The Death of Kurt Cobain

                                                        What Happened to Kurt Cobain?

How did Kurt Cobain really die?  This is a question that has plagued conspiracy theorists and members of the rock community for years.  Kurt Cobain led a troubled life riddled with constant depression and substance abuse, facts which some believe led to his suicide, which has been commonly accepted by most to be the official cause of Kurt Cobain’s death.  However, the more interesting question is was Kurt Cobain murdered?  This theory is intriguing because it was proposed by people who were hired to investigate Kurt's death.  Believing the culprit to be Courtney Love, who was extremely close and important to Kurt Cobain.  With suicide being too obvious of an answer, we will discover for ourselves how Courtney Love played a part in the death of Kurt Cobain.

Character Analysis

Kurt Cobain has always been rebellious and withdrawn from his peers and the rest of society as a whole.  When Kurt was eight years old his parents divorced, which left him scarred and a shell of the hyperactive, bubbly, and playful boy that he once was (Grimes).  This single event would lead young Kurt down a path of rebellion and becoming withdrawn from the rest of society.  A few years after the divorce of his parents, he became involved in the underground punk rock scene of his hometown.  Punk rock, and music, in general, would serve as an escape from his everyday life and would end up being his career as an adult. 

In high school, Kurt was a social outcast and didn’t have many friends, the few friends he did have were other social outcasts and were bullied like he was.  By this point in his life, Kurt hated his school and his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington saying that it was “Full of bigoted rednecks” (Grimes).  Kurt had a very progressive way of thinking compared to most people in his hometown.  His mindset was reflected in his attitude throughout high school, especially those who reflected stereotypical high school stereotypes.  One of Kurt Cobain’s friends said that he “Stood out like a turd in a punch bowl”, and that he would dye his hair crazy colors and would occasionally make fun jocks who would beat up Kurt in retaliation (Grimes). 

Though there was one ray of sunshine for young Kurt, it was the formation of his first band.  Kurt’s first band allowed him to express his thoughts musically and help him expand on songwriting abilities.  His first band was named “Fecal Matter” and it was formed while Kurt was in high school and his aunt helped him and his band tape demos in her home with her recording equipment (Grimes).  This band would inspire to Kurt to form other bands, and would eventually lead him to form Nirvana and would launch him into stardom.

When Kurt Cobain formed Nirvana with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, they reached stardom almost instantly in the early ’90s.  Kurt Cobain was very headstrong and made a lot of decisions for his band (Rachel and Pearson).  From writing the songs, designing album covers, and even storyboarding some music videos, he had an exact vision of what he wanted his music to be (Rachel and Pearson).  Kurt Cobain became motivated by his music, every decision that Kurt made would be somehow influenced by his music and would be reflected in his music.   Even as an internationally famous rockstar, however, Kurt Cobain’s life was still filled with tragedy.  Even though his fame improved Kurt’s life considerably, it also amplified issues that stemmed from his teenage years.  As Kurt became more famous, he would try his best to withdraw from everything.  When Nirvana reached the peak of its fame in 1992, Kurt withdrew from interviews and decided not to tour for most of that year (Hardeep).  During the filming for Nirvana’s song “Come As You Are”, Kurt Cobain reportedly told the video director that he did not want to be featured in the music video (Hardeep).  Which according to the director of the music video screamed: “get me out of here” (Hardeep).

 At this point in his career, Kurt’s face was all over the world.  He likely couldn’t go anywhere without seeing something related to Nirvana and it simply proved too much for him to handle.  So in retaliation to his fame, he withdrew from it and society as much as he possibly could.  He hid in his home away from the reporters and paparazzi and got high off of whatever drugs he had.  There were also instances where he would rebel and purposefully mess up his own songs on live TV by singing the wrong lyrics and making a joke of the entire performance. 

As time went on though, Kurt’s attitude became worse and worse with each passing day.  One day Kurt finally had enough and decided to end his life at a hotel a room in Rome by taking massive amounts of tranquilizer pills, however, this suicide attempt proved to be unsuccessful (Grimes).  After his unsuccessful attempt at suicide, everyone tried to get Kurt into rehab including his wife, mother, his bandmates, and his band’s manager tried to get him into rehab.  Which they successfully did for a short while (Grimes).  Tragically, however, all of their efforts were in vain when Kurt Cobain mysteriously died in his home on April 5, 1994 (Rachel and Pearson).

Conspiracy Theories ( with details and survey results)

The first theory regarding Kurt Cobain’s death is suicide, a majority of people believe that Kurt Cobain committed suicide in his home due to the fact that he could no longer handle his superstardom.  The second and more interesting theory regarding the death of Kurt Cobain is that Kourtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed because of his rising fame.

