"Like Hamlet, I have to choose between life and death." Wrote Kurt Cobain in his love letter to the world explaining his life and what drove him to his death. For us old enough to remember, it's almost impossible to believe that nearly ten years has passed, since Kurt Cobain ended his life in April, 1994. He was the lead singer of Nirvana, A grunge band that redefined the sound of music and who took the world by storm. Cobain has influenced musical culture through his song writing, and death.
Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquiam, Settle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and father auto mechanic. Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven; he sought refuge from his shattered family life by diving into music and visual arts. "Cobain was also growing enchanted with rock music as a forum, for the anger that was welling within him" (Student resources pg2). Kurt dropped out of high school to pursue music, a decision that resulted in being kicked out of his mother's house, he then bounced from home to home, crashing on friends couches and even sleeping under bridges.
In the past he was a religious Sex Pistols listener and after their self-destruction he continued to listen to British bands like Joy Division, the post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality. By 1985 Aberdeen was dead and Cobain's next stop was Olympia. That's when he met soon to be bassist Krist Novaselic and eventually drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl, where they formed and reformed a series of bands before Nirvana came to be in 1986.
By 1988 Nirvana was playing shows and had demo tapes going around. In 1989 they recorded their rough edged first album Bleach. "Bleach featured a noisy, dissonant batch of songs that included "About a Girl," Which hinted at the melodic sensibilities Cobain possessed." (Student Resource p3) In 1991 Nirvana released Nevermind, it catapulted to the top of popular music charts, Cobain found himself worried that his band had sold-out, that he was attracting the wrong kind of fans (the type that used to beat him up).
