Kurt Cobain's group: name, history of creation

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the rock band Nirvana. Cobain is remembered as one of the most iconic and influential rock musicians in the history of alternative music.

He founded Nirvana in 1987 with Chris Novoselic. Over the course of two years, the band has become an integral part of the growing grunge scene in Seattle. In 1991, the release of the hit Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit marked the beginning of a dramatic shift in popular rock music from the dominant genres of the 1980s to grunge and alternative rock. The music media eventually called Cobain a spokesman for Generation X.

Biography

Kurt Cobain was born into the family of Donald and Wendy Cobain on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. For the first 6 months after the birth of a son, the family lived in the village of Hoquiam, Washington, before finally moving to Aberdeen. From an early age, Cobain was fond of music. His life changed in 1975 when he was 9 years old. At this time, his parents divorced, and this event, as the musician later stated, had a profound impact on his life. Kurt's mother noted that his personality had changed dramatically, and Cobain became more withdrawn. In a 1993 interview, Cobain said:

I remember how, for some reason, I was ashamed. I was ashamed of my parents.

A year after his mother spent the divorce, Cobain moved to his father in Montesano, Washington. But after a few years, his youthful rebellion reached such a peak that he became embroiled in contention between friends and family. At school, Cobain was little interested in sports. At the insistence of his father, he joined the youth wrestling team. And although Kurt was successful in sports, he hated doing them.

Cobain was friends with one of the students at his school, who was gay, as a result of which he was sometimes bullied by other students. This friendship made some believe that he himself was gay. In one of his personal magazines, Cobain wrote: "I am not gay, although I would like to anger homophobes." In the middle of grade 10, Cobain moved back to live with his mother in Aberdeen. However, 2 weeks before his planned graduation, he dropped out of high school, realizing that he did not have enough points to graduate. Mother put Kurt in front of a choice: either get a job or leave.

About a week later, Cobain discovered that his clothes and other items were packed in boxes. Exiled from his mother’s house, he spent the night in his friends ’houses and sometimes made his way to his mother’s basement. At the end of 1986, Cobain moved to the first house in which he began to live alone. He paid for the apartment, working in a coastal resort 30 km from Aberdeen. At the same time, he often traveled to Olympia, Washington to watch a rock show.

Musical influences

Cobain was a loyal fan of early alternative rock bands. His interest in the underground began when Buzz Osborne of Melvins let him borrow a cassette with songs from punk bands such as Black Flag, Flipper and Millions of Dead Cops. He often referred to them in interviews, giving more importance to the groups that influenced him than to his own music.

Future Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain also highlighted the influence of the Pixies and noted that his song Smells Like Teen Spirit bears some resemblance to their sound. Cobain told Melody Maker in 1992 that hearing Surfer Rosa first convinced him to stop writing songs influenced by Black Flag in favor of writing songs like Iggy Pop and Aerosmith, which appeared on Nevermind.

The Beatles had an early and important musical influence on Cobain. He expressed a special love for John Lennon, whom he called his idol. Cobain once said that he wrote the song About a Girl after 3 hours of listening to "Meet the Beatles."

Nirvana's early style was also influenced by major rock bands of the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss and Neil Young. At the beginning of her journey, Nirvana regularly played cover versions of these bands.

To nirvana

Not all musician fans know which band Kurt Cobain was before the creation of Nirvana. In 1985, 18-year-old Kurt Cobain, who had just dropped out of school, created the Fecal Matter band along with drummer Greg Hockanson and future Melvins drummer Dale Krover, who played bass. This group has never been anything serious. They recorded only one demo of 4 tracks called Illiteracy Will Prevail.

A collection of 13 “absolutely abrasive” punk songs full of noise and instrumental riff tracks is being debated about the name of each song. However, it is known that the last full song, written before the band split up, is an early version of the Downer song from Nirvana Bleach's first album.

After the first band of Kurt Cobain Fecal Matter broke up and the Melvins began supporting their debut EP, Cobain continued to play Illiteracy Will Prevail. Krist Novoselic heard a few tracks that he really liked, he and Cobain decided to create a group. Thus appeared Nirvana.

Nirvana later re-recorded the other two Fecal Matter tracks: Anorexorcist and Spank Thru.

Nirvana

On his 14th birthday, Uncle Cobain offered him a choice of a guitar or a bicycle as a gift. Kurt chose the guitar. He began to study songs such as AC / DC Back in Black and The Cars Girl's Best Best's Girl. He soon began working on his own songs. In high school, Cobain rarely met anyone with whom he could jam. Hanging out at the training site of the Melvins group, he met Chris Novoselic, one of the followers of punk rock. Novoselic's mother owned a hairdresser, and Cobain and Novoselic sometimes practiced in the room upstairs.

During the first few years of playing together, Novoselic and Cobain often changed drummers. In the end, the band accepted Chad Channing, with whom they recorded the Bleach album, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. However, Cobain was unhappy with Channing's style, which led the group to find a replacement, eventually settling on Dave Grohl. With him, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain became the most successful thanks to their 1991 debut label Nevermind.

Cobain struggled to reconcile the huge success of Nirvana with its underground roots. He also felt harassed by the media, resenting people who claimed to be fans of the group but who he felt completely missed the point that was embedded in the lyrics.

Nirvana changed rock music in just a few years, but at the beginning they were just another group to decide on the composition and name. Kurt Cobain’s band name was chosen from a variety of options, including Stiff Woodies, Pen Cap Chew and Skid Row, before the name Nirvana was finally approved.

