Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain, (February 20, 1967-April 5, 1994), was the lead singer, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter for Nirvana. Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington, and helped establish the Seattle music scene, as well as the style known as Grunge. He was married to the lead singer of the band Hole, Courtney Love. In 1992, the couple had a daughter named Frances Bean Cobain.

In 2014, Cobain along with his band mates Krist and Dave were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the first year they were eligible.

Early Life
Kurt Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in Grays Harbor County Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington. His parents were Wendy Fradenburg (born 1948), a waitress, and Donald Leland Cobain (born 1946), a mechanic. The family lived in Hoquiam, Washington. On April 24, 1970 his sister Kimberley was born. In 1976 his parents divorced after 11 years of marriage. Kurt lived with his dad in Montesano, Washington. Both of his parents got remarried and Kurt had step-siblings. In 1979, he went to live with his mom in Aberdeen.

On his fourteenth birthday, Kurt's uncle took him out to buy his present. He offered Kurt either an old bicycle or a used acoustic guitar-- he obviously chose the guitar. Kurt began teaching himself how to play his favorite songs, such as "My Best Friend's Girl" by The Cars, "Louie Louie", AC/DC's "Back in Black", and a few Led Zeppelin songs. He later became more involved with Punk Rock bands, such as the Sex Pistols, Black Flag and the Stooges.

During this period, Kurt being very enamored with, and highly influenced by punk rock where he would make drastic changes to his appearance to mirror the bands he loved much to Aberdeen's public dismay. It was striking that such a clean and bright-looking boy could become so dark and "grungy". This dichotomy was prevalent in Kurt's personal journals.

Kurt attended Aberdeen High School and befriended a gay student there. From his change of heart due to his personal life issues and newfound punk rock, Kurt was now an outcast that he wasn't was as a child. He later stated he was gay, just to "p*** off homophobes". He dropped out when he realized he didn't have enough credits to graduate.

Later in 1985, Cobain formed his first band "Fecal Matter", with Dale Crover, Greg Hokanson, Buzz Osborne, and Mike Dillard. The band lasted for a year. The group's sole recording was issued as the Illiteracy Will Prevail demo tape, which remains unreleased officially with exception of the song "Spank Thru".

Kurt and Krist Novoselic had a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band that was not successful. They later founded Nirvana in 1987.

Political Views
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 harbor 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.

Personal Life
In 1991, Cobain met Courtney Love in a club where the two found a shared sense of punk rock romance, tussling on the floor. Courtney was considerably stronger than Kurt and Kurt admitted to finding her attractive as she was like "a Nancy Spungen". After this, Kurt was heavily in love with the tall, booming confident rocker sending her letters, calling her often at nights, and writing poems for her. A year later, Cobain and Love got married after learning that Love was pregnant with their only child, Frances Bean Cobain. The couple remained married until Cobain passed in 1994.

While Kurt has never outright confirmed what his sexuality is for certain, it is widely believed he was bisexual. According to an interview of him back in the 90s, he states that he believed he was gay as a young child. He also went on to say that if he wasn't with Courtney at the time, he most likely would have been with another guy.