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Fecal Matter was a short-lived punk band from Aberdeen, Washington formed by Kurt Cobain, later the frontman of the grunge band Nirvana, and Dale Crover of The Melvins. A later, short-lived version of the group included Melvins members Buzz Osborne and Mike Dillard.

The group recorded the demo tape Illiteracy Will Prevail, which, with the exception of the song "Spank Thru", remains officially unreleased. Leaked portions of the cassette have nonetheless been made available on bootlegs like The Chosen Rejects and Outcesticide.

History[link]

Activity (1985–1986)[link]

The band was formed in early 1985 by guitarist and vocalist Cobain, bassist Crover, and drummer Greg Hokanson. Hokanson left the band in December. Shortly thereafter, Cobain and Crover went to the Seattle home of Cobain's aunt, Mari Earle, with a large book of lyrics and recorded the Illiteracy Will Prevail demo on a 4-track recorder.^[1] Crover played both bass guitar and drums on the recording.

In January 1986, Buzz Osborne joined on bass and Mike Dillard joined on drums. According to Michael Azerrad's Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain thought Osborne did not take the band seriously enough as he refused to buy a bass guitar amplifier.^[1] In February, Fecal Matter disbanded and the Melvins recorded their debut EP.

Legacy[link]

Cobain began passing the demo tape around to friends and peers. He had wanted to start a band with acquaintance Krist Novoselic for some time. After hearing the tape in mid-1986, and particularly liking the song "Spank Thru", Novoselic agreed to form a band, which became Nirvana.^{[citation needed]}

"Spank Thru" is the only track from the tape to be officially released, arriving on the 2005 Nirvana rarities album Sliver: The Best of the Box. "Downer" was re-recorded for Nirvana's Bleach album. The song "Anorexorcist", part of a 9-minute medley on the Fecal Matter demo, was also re-recorded by Nirvana in a version that saw release on 2004's With the Lights Out boxed set.

In March 2006, an incomplete, poor-quality version of Illiteracy Will Prevail was leaked. A week later, three full songs from the demo were briefly hosted on a MySpace site ("Sound of Dentage", "Bambi Slaughter" and "Laminated Effect"). The clips were confirmed authentic by collector Mike Ziegler and others who had heard the demo. Additional songs were leaked in November 2007.

Discography[link]

• Illiteracy Will Prevail demo

1. Sound of Dentage 3:29
2. ("Reefer Madness" Excerpts) 1:15
3. Bambi Slaughter 3:33
4. Laminated Effect 2:17
5. Unknown Title (Control) 2:36
6. Unknown Title (Class of 86) 3:55
7. Unknown Title (Blather's Log) 2:05
8. Unknown Title (Anorexorcist) 8:54
9. Unknown Title (Accusations) 4:48
10. Spank Thru 3:49
11. Unknown Title (Insurance) 1:28
12. Unknown Title (Buffy's Pregnant) 4:15
13. Vaseline 2:21
14. Downer 3:04
15. Instramental (Instrumental version of Track 7) 1:39
16. Turnaround (Short clip of the Devo song) 1:15
17. (Guitar riffs of songs on the album)

Members[link]

• Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitars (1985–1986)
• Dale Crover – bass guitar, drums (1985–1986)
• Greg Hokanson – drums (1985)
• Buzz Osborne – bass guitar (1986)
• Mike Dillard – drums (1986)

External links[link]

• Live Nirvana sessions history - December 1985 (Fecal Matter)
• Fecal Matter FAQ on alt.music.nirvana
• Live Nirvana - information on the faked demo

Notes[link]

Elephant feces

Feces, faeces, or fæces (see spelling differences), also known as excrement, is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during a process called defecation.

Etymology[link]

The word faeces is the plural of the Latin word fæx meaning "dregs". There is no singular form in the English language, making it a plurale tantum.^[1] There are many colloquial terms for feces, of which some are considered profanity (such as shit and crap) while others (such as poo, poop, number two, deuce, doodoo, dookie and doody) are not. Terms such as dung, scat, spoor and droppings are normally used to refer to animal feces.

Stool is a common term normally used in reference to human feces. For example, in medicine to diagnose the presence or absence of a medical condition, a stool sample is sometimes requested for testing purposes.^[2] The term "stool" can also be used for that of non-human species.

Ecology[link]

The Cassowary disperses plant seeds via its feces.

Earthworm feces aid in provision of minerals and plant nutrients in an accessible form

After an animal has digested eaten material, the remains of that material are expelled from its body as waste. Though it is lower in energy than the food it came from, feces may still contain a large amount of energy, often 50% of that of the original food.^[3] This means that of all food eaten, a significant amount of energy remains for the decomposers of ecosystems. Many organisms feed on feces, from bacteria to fungi to insects such as dung beetles, which can sense odors from long distances.^[4] Some may specialize in feces, while others may eat other foods as well. Feces serve not only as a basic food, but also a supplement to the usual diet of some animals. This is known as coprophagia, and occurs in various animal species such as young elephants eating their mother's feces to gain essential gut flora, or by other animals such as dogs, rabbits, and monkeys.

Feces and urine, which reflect ultraviolet light, are important to raptors such as Kestrels, which are able to locate their prey by their middens and territorial markers.^[5]

Seeds may also be found in feces. Animals which eat fruit are known as frugivores. The advantage for a plant in having fruit is that animals will eat the fruit and unknowingly disperse the seed in doing so. This mode of seed dispersal is highly successful, as seeds dispersed around the base of a plant are unlikely to succeed and are often subject to heavy predation. Provided the seed can withstand the pathway through the digestive system, it is not only likely to be far away from the parent plant, but is even provided with its own fertilizer.

Organisms which subsist on dead organic matter or detritus are known as detritivores, and play an important role in ecosystems by recycling organic matter back into a simpler form which plants and other autotrophs may once again absorb. This cycling of matter is known as the biogeochemical cycle. To maintain nutrients in soil it is therefore important that feces return to the area from which they came, which is not always the case in human society where food may be transported from rural areas to urban populations and then feces disposed of into a river or sea.

