Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain turned 14 on the 20th of February 1981, and his uncle put a choice in front of him. He could have a bicycle or a used guitar. Kurt took the guitar. Soon afterward he was attempting Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," then "Louie Louie," then Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." He played left-handed, even though he had been made to write with his right hand.
That birthday decision is where this story begins, but it hardly explains what followed. How does a boy with a secondhand guitar become the face of a movement? What shaped the songs he wrote, and where did the ideas come from? And why did the attention that came with success sit so uncomfortably on him? Behind those questions sits a harder one. Why do people still argue about how his story ended?
Kurt Cobain was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1967. His mother, Wendy, worked as a waitress, and his father, Donald, was a car mechanic. Music ran through the family. An uncle, Chuck Fradenburg, played in a band called the Beachcombers. An aunt, Mari Earle, played guitar in groups around Grays Harbor County. A great uncle named Delbert worked as an Irish tenor and appeared in the 1930 film King of Jazz.
As a small child Kurt was excitable and sensitive, and he drew constantly. His bedroom filled with sketches of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Donald Duck. His grandmother Iris Cobain, a professional artist, encouraged him. His aunt Mari remembered him singing at the age of two. At four he sat at a piano and wrote a song about a trip to a park.
When Kurt was nine, his parents divorced, and the household he knew came apart. His mother saw his personality change, and he turned defiant and withdrawn. In a 1993 interview he said he had felt ashamed of his parents and had badly wanted a typical family. His father remarried Jenny Westeby, who had two children of her own. In January 1979 a baby boy, Chad, joined the household. Kurt insisted it was not his real family.
On the 28th of June 1979, his mother gave full custody to his father. Before long his father could not handle a rebellious teenager and placed him with relatives and friends. At the home of his friend Jesse Reed, a born-again Christian family, Kurt became a devout churchgoer. Later he turned against religion. He tied the song "Lithium" to that stay.
School offered little relief. His father pushed him onto a junior high wrestling team, which he hated. Mocked by teammates and the coach, he let himself be pinned on purpose to upset his father. On a Little League team, he struck out deliberately. He also befriended a gay student, and classmates who assumed he was gay bullied him. He said he came to like the label because it made people leave him alone.
Two weeks before graduation, he left Aberdeen High School after learning he lacked the credits. His mother told him to find work or leave, and a week later his belongings sat packed in boxes. He later claimed that he lived under a bridge over the Wishkah River, an experience he said inspired "Something in the Way." Krist Novoselic doubted it. He 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."
By late 1986 Kurt had an apartment, paid for by a job at the Polynesian Resort in Ocean Shores. He often traveled to Olympia for rock concerts, and that city would matter far more than anyone then guessed.
Buzz Osborne, singer and guitarist of the Melvins, met Kurt through art and electronics classes. Osborne lent him punk and hardcore records, along with old issues of the magazine Creem. Kurt's first punk album was Sandinista! by the Clash. He soon preferred the Sex Pistols, writing in his journals that they were "one million times more important than the Clash." Black Flag, Bad Brains and Flipper followed.
Even his first concert is disputed. Classmates and family said it was Sammy Hagar and Quarterflash at the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1983. Kurt himself said it was a free Melvins show outside the Thriftway supermarket where Osborne worked.
The Melvins became his school. He drove their van on tour, helped carry their gear, and watched hundreds of rehearsals. He said he "learned almost everything from them." In an early interview he named his biggest fear as being seen as a "Melvins rip-off." In early 1985 he formed Fecal Matter, one of several joke bands around the Melvins circle. Melvins drummer Dale Crover played with him, and for most of its short life the band was just the two of them.
At the Melvins' practice space Kurt met Krist Novoselic, another punk devotee. They sometimes rehearsed in the upstairs room of the hair salon owned by Novoselic's mother. Kurt lent him a home demo by Fecal Matter. After months of asking, Novoselic agreed to start a band, and that band became Nirvana.
Other voices shaped the songwriting. Kurt called John Lennon his "idol," and he wrote "About a Girl" after three hours listening to Meet the Beatles! The Pixies' 1988 debut, Surfer Rosa, pushed him toward a different style of songwriting. He said "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to rip them off. "We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard," he said.
The deepest surprise was Lead Belly. Kurt learned of him from an interview in which William S. Burroughs urged young rock musicians to listen to something with real soul. In 1989 he joined Mark Lanegan, Novoselic and Mark Pickerel in a side project called the Jury. They recorded four Lead Belly songs over two days, the 20th and the 28th of August. Years later, on MTV Unplugged, he introduced "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by calling Lead Belly his favorite performer.
