Nirvanas
lead singer Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8th, 1994.
With a gunshot wound to the head and a bloodstream full of three times the
legal dose of heroin, Cobain was labeled as committing suicide, but was he the
one who pulled the trigger or injected such a lethal dose? Was his wife and
mother of his daughter, Courtney Love, behind the death and just used his drug
addiction and suicidal mind to trick the media and cover herself? Or was it the
rock and roll lifestyle and the hard drugs that left Cobain empty and worthless
which drove him to over dose and lose sight of living? Let’s go in detail on
the events leading up to Kurt Cobain’s death to discover if Courtney Love was
behind the “suicide” the whole time.
Character
Analysis
A
talented yet troubled singer was born on February 20, 1967. Kurt Donald Cobain
grew up in a small town where he lived a troubled life. His parents had a
stormy marriage in which lead them to a divorce when he was nine years old.
Cobain lived his youth going from one relative’s house to the next. “At to his
father’s urging, Cobain also played little league baseball”(Biography.com), but
his true passion was drawing and music. Even from as early as kindergarten,
Cobain’s art skill was advanced. As he grew, so did his talent. Attending high
school in Aberdeen, his teachers were impressed by his talents. Cobain’s
drawings were unusual to the normal eye. For example, “one of his drawings was
a sperm transforming into an embryo” (Cross). As his high school years
progressed, his relationships with his mother and father became alienated and
his character and values became dark allowing his life to change into that typical
rock and roll lifestyle.
With troubles comes a need for an outlet. For Cobain, not
only was music the key, but also drugs, alcohol, and that “whatever happens,
happens” mentality. He began that dark path in his high school years. It
dragged on all the way until his death. In his early years, Cobain was arrested
for graffiti and public intoxication which were all idiotic choices that were
made with friends. He also began to experiment with drugs with his friends, but
soon he would rely on them as his music career began to flourish. Later in life
when his music became more serious, he began to feel more pressure and used
drugs as a get-away. He began using heroin in the 1980s and it “intensified
once he began a romantic relationship in 1991 with fellow alternative rocker
Courtney Love of Hole” (Rolling Stone). Cobain was thrusted into the spotlight
and the high life which he wasn’t so thrilled by. He poured his emotions into
his music, which came across depressed and was fueled by his personal anger. In
all, he was struggling with the aspects of his lifestyle which was explained in
a personal quote he once spoke, “If my eyes could show my soul, everyone would
cry when they saw me smile”(Kurt Cobain).
Another factor in Cobain’s death was his relationships in
his life which caused him to be less dependent on others. Cobain grew up with
parents who had an unhealthy relationship which lead them to split. This
allowed him to view relationships as more negative than positive. He grew apart
from his father due to his re-marriage, his mother began drinking a lot, which
caused fights and abandonment. His one true love, Courtney Love, also came with
a few hiccups: “…police were summoned to the couple’s home on numerous
occasions for incidents involving drugs and weapons, and Cobain was charged at
one point with domestic abuse” (Rolling Stone). But, with his band members,
things were different. To describe how living with Cobain was, Grohl, the band’s
drummer, said “Living with Kurt was funny. He isolated himself in a lot of
ways, emotionally. But he had a genuine, sweet nature. He never intentionally
made you feel uncomfortable” (Grohl).
Cobain’s relationships were different due to the situation he was in
with that individual. For example, Cobain and Courtney Love had a difficult
relationship due to custody battles over their daughter, and constant fighting
that was usually fueled by alcohol and drugs. When Kurt was in the environment
of music with his band in which he loved, he was nothing but joyous and
spirited due to music being his true passion.
Cobain lived a troubled life with relationships and drug
and alcohol abuse. Those two components made up a huge part in his life. You
could feel all is suffering within his songs, “Thank you for the tragedy. I
need it for my art.” A life full of dark times which lead to an even darker
death.
Conspiracy
Descriptions (Includes Survey Results)
The
unsuspected death of Kurt Cobain had three possible theories describing how the
singer’s life ended. One of the theories suggests that Cobain and his rock and
roll lifestyle had caught up to him and there was only one way out. The other
two theories bring in his crazed wife Courtney Love who in turn had her
problems with Cobain himself.
The
first conspiracy theory on Cobain’s death involved his drug addiction and
“unstable” mind. Months before he had passed he was on a tour. His pit stop in
Rome was eventful between Cobain and Love. Cobain had taken an excessive amount
of Rohypnol and was found unconscious on the floor by Love. Beside him was a
note that read “You don’t love me anymore. I’d rather die than go through a
divorce”(Black Bag). The media categorized it as a suicide attempt but after
the incident Cobain sought out for help. After returning home Cobain began with
a change in attitude. He was interviewed by Everett True who described him as
more upbeat, "Although it's no secret that in the past Kurt Cobain has
taken drugs, sometimes to excess, the last time we met (in Seattle, last
December -1993), he seemed completely 'clean.' That is, he was clean,
optimistic and happier than he'd been for years”(True). After Cobain left the
Exodus Recovery Center in Marina Del Rey, he was able to get his hands on a
shotgun and a couple cartridges of ammunition from his friend Dylan Carlson.
Cobain explained to him that it was going to be used for intruders but Carlson
had a different view,” It seemed kind of weird that he was buying the shotgun
before he was leaving” (Black Bag).The theory unfolds to the points that he was
free out of recovery and began his drug abuse again and his acquiring of a
shotgun lead to the suicide. But, with further investigation sparked other
speculations about Cobain’s death.