Human feces[link]

In humans, defecation may occur (depending on the individual and the circumstances) from once every two or three days to several times a day. Extensive hardening of the feces may cause prolonged interruption in the routine and is called constipation.

Human fecal matter varies significantly in appearance, depending on diet and health. Normally it is semisolid, with a mucus coating. Its brown coloration comes from a combination of bile and bilirubin, which comes from dead red blood cells.

In newborn babies, fecal matter is initially yellow/green after the meconium. This coloration comes from the presence of bile alone. In time, as the body starts expelling bilirubin from dead red blood cells, it acquires its familiar brown appearance, unless the baby is breast feeding, in which case it remains soft, pale yellowish, and not completely malodorous until the baby begins to eat significant amounts of other food.

Throughout the life of an ordinary human, one may experience many types of feces. A "green" stool is from rapid transit of feces through the intestines (or the consumption of certain blue or green food dyes in quantity), and "clay-like" appearance to the feces is the result of a lack of bilirubin.

Bile overload is very rare, and not a health threat. Problems as simple as serious diarrhea can cause blood in one's stool. Black stools caused by blood usually indicate a problem in the intestines (the black is digested blood), whereas red streaks of blood in stool are usually caused by bleeding in the rectum or anus.

Food may sometimes make an appearance in the feces. Common undigested foods found in human feces are seeds, nuts, corn and beans, mainly because of their high dietary fiber content. Beets may turn feces different hues of red. Artificial food coloring in some processed foods such as highly colorful packaged breakfast cereals can also cause unusual feces coloring if eaten in sufficient quantities.

Laboratory examination of feces, usually termed as stool examination or stool test, is done for the sake of diagnosis, for example, to detect presence of parasites such as pinworms and/or their eggs (ova) or to detect disease spreading bacteria.

Personal hygiene[link]

Cultures employ a variety of personal cleansing practicing after elimination.

• In Western and East Asian societies, the use of toilet paper is widespread. Other paper products were also used before the advent of flush toilets.
• Some European countries use a bidet for additional cleaning.
• In South Asia and Southeast Asia, showers are provided for use in toilets.
• In Islam, washing of the anus with water using the left hand is part of the prescribed ritual ablutions.
• In India, the anus is also washed with water using the left hand.
• In the United Kingdom, the Indian toilet was adapted as the "WC" (water closet) and widely deployed in England during the reign of Queen Victoria. London suffered numerous outbreaks of food poisoning resulting from workers handling food after using the toilet. Cleansing of the anus was an arbitrary practice left to personal choice and facilities available.
• In Ancient Rome, a communal sponge was employed. It was rinsed in a bucket of salt water after use.
• In Japan, flat sticks were used in ancient times, being replaced by toilet paper as the country became more Westernized. Toilets that include built-in bidets have now become widely popular in private homes; these can be very sophisticated appliances, allowing users to adjust the temperature, direction and force of water jets, and offering warm air to dry the anus and surrounding regions. The toilet flushes automatically when the buttocks leave the seat.

Health issues[link]

Consistency and shape of stools may be classified medically according to the Bristol Stool Scale.

Pica, a disorder where non-food items are eaten, can cause unusual stool.

Intestinal parasites and their ova (eggs) can sometimes be visible to the naked eye.

Odor[link]

The molecule hydrogen sulfide contributes to the smell of feces.

The distinctive odor of feces is due to bacterial action. Gut flora produce compounds such as indole, skatole, and thiols (sulfur-containing compounds), as well as the inorganic gas hydrogen sulfide. These are the same compounds that are responsible for the odor of flatulence. Consumption of foods with spices may result in the spices being undigested and adding to the odor of feces. The perceived bad odor of feces has been hypothesized to be a deterrent for humans, as consumption or touching it may result in sickness or infection.^[6] Of course, human perception of the odor is a subjective matter; an animal that eats feces may be attracted to its odor.

Pets[link]

Sign ordering owners to clean up after pets, Downtown Houston, Texas

Pets can be trained to use litter boxes or wait to be allowed outside and defecate there. Training can be done in several ways, especially dependent on species. An example is crate training for dogs. Several companies market carpet cleaning products aimed at pet owners.

Uses[link]

Human feces may be used as fertilizer (See also: Humanure) in the form of biosolids (treated sewage sludge). The feces of animals are often used as fertilizer; see manure and guano. Some animal feces, especially those of camel, bison and cattle, is used as fuel when dried out.^[7] Animal dung, besides being used as fuel, is occasionally used as a cement to make adobe mudbrick huts^[8] or even in throwing sports such as cow pat throwing or camel dung throwing contests.^[9] Kopi Luwak (pronounced [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or Civet coffee, is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

See also Fewmets for the use of feces in venery, or Hunting in the Middle Ages, and Kumalak for the use of feces in fortune-telling in Central Asia.

Dog feces were used in the tanning process of leather during the Victorian era. Collected dog feces were mixed with water to form a substance known as "bate". Enzymes in the dog feces helped to relax the fibrous structure of the hide before the final stages of tanning.^[10]

Social implications[link]

Feces has always been associated with the lowest people among society, the social outcasts, the pariahs, and the social discards. The Caste system in India was created along the lines of profession and the dalits (untouchables) were left to do work related to human emissions. They did such work as clean and pick feces from streets, clean toilets, work with dead bodies. Such practices are prevalent even today in the rural and small villages of India. Even in western cultures, feces is associated with social discards. The usage of the word "shit" in modern English has its roots in the use of the word to denote something that is of little value, or having a negative value.

Animal feces[link]

Fresh bear scat showing a diet of apples

Bear scat showing consumption of bin bags in garbage

Horse feces

The feces of animals often have special names. For example:

• Non-human animals generally –
  • As bulk material – dung
  • Individually – droppings
• Cattle –
  • Bulk material – cow dung
  • Individual droppings – cow pats, meadow muffins etc.
• Deer (and formerly other quarry animals) – fewmets.
• Wild carnivores – scat.
• Otter – spraint.
• Birds (individual) – droppings (also include urine as white crystals of uric acid).
• Seabirds or bats (large accumulations) – guano.
• Herbivorous insects, such as caterpillars and leaf beetles – frass.
• Earthworms, lugworms etc. – worm castings (feces extruded at ground surface).
• Feces when used as fertilizer (usually mixed with animal bedding and urine) – manure.
• Horses – horse manure, roadapple.

