Kurt Cobain Remains a Powerful, Inspirational Figure - But Does He Deserve to Be?

Disclaimer: The following article discusses drug abuse, depression, and suicide. If these topics are emotionally triggering for you, proceed with caution or consider passing on this read for now. And always know therapists and other supporters are on hand for you, and that suicide prevention is just a phone call away: just dial or text 988.

If you open a search engine (Google, e.g.) and begin to type in the letters K U R, unless you have queries beginning with those letters in your recent search history, those three letters alone will likely be enough for the browser to populate “Kurt Cobain” as the top hit. That is the power of this rock and roll legend’s legacy even nearly three decades after his death, which occurred in early April of 1994.

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Cobain was a mere 27 years old when he died – an age before which most people have even come close to hitting their stride in life, his time was up. Yet his music and genius left a mark that would last forever.

Kurt Cobain’s Early Years

Music was always of paramount importance for Kurt Cobain. He would later be recalled singing songs by The Beatles at age two, and that towering band would remain a lifelong influence. By age four, Cobain was playing the piano, singing, and even beginning to compose his own simple songs. And by his teenage years, Cobain had picked up the guitar and was soon playing many of the rock songs popular in the later 1970s and into the 80s, including the work of other bands that would influence him, such as Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.

But music was perhaps the only constant in Kurt Cobain’s life. After his parents divorced and both found new partners before Cobain’s 10^th birthday, he found himself often shuttled back and forth and he was dismayed and disillusioned by the shakeup in life. His father remarried and Cobain’s new stepmother, who already had two children, would have another child soon. His mother took up with a violent and abusive man.

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As a teenager, Cobain became defiant, rebellious, and often delinquent, being arrested for defacing automobiles, intentionally failing in sporting events, talking back to teachers and parents, and generally presenting a problem to those charged with his care. He dropped out of high school shortly before graduation and was kicked out of his mother’s home shortly thereafter.

Cobain briefly lived a semi-itinerant life, at times living with friends, at times without a roof over his head. He soon found semi-stable housing and work and entered into several short but apparently passionate romantic relationships. And soon he was playing music with many of the early pioneers of a style of rock and roll that would become known as grunge. Kurt Cobain would come to be known as the icon of that genre, a roll he never really wanted.

Why Did Cobain and Nirvana Rise to Such Fame So Fast?

The band that would arguably change music forever, Nirvana, formed in 1986. It consisted of Kurt Cobain, who sang and played the guitar, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Chad Channing. This trio recorded the first Nirvana album, “Bleach,” in 1989. The album was well-received by critics and got some airplay, but was not a major success. But in 1991, now with Dave Grohl on drums, things would change for the band – and for music – when Nirvana released their album Nevermind.

An almost immediate sensation, Nevermind was, by January 1992, some three months after its release, the number one album in America and it was selling countless copies the world over. Kurt Cobain was hailed as the voice of his generation, Nirvana was the biggest band on the planet, and music was forever changed.

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Nevermind was such a sensational hit of an album – as were many of its singles mega hits as well – because it was, for many people the world over, their first exposure to grunge rock, which had been percolating in the Pacific Northwest for some time. Grunge was seen as an antidote to the over-the-top glam rock of the 1980s. It was raw, simple, powerful, and relatable. It was not overproduced and it was authentic, per Billboard. It was great music, in short, and no one did it better than Nirvana, so they became the de facto spokesmen of the newly immensely popular sound.

But the fame would not be good for Kurt Cobain, a man who truly cared more about the music than the accolades, and who was already suffering and stressed without the eyes of the world on him.

Why Did Cobain and Nirvana Rise to Such Fame So Fast?

Kurt Cobain would be first diagnosed with clinical depression in high school, per Rolling Stone, and would see a myriad of doctors and therapists in his short adult life, but all to no real avail. He sought more solace in drugs than in medicine or mental health treatment, beginning with marijuana use at age 13.

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In his later teen years, Cobain began using LSD and heroin, and he continued to use marijuana and alcohol heavily. He often claimed his heroin use was to aid with chronic pain from an undiagnosed stomach condition, but many in his orbit assumed in fact the pain was caused by drug use.

By the early 1990s, with success and fame washing over him, Cobain began consuming ever larger amounts of heroin to try to numb himself. He would frequently pass out in public and would require resuscitation on at least one occasion. Drugs, addiction, short stints in rehab, and a general sense of malaise would define the last year of his life.

Should We Idolize Kurt Cobain?

As a musician, lyricist, and a man who helped change American and global music, Kurt Cobain deserves every accolade he gets. But as a human being, he should be seen more as a cautionary tale than as a heroic figure. This is a man who, in suicide, left behind a daughter, a wife, other family members, friends, and of course an adoring public – though less is owed to the latter, frankly speaking.

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Too often, artists who die young are romanticized more than those who live into old age; among other musicians who died at 27 are Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, most of whom also suffered with depression. It never seems to matter the talent, the genius, the edge influence they had on the world, anyone can suffer from depression, no matter their celebrity or not. 

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