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Nirvana Biography
Review The Artist (96)
Source: http://www.burntout.com/kurt/biography/
Kurt Cobain Biography
Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties.
Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquaim, a small town 140 kilometres south-west of Seattle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an auto mechanic. Cobain soon moved to nearby Aberdeen, a depressed and dying logging town.
Cobain was for most his childhood a sickly bronchitic child. Matters were made worse when Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music.
After his parent's divorce Cobain found himself shuttled back and forth between various relatives and at one stage homeless living under a bridge.
When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captivated by the Britain's Sex Pistols and after their self-destruction Cobain and friend Krist Novoselic continued to listen to the wave of British bands including Joy Division the nihilistic post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality.
Cobain's artistry and iconoclastic attitude didn't win many friends in high school and sometimes earned him beatings from "jocks" Cobain got even by spray painting "QUEER" on their pick-up trucks. By 1985 Aberdeen was dead and Cobain's next stop was Olympia. Cobain formed and reformed a series of bands before Nirvana came to be in 1986. Nirvana was an uneasy alliance between Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and eventually drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl
By 1988 Nirvana were doing shows and had demo tapes going around. In 1989 Nirvana recorded their rough-edged first album Bleach for local Seattle independent label Sub-Pop
In Britain Nirvana received a lot of recognition and in 1991 their contract was bought out by Geffen, they signed to the mega-label, the first non-mainstream band to do so. Two and a half years after Nirvana's first C.D. Bleach was released they released Nevermind, a series of different, crunching, screaming songs that along with it's first single Smells Like Teen Spirit would propel Nirvana to mainstream stardom.
Smells Like Teen Spirit became Nirvana's most highly acclaimed and instantly recognizable song. Not many people can decipher it's exact lyrics but Cobain used a seductive hookline to hook the listener. Nevermind went on to sell ten million copies and make a reported $550 million (US) leaving Nirvana overnight millionaires. Cobain was shocked at the reception of his highly personal and passionate music repeatedly telling reporters that none of the band ever, ever expected anything like this. It quickly became obvious that the obsessively sickly and sensitive 24yr old was not going to cope well with the rock'n roll lifestyle. "If there was a rock star 101 course, I'd really have like to take it," Cobain once observed. Cobain fell into heroin in the early 90's, he said he used it as a shield against the rigorous demands of touring and to stop the pain of stomach ulcers or an irritated bowel. Through the touring and pressure Cobain continued to write his very personal acutely focused lyrics.
Cobain was distressed to find out that what he wrote and how it was interpreted could quite often be miles apart. He was appalled when he found out that Polly a heavily ironic anti-rape song had been used as background music in a real gang-rape. He later appealed to fans on the Incesticide liner notes "If any of you don't like gays or women or blacks, please leave us the fuck alone." It was to no avail, Cobain found that as an overnight millionaire musician control was something he had very little of. Cobain also worried that his band had sold-out, that it was attracting the wrong kind of fans (i.e the type that used to beat him up.)
In February 1992 Cobain skipped off to Hawaii to marry the already pregnant Courtney Love. Later in the year Nirvana released Incesticide and in August Cobain had hospital treatment for heroin abuse. Shortly after Frances Bean Cobain was born. In early 1993 In Utero was released into the top spot on the music charts. In Utero was widely acclaimed by the music press and it contains some of Cobain's most passionate work. In Utero was a lot more open than Nirvana's previous albums. Songs like All Apologies and Heart Shaped Box detailed aspects of Cobain's sometimes shaky marriage, other songs like Scentless Apprentice detailed the agonies and struggles of Cobain's experiences.
Nirvana embarked on a support tour and recorded and filmed an "unplugged" (acoustic) performance for MTV in November of 1993. Nirvana's choice to honour bands and people that had influenced them and Cobain's passionate and intense vocals especially on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"silenced many of their who had labeled Cobain talentless. Rumors circulated that the MTV Unplugged compilation would be Nirvana's last album and the band were splitting up.
Cobain was a gun fanatic and always had several in his possession or in various forms of confiscation. In the northern winter of 1993-94 Nirvana embarked on an extensive European tour. Twenty concerts into the tour Cobain developed throat problems and their schedule was interrupted while he recovered. While recovering Cobain flew to Rome to join his wife who was also preparing to tour with her own band.
On March the 4th Cobain was rushed to hospital in a coma after an unsuccessful suicide bid in which he washed down about fifty prescription painkillers with champagne. The suicide bid was officially called an accident and was not even made known to close friends and associates. Several days later he returned to Seattle. Cobain's wife, friends and managers convinced Cobain, who was still in deep distress to enter a detox program in L.A. According to a missing person's report filed by his mother Cobain fled after only a few days of the program.
Cobain was cited in the Seattle area with a shotgun. Days later on the 5th of April he barricaded himself into the granny flat behind his mansion, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. On Thursday April the 7th ~ two days after a medical examiner says Cobain shot himself and the day before his body was found police say Courtney Love herself was taken to hospital in L.A. for a drug overdose. Released on bail, Love checked herself into a rehab center but left soon after a friend called her the next day with news of Cobain's death.
Cobain's body was found when an electrician visiting the house to install a security system went round the back of the house when no one answered the front door and peered through windows. He thought he saw a mannequin sprawled on the floor until he noticed a splotch of blood by Cobain's ear. When police broke down the door they found Cobain dead on the floor, a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to Love and the couples then 19 month old daughter Frances Bean.