Bibliography[link]

• Ganim, Russell; Persels, Jeff (2004). Fecal matters in early modern literature and art: Studies in scatology. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-4116-3. OCLC 53477287 56448582 217420632 53477287 56448582. http://books.google.com/?id=0GKUQ-5o3qkC. 

See also[link]

Biology portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Laporte, Dominique G. (2002). History of Shit (Documents Book). Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-62160-6. OCLC 49206444 53996841 42736232 49206444 53996841. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Feces

Look up feces in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• A FAQ site on feces
• Free reference linking feces and illness
• Liver biochemistry
• MedFriendly's Article on Feces

This article may contain inappropriate or misinterpreted citations that do not verify the text. Please help improve this article by checking for inaccuracies. (help, talk, get involved!) (August 2011)

Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain performing in 1993.
Background information
Birth name	Kurt Donald Cobain
Also known as	Kurdt Kobain
Born	(1967-02-20)February 20, 1967 Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.
Died	April 5, 1994(1994-04-05) (aged 27) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock, grunge
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, artist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1982–94
Labels	Sub Pop, DGC/Geffen
Associated acts	Nirvana, Fecal Matter
Notable instruments
Fender Jag-Stang Fender Jaguar Fender Mustang Fender Stratocaster Martin D-18E Univox Hi-Flier[1]

Kurt's signature

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994)^[2][3] was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana. Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album Bleach released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989.

After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its second album Nevermind (1991). Following the success of Nevermind, Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation".^[4] Cobain, however, was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with its final studio album In Utero (1993).

During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction, illness and depression. He also had difficulty coping with his fame and public image, and the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife, musician Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The circumstances of his death at age 27 have become a topic of public fascination and debate. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, has sold over 25 million albums in the U.S. alone, and over 50 million worldwide.^[5][6]

Early life[link]

Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington,^[7] to a waitress, Wendy Elizabeth (née Fradenburg),^[8] and an automotive mechanic, Donald Leland Cobain. His ancestry included Irish, English, Scottish, and German.^[9][10][11] Cobain's Irish ancestors migrated from County Tyrone of Northern Ireland in 1875.^[11] Researchers have found them to have been shoemakers, originally named Cobane, who came from the village of Inishatieve near Pomeroy, settling in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, and then in Washington.^[12] Cobain had one younger sister named Kimberly, born in 1970.^[8][10]

Cobain's family had a musical background. His maternal uncle Chuck Fradenburg starred in a band called The Beachcombers, his Aunt Mari Earle played guitar and performed in bands throughout Grays Harbor County, and his great-uncle Delbert had a career as an Irish tenor; making an appearance in the 1930 film King of Jazz. Cobain was described as being a happy and excitable, while sensitive and caring child. His talent as an artist was evident from an early age. His bedroom was described as having taken on the appearance of an art studio,^[7] where he would accurately draw his favorite characters from films and cartoons such as Aquaman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Disney characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Pluto.^[13] This enthusiasm was encouraged by his grandmother Iris Cobain, who was a professional artist herself. Cobain began developing an interest in music early in his life. According to his Aunt Mari, he began singing at two years old. At age four, Cobain started playing the piano and singing, writing a song about their trip to a local park. He listened to artists like the Ramones^[14] and would sing songs like Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song," The Beatles' "Hey Jude", Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun" and the theme song to The Monkees television show at a young age.^[15]

When Cobain was seven years old, his parents divorced.^[16] Later in his life, he said the divorce had a profound effect on his life. His mother noted that his personality changed dramatically; Cobain became defiant and withdrawn.^[17] In a 1993 interview, he elaborated:

"I remember feeling ashamed, for some reason. I was ashamed of my parents. I couldn't face some of my friends at school anymore, because I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family. Mother, father. I wanted that security, so I resented my parents for quite a few years because of that."^[18]

Cobain's parents both found new partners after the divorce. His father had promised not to remarry; however, after meeting Jenny Westeby, he did, to Kurt's dismay.^[19] Kurt, his father, Westeby, and her two children Mindy and James, moved into a new household together. Cobain liked Westeby at first, who gave him the maternal attention he desired.^[19][20] In January 1979, Westeby gave birth to a boy, Chad Cobain.^[19] This new family, which Cobain insisted was not his real one, was in stark contrast to the attention Cobain was used to receiving as an only boy; he soon began to express resentment toward his stepmother.^[19][20] Kurt's mother began dating a man who was abusive. Cobain witnessed the domestic violence inflicted upon her, with one incident resulting in her being hospitalized with a broken arm.^[20][21] Wendy steadfastly refused to press charges, remaining completely committed to the relationship.^[21]

Kurt behaved insolently toward adults. He began bullying another boy at school. These behaviours eventually caused his father and Westeby to take him to a therapist, who concluded that Kurt would benefit in a single family environment.^[21] Both sides of the family attempted to bring his parents back together, but to no avail. On June 28, 1979, Cobain's mother granted full custody of Kurt to his father.^[22]

Cobain's teenage rebellion quickly became overwhelming for his father, who placed Kurt in the care of family and friends. While living with the born-again Christian family of his friend Jesse Reed, Cobain became a devout Christian and regularly attended church services. Cobain later renounced Christianity, engaging in what would be described as "anti-God" rants. The song "Lithium" is about his experience while living with the Reed family. Religion would remain an important part in Cobain's personal life and beliefs, as he often used Christian imagery in his work and maintained a constant interest in Jainism and Buddhist philosophy. The band name Nirvana was taken from the Buddhist concept, which Cobain described as "freedom from pain, suffering and the external world," which paralleled with the punk rock ethic and ideology. Cobain would regard himself as both a Buddhist and a Jain during different points of his life, educating himself about the philosophies through various sources, including through watching late night television documentaries on both subjects.^[23][24][25]