Promising First Album

After recording a series of demos of songs in 1988, Nirvana signed to Seattle Sub Pop Records. A year later, the band released their first album, Bleach. Although only about 35,000 copies were sold, this album determined Cobain's penchant for angry songs about strangers. Musically, the album was heavily influenced by the early Black Sabbath, heavy dirg rock The Melvins and Mudhoney, and the hardcore Black Flag and Minor Threat. Kurt also said the band listened to Swiss extreme metallers Celtic Frost before recording the album.

New decade and new drummer

When Kurt Cobain’s group entered the 90s, its popularity continued to grow. Around the same time, an important change occurred in Nirvana: Channing left the band and was replaced by Dave Grohl, the former drummer of the punk band Scream. Bleach's album was admired by respected bands such as Sonic Youth, and the demonstrations of subsequent sessions began to attract the attention of major labels. By signing with DGC, Nirvana recorded their next album, Nevermind.

On the way to the mainstream

Released in September 1991, Nevermind was not an overwhelming breakthrough, but thanks to its first single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, the album reached the top of the charts by January 1992. At a time when pop and death metal were unusually popular, Nevermind signaled a cultural shift towards faster, more intense music, triggered by introspective, sometimes caustic lyrics.

Acoustic album

Towards the end of 1993, Kurt Cobain's rock band took part in MTV's popular Unplugged series, which featured bands performing acoustic versions of their songs. The program, later released as a standalone album, emphasized Cobain's gloomy outlook on life through powerful, mournful versions of his songs. Intentionally or not, MTV's special issue soon proved to be prophetic when Cobain's life took on a tragic turn.

Group discography

Personal life of Kurat Cobain

The future wife of the lead singer of the group Nirvana Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, first saw the musician's performance in 1989 at a show in Portland, Oregon. They talked to each other a bit after the show, and Love fell in love with him. According to journalist Everett True, the couple was officially unveiled at the L7 / Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991. In the following weeks, after learning from Dave Grohl that their feelings with Cobain are mutual, Love began to pursue Cobain. After several weeks of courtship in the fall of 1991, the two regularly ended up together. It is reported that in addition to emotional and physical attraction, the couple was linked by drug use.

Courtney Love was unpopular among some Nirvana fans. Her harshest critics said she simply used Kurt as a means to become famous. Some compared Cobain to John Lennon, while Courtney equated Yoko Ono.

In a 1992 Vanity Fair article, Courtney Love admitted that she was using heroin, not knowing that she was already pregnant. She later claimed that Vanity Fair incorrectly quoted her. The couple found themselves harassed by tabloid journalists after publishing an article.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Affairs sued the Cobain, claiming that drug use made them unsuitable for parenthood. The judge ordered the two-week-old Francis Bean Cobain to be taken out of custody and turned over to her Courtney sister, Jamie. Kurt and Courtney then received custody after a few weeks, but they had to take tests for drugs and regularly visit a social worker. After months of legal disputes, the couple ultimately received full custody of their daughter.

Drug addiction

Cobain had been using heroin for periods of several years, and by the end of 1990 it had grown into a full-fledged addiction. He claimed that he was “determined to acquire a habit” as a way of self-healing his sick stomach.

Heroin use eventually began to influence the success of the group. Kurt Cobain once passed out during a photo shoot. Over the years, Cobain’s dependence has only worsened. The first rehabilitation attempt was made in early 1992, shortly after he and Love discovered that they were going to become parents. Immediately after he left the rehabilitation center, Nirvana went on an Australian tour with Cobain, who looked pale and emaciated, suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Shortly after returning home, Cobain began to use heroin again.

Before speaking at the New Music workshop in New York in July 1993, Cobain suffered an overdose of heroin. Instead of calling an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with illegally acquired naloxone to bring him out of an unconscious state. Cobain continued to perform with the group, giving the public no reason to think that something unusual was happening.

Last weeks and death

On March 1, 1994, Cobain, who was in Munich, Germany, was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. And already on March 2, Kurt flies to Rome for treatment, and the next day his wife joined him. In the morning, Courtney woke up and found that Cobain consumed rogipnol, drinking it with champagne. The musician was immediately taken to the hospital, where he spent the rest of the day unconscious. After 5 days, he returned to Seattle.

On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead in a spare room above a garage in his Lake Washington home by Veca Electric employee Gary Smith. A suicide note was also found nearby under an overturned flower pot.

On April 10, a public farewell was held in Seattle Center with a musician, which brought together about 7,000 people. Toward the end of the farewell, Love arrived at the park and handed out part of Cobain's clothes to those who remained. Cobain’s body was cremated.

Heritage

In 2005, a sign saying Welcome to Aberdeen was installed in Aberdeen, Washington. Come as you are ("Welcome to Aberdeen. Come as is") in honor of the name of one of the songs by Kurt Cobain. The badge was paid for and created by the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee, a nonprofit organization created in May 2004.

The bench in the Viretta Park has also become a de facto monument to Cobain. Since the musician does not have a grave, many Nirvana fans visit Viretta Park near Cobain's former Lake Washington home to pay tribute. On the anniversary of his death, fans of the band Kurt Cobain sang in are gathering in the park to honor his memory. The soloist of Nirvana is often remembered as one of the most iconic rock musicians in the history of alternative music.

Although Nirvana broke up shortly after the death of its leader, the band’s legacy still lives on, and its main hits are still the main element of rock radio. Subsequently, Grohl, Novoselic and the widow of Cobain Courtney Love (from the Hole group) released live albums and collections, including a collection of the best hits and a box set of rare tracks. Since the breakup of Nirvana, Novoselic has performed in several bands, and Grohl has focused his energy on his own band, Foo Fighters.