Bleach, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989, featured Chad Channing on drums. Kurt grew unhappy with Channing's style and fired him. Dave Grohl replaced him in 1990. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth recommended the band to DGC, and they signed that year. In 1991 came Nevermind, led by the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It carried Nirvana into the mainstream and popularized a branch of alternative rock called grunge.
The numbers are huge. Nirvana has sold more than 28 million albums in the United States and more than 75 million worldwide. Nevermind opened the door to wider audiences for Seattle bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. For the first half of the 1990s, alternative rock ruled radio and music television in America.
The media called Nirvana the flagship band of Generation X and named Kurt its spokesman. He accepted the title reluctantly and resented it, believing the public had misread his message. He struggled to square the band's enormous success with his underground roots. He felt hounded by the press and compared himself to the actress Frances Farmer, whom he named a song after. He also grew bitter toward fans who ignored or twisted the band's social and political views.
Those views were plain. Kurt spoke against sexism, racism, sexual assault and homophobia. He was proud that Nirvana played a benefit concert against Oregon's 1992 Ballot Measure 9, which would have directed schools to teach that homosexuality was "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse." He also backed the pro-choice movement, and Nirvana joined L7's Rock for Choice campaign. A small number of anti-abortion activists sent him death threats. One threatened to shoot him the moment he stepped on a stage.
The liner notes of the album Incesticide carried a blunt message. Anyone who hated gay people, people of other races, or women was told to stay away from the band's shows and records. In The Advocate, Kurt said he was "definitely gay in spirit" and could probably be bisexual, though he was more attracted to women. He said he had felt "different" since the age of seven.
Success also let him repay his own heroes. He covered the Vaselines, the Meat Puppets, Wipers and Fang. He wore Daniel Johnston T-shirts for photo shoots and had the K Records logo tattooed on his forearm. He invited Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, Chokebore and Half Japanese along on the In Utero tour. Pat Smear, formerly of the Germs, joined the band in 1993 as a second guitarist.
Dave Grohl said that Kurt believed music came first and lyrics second. Melody mattered most to him. He bristled when journalists dug for hidden meaning, asking in writing why they did "second-rate Freudian evaluation" of lyrics they had often transcribed wrongly. Yet he labored over his words, procrastinated, and often changed them mid-performance. He called his lyrics "a big pile of contradictions," split between sincere opinion, sarcasm and hopeful, humorous pushback against tired bohemian ideals.
He first wanted Nevermind divided into a "Boy" side, about his early life, and a "Girl" side, about his troubled relationship with Tobi Vail. Biographer Charles R. Cross wrote that Kurt composed a half dozen of his best-remembered songs in the months after their breakup, all about her. Real events fed other songs. In 1987 a newspaper story described a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped after a punk show and escaped by gaining her captor's trust. That story drove him to write "Polly." After seeing Nirvana perform, Bob Dylan called it the band's best song and said of Kurt, "the kid has heart." A novel, Patrick Süskind's Perfume, inspired "Scentless Apprentice."
He made art with the same energy. Novoselic recalled, "Kurt said that he never liked literal things. He liked cryptic things." Kurt cut pictures of meat from grocery-store fliers and pasted orchids onto them. His drawings showed mutant-like figures, and he collected creepy dolls. His fascination with the body, and with his own rare medical conditions, spilled into the lyrics of In Utero.
His guitar tone was ranked by Guitar World among the most iconic in electric guitar history, and it came from cheap gear. Cobain said, "Junk is always best," but admitted that part of the reason was how hard it was to find good left-handed guitars. He flipped a right-handed Univox Hi-Flier over and restrung it. On Nirvana's first American tour in 1989 he smashed an Epiphone ET270 onstage, and Sub Pop had to phone pawn shops for replacements. His first acoustic, a Stella 12-string held together with duct tape, recorded "Polly" and "Something in the Way."
Before Nevermind he turned to Japanese-made Fender guitars with slim necks. The 1969 Competition Mustang became his favorite. Ahead of the In Utero tour he ordered 10 Mustangs, but only six had arrived by the time he died. The other four were sold as regular stock in Japanese music stores. His modified 1959 Martin D-18E from the Unplugged show became the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction in 2020. In 2022 Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, bought the Mustang from the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video.