Although not interested in sports, Kurt was enrolled in a junior high school wrestling team at the insistence of his father. Kurt was a skilled wrestler, yet despised the experience. Because of the ridicule he endured from his teammates and coach, he allowed himself to be pinned, in an attempt to sadden his father. Later, his father enlisted him in a little league baseball team, where Cobain would intentionally strike out to avoid playing on the team.^[26]

Cobain befriended a homosexual student at school, and suffered bullying from heterosexual students who concluded that Cobain was gay. In an interview he said that he liked having the identity of being gay because he did not like people and when they thought he was gay they left him alone. Kurt stated, "I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't". His friend tried to kiss him and Kurt backed away and told his friend he was not gay but would still be friends with him. In a 1993 interview with The Advocate, Cobain claimed that he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual." He also stated that he used to spray paint "God Is Gay" on pickup trucks in the Aberdeen area. However, Aberdeen police records show that the phrase for which he was arrested was actually "Ain't got no how watchamacallit".^[27] One of his personal journals states, "I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes."^[28]

Cobain enjoyed creating works of art. He would often draw during school classes, including objects associated with human anatomy. When given a caricature assignment for an art course, Cobain drew a posing Michael Jackson. When his art teacher told him the caricature would be inappropriate to be displayed in a school hallway, Cobain drew an unflattering sketch of then-President Ronald Reagan.^[29]

As attested to by numerous of Cobain's classmates and family members, the first concert he attended was Sammy Hagar and Quarterflash at the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1983.^[7][30] Cobain, however, claimed that the first concert he attended was the Melvins; he wrote prolifically in his Journals of the experience.^[31] As a teenager living in Montesano, Cobain eventually found escape through the thriving Pacific Northwest punk scene, going to punk rock shows in Seattle. Cobain soon began frequenting the practice space of fellow Montesano musicians the Melvins.

During his sophomore year in high school, Cobain began living with his mother in Aberdeen. Two weeks prior to graduation, he dropped out of Aberdeen High School upon realizing he did not have enough credits to graduate. His mother gave him a choice: find employment or leave. After one week, Cobain found his clothes and other belongings packed away in boxes.^[32] Feeling banished from his own mother's home, Cobain stayed with friends, occasionally sneaking back into his mother's basement.^[33] Cobain also claimed during periods of homelessness to have lived under a bridge over the Wishkah River,^[33] an experience that inspired the Nevermind track "Something in the Way". However, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said, "He hung out there, but you couldn't live on those muddy banks, with the tides coming up and down. That was his own revisionism."^[34]

In late 1986 Cobain moved into an apartment, paying his rent by working at a Polynesian coastal resort approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of Aberdeen.^[35] During this period, he was traveling frequently to Olympia, Washington to go to rock concerts.^[36] During his visits to Olympia, Cobain formed a relationship with Tracy Marander. The couple had a close relationship, but one that was often strained with financial difficulties and Cobain's absence when touring. Marander supported the couple by working at the cafeteria of the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, often stealing food. Cobain spent most his time sleeping into the late evening, watching television and concentrating on art projects. Marander's insistence that he get a job caused arguments that influenced Cobain to write "About a Girl", which was featured on the Nirvana album Bleach. Marander is credited with having taken the cover photo for the album. Marander was not aware that "About a Girl" was written about her until years after Cobain's death.^{[37][38][39][40][41][42]}

Soon after Marander separated from him, Cobain began dating Tobi Vail, an influential DIY punk zinester of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. After meeting Vail, Cobain vomited as he was so completely overwhelmed with anxiety regarding his infatuation with her. This event would inspire the lyric: "Love you so much it makes me sick," which would appear in the song "Aneurysm".^[43] While Cobain would regard Vail as his female counterpart, his relationship with her waned. Cobain desired the maternal comfort of a traditional relationship, which Vail regarded as sexist within a countercultural punk rock community. Those who dated Vail would be described by her friend Alice Wheeler as "fashion accessories."^[44] Kurt and Tobi spent most of their time together as a couple discussing political and philosophical issues. Cobain's relationship with Vail would inspire the lyrical content of many of the songs on Nevermind. Once, while discussing anarchism and punk rock with friend Kathleen Hanna, Hanna spray-painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Kurt's apartment wall. Teen Spirit was the name of a deodorant Vail wore; Hanna joked that Cobain smelled like it. Cobain, unaware of this, initially interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning. The slogan inspired the title to the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Nirvana[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)

Cobain began learning guitar with a few covers, including "Louie Louie", The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl", and Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam and soon began working on his own songs.^[25] During high school, Cobain rarely found anyone with whom he could play music. While hanging out at the Melvins' practice space, he met Krist Novoselic, a fellow devotee of punk rock. Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon. Cobain and Novoselic would occasionally practice in the upstairs room of the salon. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band, Fecal Matter. After months of asking, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana.^[45]

Cobain was disenchanted after early touring, due to the band's inability to draw substantial crowds and the apparent difficulty in sustaining themselves. During their first few years playing together, Novoselic and Cobain were hosts to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album Bleach, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style, leading the band to find a new drummer, eventually settling on Dave Grohl. With Grohl, the band found their greatest success via their 1991 major-label debut, Nevermind.

With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered the mainstream, popularizing a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, have sold over 25 million albums in the United States alone, and over 50 million worldwide.^[5][6]

The success of Nevermind provided numerous Seattle bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden to wider audiences, and as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. Nirvana was considered the "flagship band of Generation X", and frontman Cobain found himself reluctantly anointed by the media as the generation's "spokesman."^[4] Cobain's discomfort with the media attention prompted him to focus on the band's music and, believing their message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenged the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).

Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana to his underground roots. He also felt persecuted by the media, comparing himself to Frances Farmer. He began to harbour resentments for people who claimed to be fans of the band yet refused to acknowledge, or misinterpreted, the band's social and political views. A vocal opponent of sexism, racism and homophobia, he was publicly proud that Nirvana had played at a gay rights benefit supporting No-on-Nine in Oregon in 1992, in opposition to Ballot Measure Nine, a ballot measure, that if passed, would have prohibited schools in the state from acknowledging or positively accepting LGBT rights and welfare.