Conspiracy 1:

The conspiracy theory that is widely accepted by most people about Kurt Cobain is his suicide.  Kurt Cobain’s body was found on April 8, 1994, by an electrician, there was a 20 gauge shotgun strewn across his chest and this was the first time anyone had seen Cobain six days (Strauss).  Life had gone downhill fast for Kurt Cobain shortly before his suicide, his marriage with Courtney Love was worsening, his relationship with his band Nirvana was rocky, and his health was in decline.  The first attempt Kurt made on his life was while on a tour in Rome, where swallowed sixty pills and fell into a coma which he would eventually come out of (Hillburn).  Shortly after this, a domestic dispute between Kurt and Courtney erupted at their Seattle home. Which ended with Kurt locking himself in a room with a gun, and the arrival of police to defuse the situation and the confiscation of three guns and boxes of ammunition (Hillburn).  His marriage with Kourtney was constantly filled with violent outbursts similar to this, these arguments began to slowly wear Kurt down.  Lastly, all of this behavior severely affected Kurt’s view on music and his band.  Kurt wanted to break away from the band and essentially quit music altogether, he even went so far as to tell his wife “I hate it - I can’t play with them anymore” (Strauss).  He was tired of his fame and his life as a rockstar, he wanted to break away from it all and go back to a simpler, quieter lifestyle.  This theory doesn’t necessarily work as most of these facts came from second-hand sources by the time the death of Kurt became international news and that a lot of the information was blown out of proportion by the news.  This theory agrees with the results of the survey taken, as thirteen people out of a group of nineteen believed Kurt committed suicide.

Conspiracy 2:

           

The second conspiracy theory regarding the death of Kurt Cobain.  It suggests that Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed, and then had the murdered covered up as a suicide.  When Kurt Cobain went missing, Courtney Loved hired Tom Grant, a private investigator, to find Kurt Cobain and make sure that he was safe (“Soaked In Bleach”).  Early on in his investigation, Tom Grant became very suspicious of Courtney Love saying “ Some red flags started popping up immediately.  So I began recording every conversation I had with Courtney, during the entire period that I worked for her.” (“Soaked In Bleach”).  Throughout Tom’s investigation, the only time Courtney would speak with Tom directly was during their few meetings which would normally result in useless leads (“Soaked In Bleach”).  While pursuing these leads, Courtney would only talk to Tom through Kurt’s best friend Dylan, which would only add to Tom Grant’s suspicion (“Soaked In Bleach”).  When Kurt’s body was finally found, Tom Grant uncovered many surprising facts about Courtney’s motives and Kurt’s body.  Tom had discovered that Kurt filed for divorce from Courtney which meant that Courtney would lose a ten and a half million dollar estate, and Courtney had strongly suspected that Kurt was cheating on her with Kristen Pfaff, which angered Courtney (“Soaked In Bleach”).  The results of the toxicology test done on Kurt’s body found 1.53 milligrams of heroin in his system, which is about three times a lethal dose of heroin (“Soaked In Bleach”).  This alone would have killed Kurt Cobain, so there would have been no need for the shotgun and Kurt would have had no time to neatly put everything back into his heroin kit like it was found at the scene (“Soaked In Bleach”).  The positioning of the shotgun on the is body is strange as well, the shell casing had an impossible trajectory, the shotgun was found upside down, which isn’t possible since shotguns do not flip upside down when fired (“Soaked In Bleach”).  Also, Kurt’s hand was locked in a cadaveric spasm on the barrel of the shotgun upon his death, this questions other the other theories, as there is no way Kurt’s hand would be in the position it was if he fired the shotgun right side up (“Soaked In Bleach”).  This is likely the best answer to the question “How did Kurt Cobain die?” because these facts come straight from the person who personally investigated the missing person case for Kurt Cobain. Only two out of nineteen people who took the survey believed that Kurt Cobain was murdered, which only proves how quickly people are to accept what the news tells them.

            The death of Kurt Cobain is still a mystery more than twenty years after he died, and people have been trying to reopen the police investigation to discover the truth.  Until that happens, though, we may likely never know how Kurt Cobain died.

            Conclusion

            The death of Kurt Cobain has led many people to believe in one of the two conspiracies regarding Kurt Cobain’s death which are:

1. Kurt Cobain committed suicide
2. Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed due to her own jealousy

After researching and examining evidence over both conspiracy theories, the second conspiracy theory that Courtney Love had her husband killed, seems to be the best answer to the question “How did Kurt Cobain die?”.

  Works Cited

Grimes, A.C. "Kurt Cobain's Tragic Real-life Story." Grunge.com, 23 Aug. 2018, www.grunge.com/131873/kurt-cobains-tragic-real-life-story/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.

Hillburn, Robert. "KURT COBAIN, 1967 - 1994: The Last Days of a Lost Soul: Suicide: Courtney Love, Friends Had Been Trying to Get Nirvana’s Leader into a Drug Recovery Program Since His March Overdose." Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm--1994-04-12-ca-45148-story.htm. Accessed 30 Oct. 2019.

Martin, Rachel, and Vince Pearson. "Reflecting On Kurt Cobain's 'Crystalline Understanding' 25 Years Later." NPR.org, 5 Apr. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/04/05/709603031/reflecting-on-kurt-cobains-crystalline-understanding-25-years-later. Accessed 8 Oct. 2019.

Phull, Hardeep. "‘He Was Not a Victim’: Doc Shows Cobain’s Struggle with Fame." New York Post, 20 Apr. 2015, nypost.com/2015/04/18/what-the-new-kurt-cobain-doc-leaves-out-of-the-story/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2019.

Soaked In Bleach. Directed by Benjamin Statley, Perf. Tyler Ryan, Daniel Roebuck, August Emerson, Sarah Scott, Jerry Hauck, Julie Lancaster, Cyril Wecht . 2015. Montani Production, 2015.

Strauss, Neil. "Kurt Cobain's Downward Spiral and Last Days." Rolling Stone – Music, Film, TV and Political News Coverage, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kurt-cobains-downward-spiral-the-last-days-of-nirvanas-leader-99797/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2019.