouth and pulled the trigger on that fateful day, April 5, 1994? Otero's book Who Killed Kurt Cobain is about this.
Photo -
Kurt Cobain - American vocalist and guitarist, frontman of the Nirvana band. Performed alternative rock. His life was interrupted at the peak of his career, at the age of twenty-seven. This was a huge tragedy for all Nirvana fans. His death and Kurt Cobain himself, whose cause of death is suicide, are still shrouded in a veil of secrecy.
background
The last few months before his death, everything in the life of a musician went awry. Relations with wife Courtney Love were very badly damaged. Constant quarrels and squabbles forced him to leave his home in Seattle for a long time. Heroin abuse has increased. Cobain was treated several times in drug treatment clinics, but he could not overcome the addiction.
In early 1994, Kurt became very withdrawn and quiet. Friends noted that he did not want to communicate with anyone and tried not to go outside once again. He even refused to participate in a promising music festival.
Kurt Cobain's life has always been extraordinary. This also applied to his health. The boy grew up quite sickly. In March 1994, he was on tour in Europe, where he caught a severe form of bronchitis. He was hospitalized in a Roman clinic, and then sent to a day hospital. A few days later, Courtney Love flew in and found her husband's unconscious body in a hotel room. Doctors diagnosed an overdose of insomnia pills washed down with champagne. This time everything worked out. Kurt Cobain, whose cause of death is suicide, came to his senses and vehemently denied attempting suicide.
Friends persuaded him to go to Los Angeles for treatment. He stayed there for only a few days and fled to Seattle. He was last seen on March 30 at the clinic and also on the plane to Seattle, where he spoke with musician Duff McKagan.
body detection
In the early hours of April 8, electrician Gary Smith arrived at Cobain's home to install new system security. After standing at the door for several minutes and without waiting for the owners, he decided to go around the house, as he noticed that the garage doors were open. Entering there, Gary climbed the stairs to the greenhouse and saw through the window a man lying on the floor. It turned out to be Kurt Cobain. The musician's biography was known to the public, and the electrician thought he was drunk. But then he noticed blood on his head and a gun that was nearby.
Fifteen minutes after his arrival at the house, Smith called the police and an ambulance. The experts determined that the musician had been dead for several days. A horse's dose of heroin was found in Kurt's blood. Kurt Cobain's suicide note was also found next to the body. In it, he turned to his imaginary friend Bodda and complained that he did not enjoy life and music, that he did not leave the feeling of guilt.
According to official figures, Kurt Cobain, whose cause of death is suicide, died on April 5, 1994.
Versions
Some time after the discovery of Cobain's body, versions of the murder appeared. Many simply did not believe that the musician could commit suicide. This hypothesis was first proposed by journalist Richard Lee. He was supported by private detective Tom Grant, hired by Courtney Love to search for her husband who had escaped from the clinic. Grant came to the conclusion that it was the wife who ordered the murder. This was evidenced by a strained relationship with her husband (Kurt filed for divorce), confusion in the testimony of the singer. In addition, the following facts spoke in favor of the version of the murder:
- the presence in Cobain's blood of a triple lethal dose of heroin;
- Kurt Cobain's suicide note does not contain direct evidence that the musician is saying goodbye to life - he only writes that he no longer wants to make music and apologizes to his fans;
- no fingerprints were found on the gun found near the body.
On the twentieth anniversary of Cobain's death, Additional materials cases, dozens of photographs from the crime scene and a re-investigation. The result remained the same - the musician committed suicide.
Public reaction
Those close to Cobain were divided into two camps. Someone supported the version of the murder, someone had no doubt that it was a suicide. The latter included the mother of the musician Wendy. Cousin Kurta, who worked as a psychologist, concluded that her brother had bipolar disorder, and that there could be no doubt about suicide.
Musician friends recall that Kurt himself repeatedly joked about death and said that if he had to die, then only with heroin in his blood and with a gun to his temple. And so it happened.
Kurt Cobain, whose cause of death is suicide, died at the age of 27. He was never afraid to die. The main hope was finding peace after death.
Funeral
On April 10, a public memorial service was held, at which closest friends Kurt, and Courtney Love read her husband's note to everyone and handed out his clothes. The farewell ceremony for the family was held at the Unity of Truth Church. Cobain was cremated. Courtney took part of the ashes to a Buddhist monastery, and the rest was scattered by Cobain's daughter in 1999 over the river in the city of Olympia.