Cobain was a vocal supporter of the pro-choice movement, and had been involved in Rock for Choice from the campaign inception by L7. He received death threats from a small number of anti-abortion activists for doing so, with one activist threatening Cobain that he would be shot as soon as he stepped on stage.^[46] The liner notes from Incesticide declared "if any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us-leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records". An article from his posthumously released Journals declares that social liberation could be made possible only through the eradication of sexism.

Musical influences[link]

The Beatles were an early and lasting influence on Cobain; his aunt Mari remembers him singing "Hey Jude" at the age of two.^[15] "My aunts would give me Beatles records," Cobain told Jon Savage in 1993, "so for the most part [I listened to] the Beatles [as a child], and if I was lucky, I'd be able to buy a single."^[18] Cobain expressed a particular fondness for John Lennon, whom he called his "idol" in his posthumously-released journals,^[28] and he admitted that he wrote the song "About a Girl," from Nirvana 1989 debut album Bleach, after spending three hours listening to Meet The Beatles!.^[47]

Cobain was also a fan of classic rock bands from the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Queen, and Kiss. Nirvana occasionally played cover songs by these bands, including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", "Dazed and Confused" and "Heartbreaker", Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom," and Kiss' "Do You Love Me?", and wrote the Incesticide song "Aero Zeppelin" as a tribute to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.

Punk rock proved to be a profound influence on a teenaged Cobain's attitude and artistic style. His first punk rock album was Sandinista! by The Clash,^[48] but he became a bigger fan of a fellow 1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols, describing them as "one million times more important than the Clash" in his journals.^[28] He was introduced to 1980s American hardcore bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Millions of Dead Cops and Flipper by Buzz Osbourne, lead singer and guitarist of the Melvins and fellow Aberdeen, Washington native. The Melvins themselves were an important early musical influence on Cobain, with their heavy, grungy sound mimicked by Nirvana on many songs from Bleach.

Cobain was also a fan of protopunk acts like the Stooges, whose 1973 album Raw Power he listed as his favorite of all time in his journals,^[28] and The Velvet Underground, whose 1968 song "Here She Comes Now" the band covered both live and in the studio.

The 1980s American alternative rock band Pixies were instrumental in helping an adult Cobain develop his own songwriting style. In a 1992 interview with Melody Maker, Cobain said that hearing their 1988 debut album, Surfer Rosa, "convinced him to abandon his more Black Flag-influenced songwriting in favor of the Iggy Pop/Aerosmith–type songwriting that appeared on Nevermind.^[49] In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, he said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at "trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard."^[50]

Cobain's appreciation of early alternative rock bands also extended to Sonic Youth and R.E.M., both of which the members of Nirvana befriended and looked up to for advice. It was under recommendation from Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon that Nirvana signed to DGC in 1990,^[51] and both bands did a two week tour of Europe in the summer of 1991, as documented in the 1992 documentary, 1991: The Year Punk Broke. In 1993, Cobain said of R.E.M.: "If I could write just a couple of songs as good as what they’ve written … I don’t know how that band does what they do. God, they’re the greatest. They’ve dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music."^[50]

After attaining mainstream success, Cobain became a devoted champion of lesser known indie bands, covering songs by the Vaselines, Meat Puppets, Wipers and Fang onstage and/ or in the studio, wearing Daniel Johnston T-shirts during photo shoots, having the K Records logo tattooed on his forearm, and enlisting bands like The Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, Chokebore and Half Japanese along for the In Utero tour in late 1993 and early 1994. Cobain even invited his favorite musicians to perform with him: ex-Germs guitarist Pat Smear joined the band in 1993, and the Meat Puppets appeared onstage during Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance, to perform three songs from their second album, Meat Puppets II.

Nirvana's Unplugged set also included renditions of "The Man Who Sold the World," by British rock musician David Bowie, and the American folk song, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," as adapted by the American folk musician, Lead Belly. Cobain introduced the latter by calling Lead Belly his favorite performer, and in a 1993 interview revealed he had been introduced to him from reading the American author, William S. Burroughs. "I remember [Burroughs] saying in an interview, “These new rock’n'roll kids should just throw away their guitars and listen to something with real soul, like Leadbelly,'" Cobain said. "I’d never heard about Leadbelly before so I bought a couple of records, and now he turns out to be my absolute favorite of all time in music. I absolutely love it more than any rock’n'roll I ever heard."^[52]

Nirvana's acoustic Unplugged set, which was released posthumously as an album in 1994, may have provided a hint of Cobain's future musical direction. The record has drawn comparisons to R.E.M.'s 1992 release, Automatic for the People,^[53] and in 1993, Cobain himself predicted that the next Nirvana album would be "pretty ethereal, acoustic, like R.E.M.'s last album."^[50]

"Yeah, he talked a lot about what direction he was heading in," Cobain's friend, R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael Stipe, told Newsweek in 1994. "I mean, I know what the next Nirvana recording was going to sound like. It was going to be very quiet and acoustic, with lots of stringed instruments. It was going to be an amazing fucking record, and I’m a little bit angry at him for killing himself. He and I were going to record a trial run of the album, a demo tape. It was all set up. He had a plane ticket. He had a car picking him up. And at the last minute he called and said, 'I can't come.'"^[54]

Artistry[link]

Dave Grohl stated that Cobain believed that music comes first and lyrics, second. Cobain focused, foremost, on the melodies of his songs.^[55] Cobain complained when fans and rock journalists attempted to decipher his singing and extract meaning from his lyrics, writing "Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?"^[56] While Cobain would insist of the subjectivity and unimportance of his lyrics, he was known to labor and procrastinate in writing them, often changing the content and order of lyrics during performances.^[57] Cobain would describe his lyrics himself as "a big pile of contradictions. They're split down the middle between very sincere opinions that I have and sarcastic opinions and feelings that I have and sarcastic and hopeful, humorous rebuttals toward cliché bohemian ideals that have been exhausted for years."^[58]

Cobain originally wanted Nevermind to be divided into two sides: a "Boy" side, for the songs written about the experiences of his early life and childhood, and a "Girl" side, for the songs written about his dysfunctional relationship with Tobi Vail.^[57] Charles R. Cross would write "In the four months following their break-up, Kurt would write a half dozen of his most memorable songs, all of them about Tobi Vail". Though "Lithium" had been written before Cobain knew Vail, the lyrics of the song were changed to reference her.^[59] Cobain would say in an interview with Musician that "some of my very personal experiences, like breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in the song is feeling. Very lonely, sick."^[60] While Cobain would regard In Utero "for the most part very impersonal",^[61] on the album he dealt with the childhood divorce of his parents, his newfound fame and the public image and perception of himself and Courtney Love on "Serve the Servants", with his enamored relationship with Love conveyed through lyrical themes of pregnancy and the female anatomy on "Heart-Shaped Box". Cobain wrote "Rape Me" not only as an objective discussion of rape, but a metaphorical protest against his treatment by the media. He wrote about fame, drug addiction and abortion on "Pennyroyal Tea", as well as women's rights and the life of Seattle-born Frances Farmer on "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle".