Tracy Marander supported Kurt in Olympia by working in the cafeteria of the Boeing plant in Auburn, sometimes taking food home without paying. Kurt slept late, watched television and worked on art projects. Her insistence that he find a job led to arguments, and those arguments inspired "About a Girl." She took the cover photo of Bleach, yet she did not learn the song was about her until years after his death.
Next came Tobi Vail, a zinester in the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill. After meeting her, Kurt was so overwhelmed by nerves that he vomited, which gave him the lyric "love you so much it makes me sick" in "Aneurysm." In 1990 the two recorded together as Bathtub is Real, both singing and playing guitar and drums on a four-track machine that belonged to Vail's father. Slim Moon described their sound as minimal, quiet pop songs. Vail said Kurt loved that she was creative, and she doubted he had played music with a girl before.
Accounts of how he met Courtney Love conflict. Michael Azerrad places it at a Portland show on the 21st of January 1989. Charles R. Cross says it was the 12th of January 1990 at the same venue. Everett True says he introduced them on the 17th of May 1991 at an L7 and Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles. In late 1991 the two were often together.
They married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii on the 24th of February 1992. Love wore a satin and lace dress once owned by Frances Farmer. Kurt wore green pajamas, explaining that he was too lazy to put on a tux. Eight guests attended, including Grohl but not Novoselic. Kim Gordon had warned Love that marrying Kurt would destroy her life. Love replied that she loved him and wanted to be with him.
Their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was born on the 18th of August 1992. A sonogram appeared in the artwork for the "Lithium" single. Days after the birth, the Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services visited and later took the couple to court, arguing that their drug use made them unfit parents. Frances was removed from their care for a short period in her first weeks. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. was chosen as her godfather.
At school, Kurt was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed Ritalin. His mother felt it did not help and tried the Feingold Diet instead, which she said worked better. Through most of his life he also had chronic bronchitis and intense pain from an undiagnosed stomach condition. He told Jon Savage that doctors always found a red irritation in his stomach, which he blamed on anger and screaming. In 1993 he told Michael Azerrad that he had narcolepsy and manic depression. A cousin pointed to a family history of suicide, mental illness and alcoholism. Two of her uncles had died by suicide.
On the 27th of November 1989, midway through a show in Rome, Kurt suffered a breakdown, according to Cross. He smashed his guitar, climbed a 30-foot speaker stack, and threatened to kill himself. After he came down, he took the next day off to sightsee with Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt. Then he finished the remaining five European dates.
Substances ran through his life from his teens. He first drank in seventh grade and used cannabis at 13, in 1980. As a teenager he abused solvents, and later he took notable amounts of LSD. Novoselic said he was really into getting messed up on any drug. In 1986 a dealer in Tacoma gave him heroin for the first time. He used it sporadically for years, and by the end of 1991 he was addicted. He said he sought a habit on purpose to ease his stomach pain. He told Azerrad that three days in a row of heroin brought relief. Buzz Osborne rejected that account, saying the pain more likely came from the drug itself.
The addiction began to damage the Nevermind tour. Before the band's first Saturday Night Live performance, on the 11th of January 1992, he kept falling asleep during a photo shoot. The next morning he had his first near-fatal overdose, and Love revived him. On the 2nd of May 1993 he overdosed at home in Seattle and was taken to Harborview Medical Center, then discharged the same day. On the 23rd of July 1993 he overdosed before a New Music Seminar show in New York. Love gave him naloxone, and he went on to perform without giving any sign. By March 1994, Cross wrote, Love had seen him close to death more than a dozen times.
On the 1st of March 1994, after a show at Terminal Eins in Munich, Kurt was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for treatment, and Love joined him on the 3rd. The following morning she found that he had overdosed on champagne and Rohypnol at the Westin Excelsior. After five days in hospital he returned to Seattle. Love later called the Rome incident his first suicide attempt.
On the 18th of March, Love phoned Seattle police because he had locked himself in a room, and officers took away guns and a bottle of pills. On the 25th of March, ten people, including friends, record company executives and his close friend Dylan Carlson, held an intervention. Kurt raged at them, then agreed to detox, and he entered a Los Angeles facility on the 30th of March. On the evening of the 1st of April he escaped and flew home. On the plane he sat near Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses, who sensed that something was wrong.