On April 5, 1994, singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, the leader of the rock band Nirvana, passed away. The musician, who became the idol of millions, passed away own will when he was only 27 years old. Glory did not bring Kurt satisfaction in life, and therefore he decided to settle scores with her. Next, you will find a lot of interesting things about the life and death of a talented singer who has become a real legend for rock lovers.
Kurt Cobain was born in the USA, but his ancestors included Irish, English, Scots and Germans.
Among his relatives were many musicians: his uncle performed with The Beachcombers, his aunt played the guitar in local ensembles, and his great-uncle was a professional tenor.
From the age of two, the boy sang songs with might and main The Beatles, played drums and began learning to play guitar at the age of 14, inspired by an article about the Sex Pistols. Then he definitely decided that he would create his own group.
Kurt's childhood was marred by the divorce of his parents, who separated when he was nine. Each of them created new family, but the boy did not take root in either one or the other.
In 1993, Cobain spoke about this: "I was ashamed of my parents. I could not communicate properly with classmates, because I really wanted to have a typical family: mother, father. I wanted this confidence, and because of this I was angry with parents."
In June 1976, shortly after his parents divorced, the young man wrote the following inscription on the bedroom wall: "I hate mom, I hate dad, dad hates mom, mom hates dad, it's just impossible not to be sad from this."
Perhaps against this background, Cobain had an imaginary friend named "Boddah", to whom he often addressed in his diaries.
The guy lived either in the new family of his mother, or in the new family of his father, or with relatives. After graduating from school, he decided not to go to art college, as he was going to, then his mother put him before a choice - either he goes to work or leaves home.
Kurt left and later lived with his friends, moving from house to house every day. Often he had to sleep in the courtyards of friends' houses, spent the rest of the time in the library, "waiting for the end of the day"
Cobain, following the dream of creating a band, recorded a demo tape, which he distributed to his acquaintances in search of those who would be interested in playing with him. One of the cassettes went to Krist Novoselic, his friend. When drummer Chad Channing joined them, the band that became a legend was formed.
Skid Row, Ted Ed Fred, Bliss, Pen Cap Chew - Kurt and his comrades sorted through such names before he settled on Nirvana. According to him, he "was looking for a name that would be beautiful or pleasant."
The guys recorded the first album, and in 1991 the second album, Nevermind, became an unexpected breakthrough for the group into the mainstream. The single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became a hit on MTV. sudden success Nirvana on the international stage brought the Seattle grunge scene to the attention of the public and spawned a wave of imitators.
Cobain himself was not at all happy with the unexpected popularity that fell 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 musician was an active advocate for the rights of women and sexual minorities and supported the right of women to have an abortion. Included in the liner notes for the Incesticide compilation were the words: "If any of you hate homosexuals, people of a different race, or women for anything, please do us a favor and go fuck yourself and leave us alone! Don't come to our concerts and don't buy our albums."
After performing "Territorial Pissings" on Saturday Night Live, Cobain and the band's bassist began kissing, which SNL, which aired the show, refused to play on repeat.
The rocker met his future wife Courtney Love in 1990 at a concert in a Portland club, where both performed with their bands. Courtney had noticed and expressed interest in Cobain a year earlier, but Kurt shied away from intimacy. 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."
After another year of persistent attempts by Courtney, 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 wore 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 was named after Frances McKee, the vocalist of Cobain's favorite Scottish bands The Vaselines.
Shortly before the birth of the girl Courtney, in an interview with Vanity Fair's Lynn Hirshberg, she recklessly mentioned that she used heroin during pregnancy for some time, not yet knowing that she would have a child. The journalist presented everything as if Love continued to use drugs after she found out that she was pregnant.
Because of this, young parents had to sue the Los Angeles Department of Children's Affairs, which intended to deprive the spouses of parental rights, based precisely on this publication. In the end, they were allowed to leave Francis.
Cobain with early age pursued health problems. He suffered all his life from chronic bronchitis and stomach pains of unknown origin.
He was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and was prescribed Ritalin. A little later, he was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder (manic-depressive psychosis).