Cobain was affected enough to write the song "Polly" from Nevermind, after reading a newspaper story of an incident in 1987, where a young girl was kidnapped after attending a punk rock show^[who?], then raped and tortured with a blowtorch. She managed to escape after gaining the trust of her captor through flirting with him.^[62] After seeing Nirvana perform, Bob Dylan would cite "Polly" as the best of Nirvana's songs, and was quoted as saying about Cobain, "the kid has heart".^[63] Patrick Süskind, whose novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer inspired Cobain to write the song "Scentless Apprentice" from In Utero. The book is an historical horror novel about a perfumer's apprentice born with no body odor of his own but with a highly developed sense of smell, and who attempts to create the "ultimate perfume" by killing virginal women and taking their scent.^[64]

Cobain immersed himself in artistic projects throughout his life, as much so as he did in songwriting. The sentiments of his art work followed the same subjects of his lyrics, often expressed through a dark and macabre sense of humor. Noted was his fascination with physiology, his own rare medical conditions, and the human anatomy. Often unable to afford artistic resources, Cobain would improvise with materials, painting on board games and album sleeves, and painting with an array of substances, including his own bodily fluids. The artwork seen in his Journals would later draw acclaim as being of a high artistic standard. Many of Cobain's paintings, collages, and sculptures would appear in the artwork of Nirvana's albums. His artistic concepts would feature notably in Nirvana's music videos; the production and direction of which were acrimonious due to the artistic perfectionism of his visions.

Cobain would contribute backing guitar for a spoken word recording of beat poet William S. Burroughs' entitled "the "Priest" they called him".^[65] Cobain regarded Burroughs as a hero. During Nirvana's European tour Cobain kept a copy of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, purchased in a London bookstall.^[66] Ana Finel-Honigman, in her introduction to an interview with the artist Stella Vine on the Saatchi Gallery website, described Vine's art as bitterly honest in the same way Cobain's songs were; "acid outrage over adult lies and injustice", Holden Caulfield's observations about "a world filled with phonies", and Sylvia Plath's poetry an "over-heated anger and bitterness at the world's betrayals".^[67]

Relationships and family[link]

Courtney Love[link]

Courtney Love met Cobain on January 12, 1990, in Portland's Satyricon nightclub,^[68] when they both still led ardent underground rock bands.^[69] Love made advances, but Cobain was evasive. Early in their interactions, Cobain broke off dates and ignored Love’s advances because he was unsure he wanted a relationship. Cobain noted, "I was determined to be a bachelor for a few months [...] But I knew that I liked Courtney so much right away that it was a really hard struggle to stay away from her for so many months."^[70] Courtney Love first saw Cobain perform in 1989 at a show in Portland, Oregon; they talked briefly after the show and Love developed a crush on him.^[71]

Cobain was already aware of Love through her role in the 1987 film Straight to Hell. According to journalist Everett True, the pair were formally introduced at an L7 and Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991.^[72] In the weeks that followed, after learning from Dave Grohl that Cobain shared mutual interests with her, Love began pursuing Cobain. In late 1991 the two were often together and bonded through drug use.^[73]

Around the time of Nirvana's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, Love discovered that she was pregnant with Cobain's child. On February 24, 1992, a few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's Pacific Rim tour, Cobain and Love were married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Love wore a satin and lace dress once owned by the actress Frances Farmer, and Cobain wore green pajamas, because he had been "too lazy to put on a tux". In an interview with The Guardian, Love revealed the opposition to their marriage from various people: "Kim Gordon [of Sonic Youth] sits me down and says, 'If you marry him your life is not going to happen, it will destroy your life.' But I said, 'Whatever! I love him, and I want to be with him!'... It wasn't his fault. He wasn't trying to do that."

Frances Bean Cobain[link]

On August 18, 1992, the couple's daughter Frances Bean Cobain was born.

In a 1992 article in Vanity Fair, Love admitted to using heroin while unknowingly pregnant. Love claimed that Vanity Fair had misquoted her,^[74] but the event created a media controversy for the couple. While Cobain and Love's romance had always been a media attraction, they found themselves hounded by tabloid reporters after the article was published, many wanting to know if Frances was addicted to drugs at birth. The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services took the Cobains to court, claiming that the couple's drug usage made them unfit parents.^[75] Two-week-old Frances was ordered by the judge to be taken from their custody and placed with Courtney's sister Jamie for several weeks, after which the couple obtained custody in an exchange agreement to submit to urine tests and regular visits from a social worker. After months of legal wrangling, the couple were eventually granted full custody of their daughter.

Health history[link]

Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition.^[76] His first drug experience was with marijuana in 1980, at age 13. He regularly used the drug during adulthood.^[77] Cobain also had a period of consuming "notable" amounts of LSD, as observed by Tracy Marander,^[78] and was "really into getting fucked up: drugs, acid, any kind of drug", observed Krist Novoselic; Cobain was also prone to alcoholism and solvent abuse.^[77] Cobain's cousin Beverly, a nurse, claimed Cobain was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a child, and bipolar disorder as an adult. She also brought attention to the history of suicide, mental illness and alcoholism in the Cobain family, noting two of her uncles who had committed suicide with guns.^[79]

Cobain's stomach condition was emotionally debilitating to him, and he intermittently tried to find its cause, usually at the insistence of Love. None of the many doctors he consulted were able to pinpoint the specific cause. He suffered from an acute self-consciousness and developed a poor body image, due to his low body weight; which was primarily due to malnourishment caused by his stomach condition, poor diet (attested to by numerous doctors), or a combination of both.

Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986, administered to him by a local drug dealer in Tacoma, Washington who had previously supplied him with Percodan.^[80] He used heroin sporadically for several years, but, by the end of 1990, his use developed into a full-fledged addiction. Cobain claimed that he was "determined to get a habit" as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition. "It started with three days in a row of doing heroin and I don't have a stomach pain. That was such a relief," he related.^[81]

His heroin use began to affect the band's Nevermind supporting tour. One memorable example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a photographic session with photographer Michael Levine. Having taken heroin beforehand, Cobain fell asleep several times during the shoot. Cobain divulged to biographer Michael Azerrad, "I mean, what are they supposed to do? They're not going to be able to tell me to stop. So I really didn't care. Obviously to them it was like practicing witchcraft or something. They didn't know anything about it so they thought that any second, I was going to die."^[82]

Slowly, Cobain's heroin addiction worsened. His first attempt at rehab was made in early 1992, not long after he and Love discovered they were going to become parents. Immediately after leaving rehab, Nirvana embarked on their Australian tour, with Cobain appearing pale and gaunt while suffering through withdrawals. Not long after returning home, Cobain's heroin use resumed.

Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with Narcan to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public no indication that anything out of the ordinary had taken place.^[83]

Death[link]

Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife, Courtney Love, on March 3, 1994. The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital, and spent the rest of the day unconscious. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle.^[8] Love later stated that the incident was Cobain's first suicide attempt.^[84]

On March 18, 1994, Love phoned Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. When questioned by police, Love said that Cobain had never mentioned that he was suicidal and that she had not seen him with a gun.^[85]

Love arranged an intervention regarding Cobain's drug use on March 25, 1994. The ten people involved included musician friends, record company executives, and one of Cobain's closest friends, Dylan Carlson. The intervention was initially unsuccessful, with an angry Cobain insulting and heaping scorn on its participants and eventually locking himself in the upstairs bedroom. However, by the end of the day, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program.^[86] Cobain arrived at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles, California on March 30, 1994. The staff at the facility were unaware of Cobain's history of depression and prior attempts at suicide. When visited by friends, there was no indication to them that Cobain was in any negative or suicidal state of mind. He spent the day talking to counselors about his drug abuse and personal problems, happily playing with his daughter Frances. These interactions were the last time Cobain saw his daughter. The following night, Cobain walked outside to have a cigarette, and climbed over a six-foot-high fence to leave the facility (which he had joked earlier in the day would be a stupid feat to attempt). He took a taxi to Los Angeles Airport and flew back to Seattle. On the flight, he sat next to Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. Despite Cobain's own personal animosity towards Guns N' Roses and specifically Axl Rose, Cobain "seemed happy" to see McKagan. McKagan later stated he knew from "all of my instincts that something was wrong."^[87] On April 2 and April 3, 1994, Cobain was spotted in various locations around Seattle, although most of his close friends and family were unaware of his whereabouts. He was not seen on April 4, 1994. On April 3, 1994, Love contacted a private investigator, Tom Grant, and hired him to find Cobain. On April 7, 1994, amid rumors of Nirvana breaking up, the band pulled out of that year's Lollapalooza music festival.

On April 8, 1994, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found, addressed to Cobain's childhood imaginary friend "Boddah", that said, paraphrasing, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of diazepam were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been lying there for days; the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994.^[88]

A public vigil was held for Cobain on April 10, 1994, at a park at Seattle Center drawing approximately seven thousand mourners.^[89] Prerecorded messages by Krist Novoselic and Courtney Love were played at the memorial. Love read portions of Cobain's suicide note to the crowd, crying and chastising Cobain. Near the end of the vigil, Love arrived at the park and distributed some of Cobain's clothing to those who still remained.^[90] Dave Grohl would say that the news of Cobain's death was "probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life. I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, 'Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't.'" He also believed that he knew Cobain would die at an early age, saying that "sometimes you just can't save someone from themselves," and "in some ways, you kind of prepare yourself emotionally for that to be a reality."^[91] Dave Reed, who for a short time was Cobain's foster father, said that "he had the desperation, not the courage, to be himself. Once you do that, you can't go wrong, because you can't make any mistakes when people love you for being yourself. But for Kurt, it didn't matter that other people loved him; he simply didn't love himself enough."^[92]

A final ceremony was arranged for Cobain by his mother on May 31, 1999, attended by both Courtney Love and Tracy Marander. As a Buddhist monk chanted, his daughter Frances Bean scattered his ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse."^[92]

Cobain's artistic endeavors and struggles with heroin addiction, illness and depression, as well as the circumstances of his death have become a frequent topic of fascination, debate, and controversy throughout the world. He is one of the well known members of the 27 Club.

Legacy[link]

A bench in Viretta Park has become a notable memorial to Cobain.

In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington, that reads "Welcome to Aberdeen – Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain.

Cobain has been remembered as one of the most iconic rock musicians in the history of alternative music. He was ranked by Rolling Stone as the 73rd greatest guitarist and 45th greatest singer of all time,^[93][94] and by MTV as 7th in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music".^[95] In 2006, he was placed at number twenty by Hit Parader on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time".^[96] Reflecting on Cobain's death over ten years later, MSNBC's Eric Olsen wrote, "In the intervening decade, Cobain, a small, frail but handsome man in life, has become an abstract Generation X icon, viewed by many as the 'last real rock star' [. . .] a messiah and martyr whose every utterance has been plundered and parsed".^[97]

In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington, that read "Welcome to Aberdeen – Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain. The sign was paid for and created by the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee, a non-profit organization created in May 2004 to honour Cobain. The Committee planned to create a Kurt Cobain Memorial Park and a youth center in Aberdeen. Because Cobain was cremated and his remains scattered into the Wishkah River in Washington,^[98] many Nirvana fans visit Viretta Park, near Cobain's former Lake Washington home, to pay tribute. On the anniversary of his death, fans gather in the park to celebrate his life and memory.