On the 8th of April an electrician arrived to install a security system and found Kurt's body at his Lake Washington Boulevard home. A note addressed to his childhood imaginary friend, Boddah, said he had lost the excitement of listening to and creating music. The coroner estimated that he died on the 5th of April 1994, at the age of 27. About 7,000 mourners came to a vigil at Seattle Center on the 10th of April, where Love read portions of the note. By the morning of the 9th, Seattle stores had nearly sold out of Nirvana records. In 1999 Frances Bean scattered his ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia.
His closest friends carried regrets. Michael Stipe said Kurt had planned a quiet, acoustic record and was meant to record a demo with him, but canceled at the last minute. Dave Grohl called the news probably the worst thing that had ever happened to him. Seattle police say they still receive at least one request each week to reopen the case. In 2014 they developed four old rolls of film from an evidence vault, and a detective said the death remained a suicide. In February 2026 new claims of murder brought renewed coverage.
Recognition kept growing. Nirvana entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the 10th of April 2014, in its first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Kurt among the greatest songwriters, guitarists and singers. A sign in Aberdeen now reads "Welcome to Aberdeen - Come As You Are," and Hoquiam holds an annual Nirvana Day. Manager Danny Goldberg called him the last icon of the rock era, with a span that began with the Beatles and ended with Kurt.
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Common questions
Who was Kurt Cobain?
Kurt Cobain was an American musician and songwriter, and the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the grunge band Nirvana. He was born in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1967 and died in 1994 at the age of 27.
How did Kurt Cobain get his first guitar?
Kurt Cobain received his first guitar on his 14th birthday, the 20th of February 1981, when his uncle offered him a choice between a bike and a used guitar. He chose the guitar.
Which album made Kurt Cobain and Nirvana famous?
Nevermind, released in 1991 with the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit," brought Kurt Cobain and Nirvana into the mainstream. Nirvana has sold more than 28 million albums in the United States and more than 75 million worldwide.
Who were Kurt Cobain's bandmates in Nirvana?
Kurt Cobain's closest bandmates were bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990 to replace Chad Channing. Pat Smear joined the band in 1993.
Who did Kurt Cobain marry and did they have children?
Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii on the 24th of February 1992. Their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was born on the 18th of August 1992.
When did Kurt Cobain die and how old was he?
Kurt Cobain died on or about the 5th of April 1994 at the age of 27, according to the coroner's estimate. His body was found on the 8th of April at his home on Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle.
What music influenced Kurt Cobain?
Kurt Cobain was influenced by the Beatles, the Melvins, punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Pixies, and the folk and blues singer Lead Belly. He said the Pixies' sense of dynamics, soft and quiet then loud and hard, shaped "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
When was Kurt Cobain inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the 10th of April 2014, in its first year of eligibility. Grohl, Novoselic and Courtney Love accepted the honor, and Kurt Cobain was remembered at the ceremony.
All sources
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- 3From the Archives: Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was a reluctant hero who spoke to his generationRobert Hilburn — April 5, 2019
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- 10BookCome as You Are: The Story of NirvanaMichael Azerrad — Knopf Doubleday — 1993
- 11Ancestry of Frances Bean CobainWilliam Addams Reitwiesner — Wargs.com
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- 14NewsNirvana legend Kurt Cobain's roots traced to Co TyroneAine Fox — Independent News & Media — March 24, 2010
- 15Sounds Dirty: The Truth About Nirvana. By Jon Savage: Articles, reviews and interviews from Rock's BackpagesJon Savage — August 15, 1993
- 16The Visual Art of 8 More Famous Musicians – Part 2Audrey Davies — October 4, 2011
- 17In Which We Discard A Heart-Shaped BoxSeptember 19, 2011
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- 29Kurt Cobain: an icon of alienationJonathan Freedland — April 5, 2014
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- 32King of the Outcast Teens: Kurt Cobain and the Politics of NirvanaDawson Barrett — January 6, 2014
- 33In 1992, Nirvana Fought an Anti-Gay Ballot Initiative (and Wanted to Burn Down GOP Headquarters)David Villarreal — Hornet — December 7, 2017
- 34POP MUSIC REVIEW: Bands Get Together for Rock for ChoiceJonathan Gold — September 29, 1992
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- 39NewsWhen Kurt Cobain met William BurroughsOctober 26, 2012
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- 42NewsIf it wasn't for Freddie Mercury... 13 artists inspired by the Queen iconAmy Weller — September 5, 2013
- 43MagazineKurt Cobain, Il Punk Da Un Milione Di DollariClaudio Sorge — March 1992
- 44The Melvins @ Turner Hall BallroomThomas Michalski — May 2, 2012
- 45Interview September 21, 1991Marc Coiteux — September 21, 1991
- 46Interview January 20, 1993Antonio Carlos Miguel — January 20, 1993
- 47Cobain, Kurt. "Kurt Cobain of Nirvana Talks About the Records That Changed His Life. Melody Maker. August 29, 1992.