Kurt sometimes had moments where he could sit in a corner for 45 minutes and not say a word.
Plus, at the age of 13, Cobain first tried marijuana, and later began experimenting with LSD and other hallucinogens. He first tried heroin around 1986.
Several years of heroin use led to the fact that by early 1991 he had developed a full-fledged, severe addiction. At a photo shoot on the day of Nirvana's performance on Saturday Night Live, he "passed out" several times in front of the camera.
When Courtney became pregnant, both spouses went to rehab. During the ensuing Nirvana tour of Australia, Cobain appeared thin, pale and ill, apparently suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
Kurt returned to drugs and in July 1993 he experienced a severe heroin overdose: his wife found him lying unconscious, and instead of calling an ambulance, she herself injected him with naloxone (a drug that blocks opioid receptors).
A year later, she woke up and found him lying unconscious and showing no signs of life. It turned out that he had an overdose of Rohypnol in combination with champagne, with which he washed down the pills.
He spent the next few days in the hospital and then returned to Seattle. Many believe that this was his first suicide attempt, although Cobain himself stated that it was just a "mistake".
Some time later, Love called the police as Kurt had locked himself in a room with a gun and was threatening to kill himself. Arriving police officers confiscated several guns from Cobain (in their free time Kurt liked to buy cuts of meat and then shoot them in the nearby woods) and a can of pills of unknown origin.
On March 25, Love gathered ten people from among Kurt's friends and employees of his record company to convince him to go to treatment for heroin addiction. The musician was rude, but nevertheless agreed to undergo a rehabilitation course.
At the clinic, Kurt seemed calm, interacted freely with the medical staff, and even had fun playing with Frances Bean when her nanny brought the one and a half year old girl to meet her father (this was the last time he saw his daughter.
That evening, he climbed over a two-meter wall, took a taxi and drove to the Los Angeles airport, from where he flew to Seattle.
On the plane, his neighbor was Duff McKagan from Guns N "Roses; despite Cobain's hostile attitude towards this group, he seemed glad to see Duff. Cobain behaved affably, but McKagan later admitted that something in his behavior confused him : "Instinct told me that something was wrong."
Over the next few days, Cobain was seen in different places Seattle, but his wife and bandmates did not know his whereabouts and tried unsuccessfully to find him. Courtney even hired a private detective to help her track down her husband.
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 called, but no one answered. After that, 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, he noticed the body and assumed that someone was sleeping, but then saw blood at the left ear and a gun lying across the body.
This is how Kurt Cobain's body 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 ink. There he complained that he "has not been enjoying listening to and writing music for a long time" and confessed to "guilt" in front of his relatives and fans, which he "could not cope with." The note was addressed to "Bodda", his imaginary childhood friend.
The report 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 an incompatible dose of heroin 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.
In March 2014, on the eve of the anniversary of Cobain's death, additional material was released by the Seattle Police Department regarding the circumstances of his death. A secondary investigation confirmed the original conclusion: suicide.
In turn, many of Kurt's relatives and friends, including his mother, Wendy Cobain, and his former bandmates, are skeptical about the version of the murder.
In an interview with Today newspaper, Wendy said: "Kurt's suicide was not an accident. He carefully considered his step and carried it out methodically. For the past two years, I have lived in the belief that he will die soon."
Curiously, over the years, Cobain has been involved in the creation of a series of films called "Super-8", in one of these films there is a scene of his suicide.
A public memorial service for Cobain was held on April 10 in the park cultural center Seattle Center. At the ceremony, a tape was played with pre-recorded messages from Novoselic, Grohl and Courtney Love, who read fragments from her husband's suicide note onto the cassette. Toward the end of the memorial service, Love appeared on it in person, talked to grieving fans and gave them some of her late husband's clothes.
After cremation, some of Cobain's ashes were scattered over the Wishka River in his native Aberdeen, and Courtney kept some for herself. An 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.
In the spring of 2012, one of Cobain's close friends, Eric Erlandson, claimed in an interview that shortly before his death in 1994, Cobain was working on a solo album. Are there any records for this moment unknown, but Nevermind producer Butch Vig strongly disagrees with Eric's views on the existence of material records.
On Friday, April 8, 1994, at 8:45 a.m. local time, a telephone call was recorded at the Seattle Police Department. discovered the bloodied corpse of a man.
