Kurt Cobain was a revolutionary grunge rock artist from the 90s band Nirvana. He was the face of the grunge alternative scene with his rough and unpolished sense of fashion and the dragging voice in his music. The worldwide sensation was always open about how he did not care for fame. Once Kurt Cobain mentioned that “There’s nothing more embarrassing than a group of people walking up to you and shaking and clambering like you're some kind of god or something. It's embarrassing,” (Edgewater Hotel Interview 1). In the same interview, he also touched on how Nirvana’s label and even a few friends were not fans of their next album, In Utero, but it did not matter because the band loved it (1).
One of the most significant qualities Kurt Cobain had was how easygoing he was. Media and press would often make assumptions about him based on his lyrics, but in an interview, Cobain explained that:
People think and try to put too much meaning into my lyrics. A lot of times my lyrics are just made at the last second cause I’m really lazy and then I find myself having to make explanations for it...there may be one or two lines in a song here and there, but I swear to god bro it’s really not that much as it seems (1).
His easygoing personality even transferred over into his lifestyle. Close friend Dylan Carlson told Tom Grant that Kurt, “hates nice hotels and stays in cheap ones,” The iconic artist did not have a taste for luxury.
Cobain's internal conflict behind his actions and interactions has a lot of speculation because of his shy nature. His spouse Courtney Love described Cobain to the private investigator, Tom Grant, whom she hired as “...helpless. He doesn’t have any friends. You don’t understand this guy can’t even catch a f***ing cab by himself if he wanted to” (Soaked in Bleach 1). Courtney Love made it known to the police, Tom Grant, and the press that she believed her husband was a danger to himself. Although, when Grant started talking to other people close to Kurt, he did not receive the same description. According to one of his best friends, Dylan Carlson, “Kurt was not at all suicidal. He was handling everything pretty well; you know him and Courtney have been having trouble lately. I don’t know why Kurt married her,” (1).
Kurt Cobain’s drug addiction and history was never a secret. This was an internal struggle he had with himself which eventually affected his family and career. Towards the end of his life, Cobain was in a rehabilitation center recovering so he could work on himself and to be a good father to his daughter Francis Bean Cobain. His addiction ended up affecting his career when magazines and news started to recognize and report when the artist would come to interviews clearly high (1).
As an international celebrity, Kurt Cobain naturally had external conflicts. His and Courtney Love’s relationship issues were almost public knowledge. A few weeks before Cobain’s death, Love called her lawyer Rosemary Caroll and asked if she could find “the meanest and most vicious divorce lawyer.” Carroll also recalls Love asking if there would be any way to ignore the prenup during the divorce. Around the same time, Kurt Cobain called Carroll asking her to take Courtney out of his will. (1) The couple clearly had issues that were evident, especially because of the difference in the success their bands received.
It can be argued that nobody truly knew Kurt Cobain. Few people could describe who he was as a person and the others who claimed they could often have differing traits to explain.
