Kurt Cobain Research Paper

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain was just a lonely teenager in Washington with a taste for drugs, music, and alcohol. Most thought he was too lazy to accomplish anything but he would later become the most idolized grunge musician of the 20th century. With a troubled past Cobain turns his anger into passion. He strived for success to find out he hated it. To truly understand Kurt Cobain, one must first understand his early life.

Cobain was born in Hoquiam, Washington to Wendy and Donald (McDougall 16). Later they moved to Aberdeen, not far from Seattle, which would later birth a generation of grunge rock (McDougall 16). Born on February 20, 1967, Kurt Cobain was a happy, hyperactive child who took great interest in music and art (McDougall 18-19).

His mother remarried and he moved in with his father, who had promised Kurt that he would never marry again (McDougall 21). However, his father, Don, did remarry in 1978 worsening Cobain’s trust issues and bringing a new stepbrother and stepsister into the house, who he often bullied (McDougall 21). Kurt’s attitude continued to get worse and he started skipping school (McDougall 22). Donald and his new wife grew tired of Kurt’s behavior and sent him to live with relatives and it became a contest of who could stand him the longest (McDougall 24). Although he moved around a lot one thing that stayed constant was his interest in music, he had become drawn to heavy metal bands (McDougall 22). Once again he was moved to live with another relative, this time it was his uncle Chuck Fradenburg (McDougall 26). Fradenburg was a drummer in a local band and he was the first relative Kurt began to get along with. Fradenburg bought Kurt his first guitar and Cobain immediately quit drums to practice it and taught himself many popular songs (McDougall 26-28). After a while Kurt moved back in with his mother and he and his stepfather clashed immediately (McDougall 29). In 1983 Cobain met Matt Lukin who introduced him to local band the Melvins and lead singer Buzz Osborne and Cobain was exposed to the world of punk rock (McDougall 29). Two years

After being kicked out of his mother’s house for the final time Cobain slept on various friends’ couches and for a short time, he slept outside (McDougall 33). Most of his time was spent at the local library writing poems or drawing (McDougall 33). He decided to move in with Lukin where they would often do drugs and play music together (McDougall 34). As his drug problem grew his artwork became increasingly odd, Cobain had a slight obsession with the human anatomy to say the least (McDougall 34). He had been writing music and poems for quite a while, but not until 1986 did he start his first band Fecal Matter (McDougall 34). Cobain felt that the players weren’t good enough and the band failed, this happened again with later band Brown Towel (McDougall 34). In 1986 Cobain and Novoselic formed a cover band called the Sellouts and Kurt was the drummer (McDougall 35). They both enjoyed the band but later they teamed with drummer Aaron Burckhard and Cobain became the lead singer of an unnamed band (McDougall 35). With all of them meeting in Olympia Washington Cobain met a girl Tracy Marander who became a big love interest (McDougall 37). Meanwhile the band, still a no name, started gaining momentum and had their first gig. The band’s first shows were always erratic and unpredictable because the members would show up drunk and high. Cobain would usually smoke marijuana to help the horrible stomach and