The
second conspiracy suggests that Courtney Love used his drug abuse to fuel
Cobain’s downhill spiral. Love tended to feed the media accusations about
Cobain’s depression and drug abuse. She made it seem very inhumane especially
after the Rome incident, “"...There was a definite suicidal urge, to be
gobbling and gobbling and gobbling” (Rolling Stone). The relationship between
the two was very toxic as well. After Cobain was released from the recovery center
it was said that he was going to leave his wife in Seattle. Love knew he wanted
a divorce and she even asked one of her attorneys to get the “meanest, most
vicious lawyer”(Cobain Case). To most, it sounded like Cobain was trying to
escape. Around the murder scene was a letter written by Cobain to Love
explaining his love for her but his reasoning on why he had to go. The theory
suggests that love was the one fueling Cobain’s death my incorporating such a
negative lifestyle. But, the last accusation suggest that she played a greater
role is his death.
The
last conspiracy theory states that Cobain’s death was not so much a suicide but
a murder scene. As many knew at that time, Cobain and Love were expecting a
divorce once he got out of the recovery center and he was set to leave his
daughter and Courtney in Seattle. Due to this Love took this matter into her
own hands. At the murder scene there was quite a load of evidence on how Love
was the one who killed Cobain. At the time of his death, Cobain had been
injected with three times the lethal dose of heroin where the effects should be
death or little to no motor skills. The question was, could Cobain be able to
pick up the shotgun to even attempt to kill himself and the answer is no,
“Based on the heroin, (morphine), blood levels found in Cobain's body,
preliminary research indicates Kurt Cobain would have been almost immediately
incapacitated. He could not have picked up that shotgun”(Grant). The second
piece of evidence is that the shotgun was loaded with three bullets which
unlike just holding one bullet looks more of the shotgun being used as
protection like Cobain had stated. The shotgun had no fingerprints on it and
neither did the pen in which he wrote the letter placed by his dead body. The
letter also seemed to have a different point of pressure where Cobain wrote and
where Love added a few sentences, “The ink printed line of that one critical
comment, ("which will be so much happier without me"), are thinner
than all of the ink printed lines in the rest of the note. At the very least,
this indicates that line was added after the rest of the note was completed.
The pressure from the hand using the pen to add that line was not consistent
with the pressure from the hand that wrote the body of the note”(Grant). What
is suspected is that Love was the one who injected Cobain and shot him with the
shotgun. Then she arranged the murder scene to where it looked like more of a
suicide.
Cobain was said to be getting back on his feet after
leaving the recovery center in Marina Del Rey, but the only negative component
still in his life was his wife. The lethal dose of heroin and scripted murder
scene all seem to add up that Love was behind the death of one of the world’s
greatest musicians at the time. The last words stated by Cobain was in a note,
some say a suicide note but after further investigation this was said, “The
police report states it was "apparently written by Cobain to his wife and
daughter, explaining why he had killed himself. But this note was not addressed
to Kurt's wife and daughter and it says nothing about "killing himself".
This note was clearly written to Cobain's fans telling them he was quitting the
music business. There was only a short footnote to Courtney and Frances and the
handwriting contained in those lines has been questioned by several handwriting
experts.” (Frances) The pieces of a suicide story don’t seem to add up. The
whole death of Kurt Cobain seemed to be pushed under the rug due to the mystery
of the unexpected event that is full of lies.
A
poll of 20 people was taken on the best accusation of Cobain’s death. 55% agreed
that Cobain was murdered by Courtney Love. When I asked their reasoning, most
said that the murder scene evidence seemed to have been manipulated to cover up
a possible murder and make the death of a legend a “suicide”.
The
death of Kurt Cobain affected many who followed the great musician and the
people involved in making all that happen, but the truth behind the matter is
still not clear, even till this day.
On
April 5th, 1994 Kurt Cobain passed away. His friends, family, and band members
were all in distraught about the singer’s death but his final moments didn’t
add up leading to three conspiracy theories:
1. He wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger or injected such a
lethal dose into his veins
2. His wife, Courtney Love, used Cobain’s drug addiction and
low self of steam to trick the media to cover up her dirty work
3. The rock and roll lifestyle caught up to Cobain and he took
his own life
Kurt
Cobain’s death has been an ongoing case that has been opened and closed over
the years but the truth still remains a mystery.
Works Cited
"Case
Outline - The Kurt Cobain Murder Investigation by Tom Grant." Case Outline
- The Kurt Cobain Murder Investigation by Tom Grant. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov.
2016.
Childers, Chad.
"Dave Grohl Remembers Last Conversation With Kurt Cobain." Loudwire.
Loudwire, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.
Conaboy, Kelly. "How
Did Kurt Cobain Really Die?" Black Bag. N.p., 10 Mar. 2015. Web.
"Kurt Cobain
Biography" Bio.com.
"Kurt Cobain
Biography." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.
"Kurt Cobain Dead 20
Years: Top 5 Conspiracy Theories You Haven't Heard." Heavy.com. N.p., 08
Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
"Kurt Cobain Update:
New Clues Emerge in Police Review of Iconic Rocker's Suicide File."
CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
"The 50 Best Kurt
Cobain Quotes - Curated Quotes." Curated Quotes. N.p., 10 Feb. 2015. Web.
31 Oct. 2016.
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