Chapter 2
On Friday, April 8, 1994, at 8:45 a.m. local time, a telephone call was recorded at the Seattle Police Department. discovered the bloodied corpse of a man. Arriving at the scene 11 minutes later, a squad of law enforcement officers actually found the applicant and the body of the deceased, dressed in jeans, a hoodie and sneakers. into the mouth with a large-caliber rifle "Remington" 11th model ... After the initial examination of the scene, the death of a hasty suicide was recorded as a result of suicide - no traces of violent actions were found.
From the protocol of interrogation of Gary Smith, it turned out the following. Smith is a full-time electrician servicing the burglar alarms of houses located on Rake Washington Boulevard, including the Cobain mansion. The electrician's duties included daily inspection of the alarm system. alarm sensors went up the stairs to the second floor and in the room above the garage saw a human corpse through the window. After 15 minutes, Mr. Smith called the police, the nearest hospital and the local radio station. the corpse of a man who committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. However, it is not yet known that the suicide was Kurt Cobain. The MTV report specified that the last person to see the musician was John Silva, the manager of NIRVANA. NIRVANA tour as part of the Lollapallooza festival is in doubt. After 45 minutes, the corpse was identified by fingerprints. To the horror of millions of fans, experts stated that it was the leader of NIRVANA who was killed. The suicide occurred long before the discovery of the corpse. To commit suicide, Kurt put a rifle between his legs and shot himself in the mouth.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, radio stations in the northwestern United States filled the air with NIRVANA songs. Fans began to flock to Cobain's house. A couple of hours later, traffic on Lake Washington Boulevard was paralyzed by at least five thousand fans who came to say goodbye to their idol. By night, the crowd had not dispersed, and Thousands of candles were lit in the dark. The vigil to the soundtrack of NIRVANA songs continued until the morning. At 2 pm, American news agencies broadcast the details of the event throughout the country and to Europe. The first interview was given by Chris Novoselic. bad about Kurt. Let his soul be free. The statement that it was drugs that caused Cobain's death is incorrect. Heroin was only a small part of his life. Kurt was eliminated by the "mystical powers of rock." Rock stars of this order are doomed. .The MTV news also noted that Cobain's death automatically puts an end to the band's career.
“I was amazed when the suicide happened,” producer Steve Albini said in an interview, “but it didn’t surprise me that Kurt was capable of this. I think everyone who considers his existence thinks about suicide. because you have to deal with your problems strictly and disciplined. But some people decide to change the situation, and one way to change it is to leave. Maybe many people who would have a life as difficult as Kurt's would not finish it So Well, I think that it's a display of resilience, but that doesn't mean that Kurt's posture was unjustified."
What events preceded the tragic denouement? During a tour of Europe, in Rome, Kurt Obain ended up in a clinic where he spent 36 hours
was taken out of a drug-alcohol coma. This time he was saved by doctors who restored the vital functions of the body, but were unable to restore his peace of mind. , where the musician tried to solve all the problems in one fell swoop, a suicide note was even found, which was not advertised in the interests of the cause. Two recent concert NIRVANA, of course, were canceled and the group returned to their homeland.
For two weeks after returning, Kurt kept himself in control. True, he told Love that he no longer wants to work with NIRVANA and it would be much more interesting for him to perform with Michael Stipe (R.E.M. vocalist). It was then that he began to "arm", although the house already had a "Tauras" revolver and a "Beretta" submachine gun. He "fell off" abruptly. NIRVANA didn't actually exist anymore. Kurt was physically unable to rehearse, let alone perform on stage. In the end, he sent Novoselic away, which immediately became known to the cunning journalists of the Los Angeles Times. US tour organizer "Lollapalooza" (summer 1994) Perry Farrell stated that the famous trio, announced with SMASHING PUMPKINS as headliners, "probably will not be ready to work their bill." Kurt's mother Wendy O Connor, who saw her son six days before the tragedy, tried to reason with her child, suggesting that further music lessons "would not lead to good." “I was sure that everything would turn out like this,” she told reporters, “but I wasn’t able to fix something. He told me that people want him dead, that such an outcome is quite logical. Just fate, nothing else, as "the continuation of the history of rock and roll."