- 48Fricke, David. "Kurt Cobain: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. January 27, 1994
- 49MagazineNirvana's 'MTV Unplugged' 20 Years Later: Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood Looks BackChris Payne — November 18, 2014
- 50Kurt Cobain interview Date: 08/10/1993 Location: Seattle Ze Full Version Uncut !!!Laurence Romance — Romance Is Dead — April 21, 2010
- 51MTV Unplugged in New York – NirvanaStephen Thomas
- 52Everybody Hurts SometimeSeptember 26, 1994
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- 58MagazineKrist Novoselic on Kurt Cobain's Writing ProcessDavid Fricke — October 3, 2013
- 59BookWilliam S. Burroughs: A LifeBarry Miles — Weidenfeld & Nicolson — 2015
- 60The definitive Kurt Cobain gear guide: a deep dive into the Nirvana frontman's pawn shop prizes, turbo-charged stompboxes and blown woofersChris Gill — Guitar World — February 17, 2021
- 61The story of Kurt Cobain's Fender Mustang guitars in NirvanaStuart Williams — Music Radar — May 21, 2022
- 62Kurt Cobain's 'MTV Unplugged' Guitar Sells for $6 Million at AuctionDaniel Kreps — Rolling Stone — June 20, 2020
- 63Kurt Cobain's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' guitar sells for $4.5 million at auctionNBC News — May 23, 2022
- 64BookCome as You Are: The Story of NirvanaMichael Azerrad — Crown — January 23, 2013
- 65BookHeavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt CobainCharles R. Cross — Hachette Books — March 13, 2012
- 66Love me doLaura Barton — December 11, 2006
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- 68BookNirvana - Uncensored on the RecordCoda Books
- 69Wednesday 1 MarchEverett True
- 70Dave Grohl Was One Of Eight Guests At Kurt Cobain And Courtney Love's Hawaiian WeddingRaul — June 20, 2011
- 71NewsHeroin Addiction Blamed In Death Of Another Seattle Rock MusicianBrenda You — June 18, 1994
- 72Nirvana's Lithium Single Artwork Includes A Sonogram Of Frances Bean CobainRaul — September 28, 2009
- 73Courtney Love Admits To Using Heroin While Pregnant With Frances BeanJanuary 28, 2015
- 75Inside Story: Courtney Love and Daughter Frances Bean's Rocky RelationshipMarisa Laudadio — December 18, 2009
- 76How Frances Cobain triumphed over chaotic childhood for loveDana Kennedy — 2023-11-04
- 77NewsGO FOR THE GRUNGEJames Crotty — October 30, 1992
- 78NewsThe Dark Side of Kurt CobainKevin Allman — February 9, 1993
- 79NewsRediscovered Interview Reveals Kurt Cobain Thought He Was GayJase Peeples — October 24, 2013
- 80NewsRare Kurt Cobain Interview Reveals Gay Curious Thoughts AudioNiki Cruz — October 23, 2013
- 81BookThe Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual Factor In The Youth Suicide ProblemPierre Tremblay — 1994
- 82BookCome As You Are - the nirvana storyMichael Azerrad — Doubleday — 1993-10-01
- 84NewsKurt Cobain was not a 'tortured genius', he had an illnessMatt Haig — April 5, 2015
- 85MagazineHe Wrote the First Nirvana Bio. 30 Years Later, He Has a Few ChangesBrian Hiatt — 2023-11-02
- 86Even in His YouthBrian Libby
- 87BookHeavier than HeavenCharles R. Cross — Sceptre — 2019-03-07
- 88BookExperiencing Nirvana - Grunge in europe, 1989Bruce Pavitt — 2014-04-24 — 2013
- 89BookCome As You Are - The story of nirvanaMichael Azerrad — Doubleday — 1993-10-01
- 90BookHeavier than HeavenCharles Cross — Sceptre — 2019-03-07
- 91BookCome As You Are - the story of nirvanaMichael Azerrad — Doubleday — 1993-10-01
- 92Buzz Osborne (the Melvins) Talks the HBO Documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck | The Talkhouse MusicThetalkhouse.com — June 6, 2015
