Reflection on the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s passing

Photos of Kurt Cobain from Getty Images

Friday, April 5, 2024, marked 30 years since the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The world of music and fans across the globe of Nirvana lost one of the most influential people of their generation. Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist died in his home in Seattle, Washington. The cause of death was revealed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Three days later his body was found by an electrician who was scheduled to install a security system in his home.

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in the small town of Aberdeen, Washington in 1987 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic while attending Aberdeen High School together. From the start, the band was always dysfunctional. There were a handful of spinoff bands started by Cobain, notably “Fecal Matter,” as well as a long process of wanting to recruit Krist for Nirvana. They went through a total of seven drummers: Aaron Burckhard, Dale Crover, Dave Foster, Dan Peters, Mark Pickerel, and two others. The most notable drummer was Chad Channing on the debut album “Bleach” in 1989. In 1990, Channing was fired from the band due to creative differences. Nirvana would later go on to recruit Dave Grohl from the band “Scream,” who then recorded with Nirvana for their breakout second album titled “Nevermind”.

Soon after the release of Nevermind in 1991, their hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” brought the band mainstream success and elevated them to the top of the charts. The music video, along with Kurt’s 1969 left-handed Fender Mustang, became an icon of the ever-emerging Grunge scene from Seattle. Kurt himself was given the title of the spokesperson of Generation X due to his band’s music, the sounds, and melodies that would be in their songs.

Kurt is the main reason why I chose to pick up a guitar, and why I wanted to learn how to play his songs. I grew up liking rock and roll and heavy metal genres. I always avoided looking at photos of Cobain from 1994, and I did not like to discuss or see his decline. To see someone self-destructing is traumatic, watching drugs take over the mind and seeing the artist lose control. When I look at the photos of Cobain from late 1993 to 1994, I think to myself that I wish he had found the help he needed, yearning to help him myself if I could. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering not only Kurt felt, but Novoselic must have, himself watching his bandmate, his brother losing control of who he was. Grohl recalled in his autobiography The Storyteller Tales of Life and Music, “He’s gone Dave. My knees gave out and I dropped the phone as I fell to my bedroom floor, covering my face with my hands as I began to cry. He was gone. The shy young man who had offered me an apple upon our first introduction at the Seattle Airport was gone. My quiet, introverted roommate who I’d shared a tiny little apartment with in Olympia was gone. The loving father who played with his beautiful baby daughter backstage every night before each show was gone.” Dave writes in his book that the phone call came March 3, 1994.

Kurt, we miss you. Thank you for all you contributed to music. You were a talented, gifted artist. You gave so many people hope, inspiration, and good music. We are forever in debt to your priceless advice.