Courtney Love during this troubled period repeatedly saw her husband with a rifle in his hands. “He once told me that he would shoot himself if they didn’t leave him alone. When I started to persuade him to quit heroin, he told me that he couldn’t fight pain without drugs. I understood that it was “withdrawal” and the only thing I could do was send Kurt to rehab in LA."
On March 18, 1994, Courtney and Novoselic gathered Cobain's closest relatives and friends in the person of Pat Smear and Dylan Carlson, also inviting Denny Goldberg, now head of Atlantik Records. A total of ten people came. Almost every one of them tried to reason with Kurt, set him on the right path, "that is, take care of himself and quit drugs. But Cobain sat with a blank expression on his face, silent and thoughtful. He looked at the faces of those present with a feeling of deep indifference, then he contemplated his own legs He soon got up and, after telling Smear that they needed to work in the studio, left the room.
Courtney left Seattle on March 25 and moved to Los Angeles, checking into the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills and leaving her two year old daughter Francis Bean under the care of Nanny Jackie Franny. The reason for leaving was not the disagreements that arose with her husband. Just a group of Courtney was going to release their album in Los Angeles. Periodically, she called Kurt and persuaded him to go to the Exodus Recovery Center hospital in the city of Marino Del to undergo a rehabilitation course. On March 28, Cobain finally succumbed to persuasion and promised to go and see what this hospital is like.
Kurt was in the hospital for only two days, constantly keeping in touch with his wife. His last call was the strangest. "Whatever happens, I want you to know that you've made a great album," he said. Courtney asked what he meant, what happened? But Kurt only replied, "Just remember, no matter what happens, I love you." This was their last conversation. Alarmed, Love called all her friends, but no one knew where her husband was. On April 3, she, with the knowledge of the Geffen firm, hired private detectives to search for Cobain. Everyone assumed Kurt was back in Seattle. In fact, he was there as early as March 30 and, meeting with Dylan Carlson, asked him to buy a gun for him, ostensibly for self-defense. Cobain asked Dylan to register the weapon in his name, as he feared that he would get into trouble with the police, who had previously confiscated his arsenal. This raises another question - why should Kurt worry about the police if he decided to commit suicide? It turns out that either someone really threatened his life, or another psychosis broke out in him.
“Of course, if I knew or at least guessed what Kurt had in mind,” Carlson later said in an interview, “then I would never buy a rifle for him. But his mood was optimistic then, he was determined to overcome all your problems." After buying a 20-gauge "61b Remington Model 11" shotgun, the buddies parted ways. They were not destined to meet again. On the same day, Kurt bought in another gun shop another pack of ammo. For what? Cobain spent the night in his country house in Carnation, 40 miles from Seattle. Courtney later claimed that, judging by the someone else's sleeping bag and cigarettes in the ashtray, someone else was with him. From the first to the eighth of April, none of his relatives and close friends, according to them, knew anything about the whereabouts of the leader of NIRVANA.
By official version, which was based on forensic evidence, Kurt Cobain showed up at his Lake Washington home on April 5, drugged with heroin and sleeping pills. Only a third of the dose of these drugs contained in his blood could lead to ordinary person to lethal outcome. There was deathly silence in the huge empty house. The house had never looked so ominous. So Kurt turned on the TV, and then went to the second floor of the garage annex, next to the house where his daughter's nanny used to live. Choosing a pen with red ink, he wrote his last message to his wife, daughter, colleagues and admirers, sealed the letter in an envelope, then took a gun and shot himself in the head. Thus, his corpse lay for almost three days, until the electrician Gary Smith raised the alarm on April 8.
In these three days, many people were looking for Cobain. Private detectives, pals brought in by Courtney Love, and cops contacted by Kurt's mother, Wendy O'Connor, after learning that her son had purchased a gun. The police visited the house on Lake Washington several times, looking for Cobain in the haunts, but to no avail. He sank into the water. Rumors circulated that on April 5 Kurt was contacted by a company representative, who never identified himself, who urged him to go to a local rehabilitation center. But allegedly the musician refused to do so. According to other sources, Cobain was seen in the company of drug dealers. However, these rumors were not confirmed.