- 93BookNirvana: The AmplificationsMichael Azerrad — HARPER COLLINS — 2023-10-24
- 94Legacy Kurt Cobain's footprints lead many successorsApril 8, 2004
- 95BookServe The ServantDanny Goldberg — Orion — 2020-04-02
- 96BookHeavier than Heaven: the biography of Kurt CobainCharles Cross — Sceptre — 2019-03-07
- 97Dave Grohl was told Kurt Cobain died month before suicideChuck Arnold — 2021-10-05
- 98BookThe Storyteller - Tales of life and musicDave Grohl — Simon Schuster — 2022-06-09
- 99MagazineCourtney Love: Life After DeathDavid Fricke — December 15, 1994
- 100MagazineKurt Cobain's Downward Spiral: The Last Days of Nirvana's LeaderNeil Strauss — June 2, 1994
- 101Questions Linger After Cobain SuicideMay 11, 1994
- 103Dylan Carlson Was Kurt Cobain's Ultimate Best Friend - MusiclipseAlexandre G — 2024-04-12
- 104BookNever Fade Away: The Kurt Cobain StoryDave Thompson — St. Martin's Press — 1994
- 105BookKurt CobainChristopher Sandford — Carroll & Graf — 1996
- 106Dark Side of the WombAugust 21, 1993
- 107NewsCobain Found a Kindred Spirit in Farmer's Tragic LifeWilliam Arnold — April 14, 1994
- 10915 years later: Where were you when Kurt Cobain was found dead?Monica Guzman — Hearst Media — April 7, 2009
- 110NewsKurt Cobain's Troubled Last Days – Drugs, Guns And Threats; And Then He DisappearedWhitely, Peyton — April 19, 1994
- 111NewsKurt Cobain's death, 15 years later, being marked with Friday tributeLiu, Marian — April 6, 2009
- 112Dave Grohl: 'Kurt Cobain's Death Is The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened To Me'Scott Colothan — November 10, 2009
- 113Dave Grohl reveals he knew Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain would die young3am — November 12, 2009
- 114MagazineCobain Mourned By Fans, Industryites In Memorials, Music StoresCarrie Borzillo — April 23, 1994
- 115MagazineMCA puts hold on Nirvana releasesApril 23, 1994
- 116Dave Grohl: 'I knew Kurt Cobain was destined to die early'November 10, 2009
- 117Film Review: 'Soaked in Bleach'Dennis Harvey — June 24, 2015
- 118Seattle police re-examine Cobain suicide, develop scene photosCasey McNerthney — Cox Media Group — March 20, 2014
- 120Investigator claims Kurt Cobain's death was homicide; Seattle Police stand by suicide rulingNatalie Dreier — 2026-02-11
- 122Was Kurt Cobain’s Death a Homicide? What We Know About the Late Nirvana SingerElisabeth McGowan — 2026-02-11
- 124News10 years later, Cobain lives on in his musicApril 2, 2004
- 125NewsPOP VIEW; Kurt Cobain Screamed Out Our AngstLorraine Ali — April 17, 1994
- 126Inside Kurt Cobain's $450M empireAdam Molon — April 5, 2014
- 1275 Ways Kurt Cobain Changed the Face of MusicFebruary 20, 2015
- 128MagazineCourtney Love Says Nirvana's Rock Hall Induction Might Be 'Awkward' – VideoFebruary 12, 2014
- 129MagazineThe 27 Club: A Brief HistoryDecember 8, 2019
- 130NewsCobainJeff Clark-Meads et al. — April 23, 1994
- 131The making of rock martyrsPaul Lester — April 16, 2008
- 132Billy Corgan: Kurt Cobain Is 'The Michael Jordan' Of '90s RockGlen Campbell
- 135NewsChurch of Kurt Cobain FormsMay 24, 1996
- 136NewsKurt Comes AliveJulian Chaplin — September 6, 1996
- 137NewsOngoing History Daily: The Church of Kurt CobainAlan Cross — July 22, 2021
- 13810 years later, Cobain lives on in his musicEric Olsen — April 9, 2004
- 139Magazine100 Greatest Guitarists – David Fricke's Picks: 12) Kurt CobainDecember 3, 2010
- 142MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Musicenigmazach — Listology — June 30, 2009
- 143Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time – HearYa – Indie Music Blogoz — Hearya.com — December 4, 2006
