By BELLA PAPPAS
Sheridan High School Student
This column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School dual-credit program students and Human Services teacher Abby Williams.
Kurt Donald Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Wash., on February 20, 1967, to parents Wendy and Donald Cobain.
In 1987, Cobain started a band by the name of Nirvana as the lead singer and guitarist with Chad Channing as the drummer and Krist Novoselic as the bassist. Their first album, Bleach, was released in 1989, but Nirvana’s claim to fame did not come until 1991 with the release of their breakthrough album titled Nevermind. The hit single “Smells like Teen Spirit,” became an anthem for many young people in the 90s and was largely responsible for the grunge movement.
Fame came very quickly for the members of Nirvana, now including Dave Grohl, their new drummer. Many stars turn to substance abuse to cope with the stress of fame, which was the case for Cobain. On April 5, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his Washington home with a shotgun nearby. Kurt Cobain’s death was officially ruled as a suicide, but I believe he was murdered.
Like many, I believe Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain’s wife, was the one who set up his murder.
In early 1994, rumors started circulating about Cobain wanting to divorce Love. In most cases, this wouldn’t have been a big deal – celebrities get married and divorced every day. The only problem for Love, though, was that she had signed a prenuptial agreement with Cobain when they got married. This means she wouldn’t receive as much money from the divorce. It shows Love’s potential motive for facilitating Cobain’s murder: money. Even though Love was famous in her own right, I think she was possessive and money-hungry.
According to Love and Death, a book written by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin, Cobain was in rehab for a period of time before his death, but he escaped by climbing over a wall. Once he got out, he disappeared for a few days.
Meanwhile, Love was concerned about Cobain’s whereabouts and decided to hire private investigator Tom Grant to spy on him. Even before getting in touch with Grant, though, Love decided to cancel all of Cobain’s access to money, including debit and credit cards. She then called the credit card company to get ahold of his purchase records within the last couple of days, which included two airline tickets. Love was not able to see where Cobain was trying to go, just how much money he had spent on the tickets.
This is where Grant comes in: Love tried to persuade him to hack into the airline system and see where her husband was flying to. Grant refused and told Love he wouldn’t do anything illegal.
I think this behavior is a little excessive, and it shows how possessive Love really was of Cobain and his money. If you’re trying to find your husband, I think the first thing you should do is call the police, not cancel all his access to money.
In 2014, it was also revealed that a note was found in Cobain’s wallet, separate from his formal suicide note. This note mocked Cobain and Love’s marriage, saying Love just wanted to buy drugs. I think this insight into Cobain’s mind proves that Love didn’t necessarily have good intentions when marrying him.