The facts are like this. On the evening of April 7, Courtney Love called the hotel administrator and asked for medical assistance due to a severe allergic reaction to a seemingly ordinary medicine. Ambulance took her to the clinic, but as a result, the police became interested in the patient. After discovering a narcotic drug, a syringe, and a prescription book that was found to be someone else's property, Courtney was arrested by Beverly Hills police but released on $10,000 bail. Later, Love stated that this drug was prescribed to her by her attending physician, who forgot his book in her hotel room. It is possible that Courtney did not have a simple nervous breakdown, but she somehow found out (if only telepathically) about the death of her husband.
Returning to Seattle, Love made a statement to MTV reporters: “Two weeks before the suicide, Kurt was firmly “addicted” to drugs. It was impossible to communicate with him. He did not want to see anyone and was in a state of deep depression. I suspected that Kurt would do to himself THIS, but it seemed to me that his life would end when he was at least forty years old. During the interview, Kourtney wore her late husband's jeans and socks, and carried a tuft of unwashed hair cut from Cobain's head as a talisman in her pocket. Later, during the vigil, reading out fragments from dying message Cobain, she gave vent to feelings and screamed: "You bastard, you bastard!"
While fans mourned the death of the "star", comforting themselves with listening to the MTV Unplugget In Ney York album, Cobain's "case" took a completely unexpected turn in Seattle. The preliminary stage of the investigation into the circumstances of the death of the singer and composer was completed and made public in the music press. These results were shocking: it is possible that Kurt Cobain did not shoot himself, but was shot. This conclusion was reached by private detective Tom Grant, who was hired by Courtney Love on April 3, that is, five days before Cobain's death. What prompted Love to take such a step? Fear for your life? But in an interview, Courtney repeatedly stressed that Kurt "had kind heart and he knew how to love so much. "Fear for the life of his daughter? Excluded. The same Courtney said that according to her husband, he was going to live up to 120 years, and that the only force holding him in this world is precisely his child. Fear for the life of himself Kurt? Most likely. But what does a private detective have to do with it? Watching a dying person should not be "outside" people, but at least doctors, but better relatives. And one more thing. If Tom Grant has been following Kurt relentlessly since -angelesian rehabilitation center Why did he let the tragedy happen?
Grant dealt with the circumstances of the death of a celebrity in total eight months. “I immediately knew it was a murder,” the detective told the Star newspaper, “Kurt was in a narcotic trance. In this state, a person is not aware of his actions and does not understand what is happening. I am sure that someone staged a staged suicide and pressed Kurt's finger on the trigger of the rifle. Death note, found at the scene, was half fake. I spent a long time studying this sheet of paper, written by Kurt with a red ink pen, and found that the last two lines, in which he actually said goodbye to life, were written by another person. This was confirmed by the examination. Kurt valued death more than life. It wasn't a secret. And someone skillfully took advantage of the knowledge of this secret.
For the sake of completeness, here is Cobain's last message to Bodda, the musician's "alter ego", in its entirety:
I speak the language of an experienced simple person who would clearly prefer to be a lethargic, infantile complainer. This note will be fairly easy to understand. All warnings short course punk rock over the years, since I got to know, so to speak, the ethics of independence and acceptance of your community, turned out to be really fair. For many years I have not experienced the excitement of listening, as well as creating music, both in concert and in the process of composing. I can't put into words how ashamed I am of all this. For example, when we're backstage and the lights come on and this crazy crowd roar starts, it doesn't move me the way it did with Freddie Mercury, who seems to enjoy enjoying the love and adoration of the crowd, which I'm very surprised and jealous of. The thing is, I can't deceive all of you, none of you. It just wouldn't be fair to you or me. The worst crime I can imagine is to deceive people with such pretense and pretend that I am 100% happy. Sometimes I feel like I wish I could stop the clock when I go on stage. I tried to do everything in my power to understand the meaning of this. And I understand God, believe me, I understand, but this is not enough. I understand that we touched someone's feelings, entertained someone, not even someone, but very many. I must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate something when it's gone. I'm too sensitive. I need to dampen my feelings a little in order to regain the enthusiasm that I had as a child. During our last three tours, I understood much better all the people I knew personally and the fans of our music, but I still can't get over the disappointment, guilt and pity that I feel for everyone. There's something good in all of us, and I think I just love people too much. So much so that it's what makes me so fucking sad. Sad, small, sensitive, ungrateful, Pisces (Kurt's zodiac sign - ed.). My God! Why doesn't it suit you? I don't know! I have a goddess wife who is full of ambition and compassion, and a daughter who is so much like the way I was. Loving and cheerful, welcoming every person she sees, because everything is good and does not harm her. And it terrifies me to the point where I can barely do anything. I can't bear the thought that Francis could become the same miserable, self-destructive rocker that I have become. I'm doing well, very well, and I'm grateful, but from the age of seven I began to hate all people. Only because it seems so easy for them to live and feel compassion. Compassion! Just because I love and feel sorry for people too much, I get something in return. I thank you all from the depths of my burning stomach, writhing with nausea, for your letters and support in last years. I'm too weird, sullen baby! I no longer have passion and therefore, remember - it is better to burn out instantly than to fade away slowly. Peace, love, compassion. Kurt Cobain.