In 2006, Cobain took the place of Elvis Presley as the top-earning deceased celebrity, after the sale of the Nirvana song catalogue. Presley reclaimed the spot in 2007.^[99]

Controversy erupted in July 2009 when a monument to Cobain in Aberdeen along the Wishkah River included the quote "...Drugs are bad for you. They will fuck you up." The city ultimately decided to sandblast the monument to replace the expletive with "f---",^[100] but fans immediately drew the letters back in.^[101] The monument and bridge have become popular places for fans to leave tributes.

Gus Van Sant loosely based his 2005 movie Last Days on the events in the final days of Cobain's life. In January 2007, Courtney Love began to shop the biography Heavier Than Heaven to various movie studios in Hollywood to turn the book into an A-list feature film about Cobain and Nirvana. The video game Guitar Hero 5 features Cobain as a playable character.^[102] However, the inclusion of Cobain incensed surviving bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and wife Courtney Love, expressing their dismay at the ability to use Cobain with any song, including those sung by female vocalists.^[103]

Books and films on Cobain[link]

Prior to Cobain's death, writer Michael Azerrad published Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, a book chronicling Nirvana's career from its beginning, as well as the personal histories of the band members. The book explored Cobain's drug addiction, as well as the countless controversies surrounding the band. After Cobain's death, Azerrad re-published the book to include a final chapter discussing the last year of Cobain's life. The book is notable, as it involved the band members themselves, who provided interviews and personal information to Azerrad specifically for the book. In 2006, Azerrad's taped conversations with Cobain were transformed into a documentary about Cobain, titled Kurt Cobain: About a Son. Though this film does not feature any music by Nirvana, it has songs by the artists that inspired Cobain.

In the 1998 documentary Kurt & Courtney, filmmaker Nick Broomfield investigated Tom Grant's claim that Cobain was actually murdered. He took a film crew to visit a number of people associated with Cobain and Love; Love's father, Cobain's aunt, and one of the couple's former nannies. Broomfield also spoke to Mentors bandleader Eldon "El Duce" Hoke, who claimed Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. Although Hoke claimed he knew who killed Cobain, he failed to mention a name, and offered no evidence to support his assertion. Broomfield inadvertently captured Hoke's last interview, as he died days later, reportedly hit by a train. However, Broomfield felt he hadn't uncovered enough evidence to conclude the existence of a conspiracy. In a 1998 interview, Broomfield summed it up by saying,

"I think that he committed suicide. I don't think there's a smoking gun. And I think there's only one way you can explain a lot of things around his death. Not that he was murdered, but that there was just a lack of caring for him. I just think that Courtney had moved on, and he was expendable."^[104]

Journalists Ian Halperin and Max Wallace took a similar path and attempted to investigate any possible conspiracy for themselves. Their initial work, the 1999 book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? argued that, while there wasn't enough evidence to prove a conspiracy, there was more than enough to demand that the case be reopened.^[105] A notable element of the book included their discussions with Grant, who had taped nearly every conversation that he had undertaken while he was in Love's employ. Over the next several years, Halperin and Wallace collaborated with Grant to write a second book, 2004's Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain.

In 2001, writer Charles R. Cross published a biography of Cobain titled Heavier Than Heaven. For the book, Cross conducted over 400 interviews, and was given access by Courtney Love to Cobain's journals, lyrics, and diaries.^[106] Cross' biography was met with criticism, including allegations of Cross accepting secondhand (and incorrect) information as fact.^[107] Friend Everett True, who derided the book as being inaccurate, omissive, and highly biased; he said Heavier than Heaven was "the Courtney-sanctioned version of history"^[108] or, alternatively, Cross's “Oh, I think I need to find the new Bruce Springsteen now” Kurt Cobain book.^[109] However, beyond the criticism, the book contained many details about Cobain and Nirvana's career that would have otherwise been unnoted. Additionally, in 2008 Cross published Cobain Unseen: Mosaic of an Artist, a compilation of annotated photographs and creations and writings by Cobain throughout his life and career.^[110] In 2002, a sampling of Cobain's writings was published as Journals. The book fills 280 pages with a simple black cover; the pages are arranged somewhat chronologically (although Cobain generally did not date them). The journal pages are reproduced in color, and there is a section added at the back with explanations and transcripts of some of the less legible pages. The writings begin in the late 1980s and were continued until his death. A paperback version of the book, released in 2003, included a handful of writings that were not offered in the initial release. In the journals, Cobain talked about the ups and downs of life on the road, made lists of what music he was enjoying, and often scribbled down lyric ideas for future reference. Upon its release, reviewers and fans were conflicted about the collection. Many were elated to be able to learn more about Cobain and read his inner thoughts in his own words, but were disturbed by what was viewed as an invasion of his privacy.^[111]

In 2003, Omnibus Press released Godspeed: The Kurt Cobain Graphic. It was written by Jim McCarthy and Barnaby Legg with illustrations by Flameboy. It depicts Cobain's life, but is not a factual biography. Rather, it uses artistic license to tell Cobain's story from his own point of view.

In 2009, ECW Press released a book titled Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. It was written by Greg Prato, featuring portions about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain's life and death (including new interviews with bandmates and friends), as well as exploring the history of grunge in great detail. A picture of Cobain from the Bleach era is used for the book's front cover, and its title comes from a shirt that Cobain was once photographed wearing.^[112]

See also[link]

• List of best-selling music artists
• List of musicians from Seattle

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. 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, et al. Guitar World Presents Nirvana and the Grunge Revolution. Hal Leonard, 1998. ISBN 0-7935-9006-X.
• Summers, Kim. Kurt Cobain at Allmusic. Retrieved May 9, 2005.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kurt Cobain

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kurt Cobain

• Kurt Cobain at Allmusic
• Kurt Cobain at the Internet Movie Database
• The Kurt Cobain Equipment FAQ – Detailed information on Cobain's guitars, amplifiers, and effects.
• Official police reports into Cobain's death at The Smoking Gun
• Kurt Cobain's suicide note