The suicide note ended with the words "I love you, I love you." Two days after Kurt Cobain's body was found about 5,000 people gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. the distraught crowd filled the air with profane chants, burnt their flannel shirts and fought with police. They also listened to a tape made by Cobain's wife in which she read from his suicide note. Several distressed teenagers in the U.S. and Australia killed themselves. The mainstream media was lambasted for it's lack of respect and understanding of youth culture.
We'll Always Remember
Biography By Mick Ronson (I think)
Thanks to john for submitting the biography. |
Would you please submit the latest Nirvana biography to me? Thank You.
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Review about Nirvana
Antother member of the '27' club | Reviewer: disco_superfly | 11/15/09
It's still so bizarre to me that some of the most talented singers/songwriters of the times killed themselves at age 27. Janis, Jimi, Jim, Brian Jones and I'm sure there are others I can't think of off the top of my head.. But even today I listen to Nirvana songs and am completely captivated and moved. I wish I had gotten the chance to see them live, I wish I had bought all their cd's before the fact, I wish.. mostly that Kurt was still here.
Review on Nirvana and Kurt. | Reviewer: Nakayla | 10/31/09
I'd just like to say that Nirvana is a very " REAL" Band and seemed to have not cared what anyone else thought and just did what they did and did a good job at it. Perfectly. Yet I find it very sad on another hand of Kurt's death after so many years it's still heart breaking.But the fact is Kurt was very intelligant and brillant and a beautiful man that had a constant struggle with his life. and yet no one can ever really know if he really did kill himself or someone else does. how does anyone else know? Were any of you there? No and I wasn't so only God and Kurt know. but Really Life goes on and you can find Kurt Cobain living in his music everytime you listen to a Nirvana song. that's the beauty of life as a whole. And as u can all see that his daughter had grown to be very Smart and pretty and not a drug user that any of us know of yet. and hopefully never will. sorry to write a book on someone I don't even know but just thought I'd write something nice and a comment that's true.
And I'm out!! Peace.
R.I.P Kurt | Reviewer: Jared | 9/12/09
Courtney didn't murder Kurt there was no possible way.
he shot himself he tried to commit suicide before and any of you who can't accept that fact are no worse then the die hard elvis fans who think he's still alive and was abducted or something stupid.
Kurt will always live on as long as his music does which will be for a long time.
Suicide | Reviewer: Kurdt | 9/6/09
Theres absolutely no way courtney shot him, He talked of suicide his whole life, he was deteriorating rapidly using more and more heroin and when he left the los angeles rehab centre he knew what he was doing. Thats why he got his good friend to buy the shotgun, then went to buy shells before his death tues morning
oh dont start this | Reviewer: carpinslerk | 8/3/09
raerae you have to be kidding me, i love Nirvana with all my heart but Kurt and Courtney were just as bad as each other and as to whether she shot him that is just crap, she had really loved him and if you look at the songs she wrote after his death and the way she is now you will see she never got over his death, but it doesn't matter how he died but that he was great person who he had been sad his whole life and unfortunatley years of depression and addiction are too much for anyone to handle, i personally would rather focus on his life and his music rather than his death
love | Reviewer: raerae | 7/2/09
kurt cobain and courtney love were and should have never gotten together i mean fuck buddies would have been fine but seriously the drugs got control of her and i think that she shot him.. love gone wrong..
Kurt lives on forever!! | Reviewer: cami | 7/2/09
all Kurt and Nirvana's songs have brilliant meanings. we must respect the man that made history and he was the greatest thing ever to be on this world. 4 everyone who thinks Kurt was the absolute BOMB yall got awesome taste! in my heart Kurt Donald Cobain will live FOREVER!!!!!! HE IS THE ONE THAT SHAPED THE MUSIC WORLD FOR TODAY!!!!!!
RIP KURT DONALD COBAIN FOREVER!!!!!!!!
greatness | Reviewer: raerae | 7/2/09
kurt once said, "I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." How are we ever going to get anywhere in this life if we are always hidding behind a fakeness that is inescapable. Live for the now and nothing else, because if we can never experience and grow for something that we beleive in then what is the reason of this day? Of living? For anything.
NIRVANA KICKS ASS ,STILL !!!!!!! | Reviewer: BLACK J7414 | 6/24/09
I am 30 years old and I was around when nirvana hit the seen with "smells like teen spirit".Back in those early 90's days (prior to on demand tv)all we really had was the juke box channel where you could call in and select the # of the video you wanted to see and it would be played and smells like teen spirit would be played at least 5 times in an hour , and thats huge.I was about 13 when those idiots that raped that young lady used nirvana songs as theme music to their stupidity.with that being said ,lets look at the present and make sure that something as beautiful as "In Bloom" doesn't get misused
nirvana | Reviewer: Someone | 6/21/09
i think his death makes his music and its message so much stronger. he was an artist. i think his death was a release for him, but at the same time the final line to his amazing piece of work and we can see it through his lirycs, his music and his life. if he wasnt dead, if he hadnt killed himself, i think nirvana would not mean wat it means today.
u can feel his pain, his disappointment about life when u listen to him singing. i think we owe him that.
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