Francis and Courtney, I'll be at your altar.
in the name of Francis
For the sake of her life, which will be much happier without me.
I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!
Except for the last lines, everything else was actually written by Kurt. But it was a LETTER in which he announced that he was leaving show business, not life. He wrote a similar letter back in Rome, and, of course, those who needed the death of the singer already knew about it. Tom Grand also questioned all the conclusions of the police and the experimental group. In his opinion, the investigation into the circumstances of the case was not professional. Even potential witnesses were not interviewed. But the most amazing fact is that two days before the tragedy, at least two people already knew that Kurt Cobain WILL be killed. They knew, but were silent. Tom Grant met with them, but he still keeps the names of these people a secret. Again, they committed a crime without preventing the murder, but no one is going to hold them accountable under the law.
There is one more detail. The body was found in a room, the door to which was propped up with a stool from the inside. In the other two rooms, overlooking the balcony, the chairs were placed in the middle, and the rooms were not locked. Therefore, someone was clearly in Cobain's company, calmly preparing the scene of the murder. It is unlikely that Kurt, who was in a semi-conscious state, was engaged in arranging chairs and looking for a room where it would be more convenient to "carry out the sentence." It is also alarming that an unknown person tried several times to use Cobain's credit card, which Courtney Love canceled as soon as she learned that her husband had fled the clinic. According to Courtney, she did this in order to determine where to look for Kurt. They tried to use a credit card on the days when, according to the medical examination, Cobain was already dead. And in general, what could be more surprising than the fact that no one knew about the whereabouts of one of America's most famous rock musicians for almost a week? Or rather, someone knew for sure, but even to this day he prefers to keep quiet. This whole story, in its mysticism, is not inferior to the twisted plot of the Twin Peaks series, which, by the way, was filmed in these places.
It is interesting that the private detective does not speculate with the word "murderers", emphasizing that this is the work of one person, or a whole group of people. Grant's repeated demands to file a criminal case are denied by the Police Department "due to insufficient evidence." Thus, the perpetrators of the crime have not yet been identified. "I am sure that the traces of the murder should be looked for only in Seattle. In its criminal circles associated with the drug business," Tom Grant summed up his work. Well, it's quite possible. Seattle is gradually becoming America's largest drug staging post. Compared with 1993, the level of heroin use among young people in this city has increased by 60%. However, there is not even indirect evidence of Kurt's involvement in the drug mafia.
More likely interest in the removal of Cobain management "Gold Mountain Entertainment". It was no longer a secret to anyone that Kurt wanted to "get out of the game." So in the end, it was decided to make big money on his death. Indeed, in England alone, NIRVANA's last two records were bought outright and hit the Top 30. But the albums of Kurt Cobain and without such a "precedent" were sold in huge numbers. In total, 15 million discs were sold around the world. Maybe Kurt, as the leader of American youth, was a danger to the secret services? Unlikely. Cobain's lyrics were not a social threat. So who needs the death of Kurt, who would have taken his own life anyway? The answer is perhaps simple. He was killed by those who gave birth to him. Seattle today is the center of the US music industry, no less than Los Angeles, New York or Cleveland. The city needed a new Idol and God, because Jimi Hendrix (who is buried in Seattle's Greenwood Memorial Park) means little to the new generation. Kurt was the only candidate for the role of the Martyr, which he was rushed to MAKE.