- 144Chasing Kurt Cobain in Washington StateDave Seminara — March 25, 2014
- 145The Daily World: Park's four-letter controversy erasedAugust 7, 2009
- 146Seattle Weekly: You Can Sandblast All You Want, But Drugs Will Still Fuck You UpChris Kornelis — August 17, 2009
- 147Aberdeen, Washington to celebrate annual Kurt Cobain DayDan Stubbs — January 24, 2014
- 148NewsCobain childhood home now a landmark, to be turned into an exhibitMary K Jacob — July 30, 2021
- 149NewsKurt Cobain's childhood Home Placed on Washington State Heritage RegisterDan Hammock — July 20, 2021
- 151Halperin & Wallace, p. 202
- 152Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt CobainHyperionBooks.com
- 153Nirvana: the True Story by Everett True
- 154Smells Like Everett True – Books – The Stranger, Seattle's Only NewspaperThestranger.com — March 27, 2007
- 155MAGNET Interview: Everett TrueMatthew Fritch
- 156MagazineCobain Unseen: Rare Photos, Artwork and Journal EntriesCharles M. (sic) Cross
- 157Nirvana releases a hit and missDavid Hartwig — November 19, 2002
- 159NewsNirvana's manager calls Kurt Cobain the 'last icon of the rock era'Tyler Jenke — April 21, 2019
- 160NewsNirvana Reveal If Dave Grohl Made More Money Than Kurt CobainMike Mazzarone — April 20, 2019
- 161Kurt and Courtney: Interview with Nick BroomfieldPrairie Miller
- 162NewsNew Theories Stir Speculation On Rap DeathsJohn Leland — October 7, 2002
- 163AllMusic ReviewGreg Prato
- 164MagazineWhat's In Your DVD Player? - MVDAugust 18, 2001
- 165The VigilSandra Brennan
- 166MagazineKurt on Film: A Guide to Cobain's Cinematic LegacyDaniel Kreps — April 8, 2015
- 167Howard Feinstein on Gus Van Sant's new film, Last DaysHoward Feinstein — May 6, 2005
- 169NewsJon Brewer - Emperor MediaDan Teuton — March 14, 2013
- 170NewsTribeca: 'My Scientology Movie' Filmmakers Were Confronted by Church Members During ShootTatiana Siegel — The Hollywood Reporter — April 15, 2015
- 171The Last 48 Hours of Kurt CobainBBC Online
- 172New Kurt Cobain biopic to feature original Nirvana musicNovember 6, 2007
- 173Why Courtney Love Isn't a Producer on Kurt Cobain DocumentaryTatiana Siegel — December 3, 2014
- 174Director Brett Morgen reveals first details of Kurt Cobain documentaryFactmag.com — January 4, 2013
- 176BookKurt Cobain and Nirvana – Updated Edition: The Complete Illustrated HistoryAndrew Earles et al. — Voyaguer Press — 2016
- 179NewsWhat Is The Nirvana Song In The Batman? Soundtrack ExplainedSarah Moran — March 4, 2022
- 181Magazine30 Years After His Death, BBC to Air Kurt Cobain DocumentaryPino Gagliardi — April 5, 2024
- 182NewsBBC Music Remembers Kurt Cobain with range of programmes across the BBCMarch 27, 2024
- 183Danny Dyer Plays Vicious in Kurt & Sid PremiereWhatsonstage — July 13, 2009
- 184NewsKurt Cobain video game Guitar Hero gives Love a bad nameSwash, Rosie — September 11, 2009
- 185MagazineKurt Cobain Chart History
- 191Kurt Cobain – Montage Of Heck – The Home RecordingsSteffen Hung
- 194MagazineProgressive RetailLydia Anderson — August 23, 1993
- 195MagazineChart History – Kurt Cobain
- 201BookCome as You Are: The Story of NirvanaMichael Azerrad — Doubleday — 1994
- 202BookKurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, NevermindJeff Burlingame — Enslow — 2006
- 203BookHeavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt CobainCharles Cross — Hyperion — 2001
- 204BookCobain UnseenCharles Cross — Little, Brown and Co. — 2008
- 205BookGuitar World Presents Nirvana and the Grunge RevolutionJeff Kitts — Hal Leonard — 1998
- 206BookGrunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock MusicGreg Prato — ECW Press — 2009