Nirvana



Complete bio thingy

Kurt Donald Cobain is born to Wendy and Donald Cobain on February 20, 1967, in a small town 140 kilometers south west of Seattle called Hoquaim. His mother a cocktail waitress and his father an auto mechanic. They soon moved to another small, but nicer town known as Aberdeen. A very depressed and dying logging town. (This is where Kurt’s future band would be started). His father soon got a job at the local lumber mill counting logs. While his mother stayed home to take care of her children.

At the early age of 2, Kurt started to show an interest in music. His mother not surprised, because her side of the family were musically talented. Kurt’s aunt Mary tried to teach him to play guitar, but he can’t stay still for a long time, because he was to hyper. The doctors prescribed a drug called Ritalin for Kurt. It would keep him awake till 4 in the morning sometimes. Wendy decided to get Kurt a drumset. So she and Donald went and got a mickey mouse drumset for him. Every day after school, Kurt would come home and beat the hell out it. Till one day it just broke. Kurt would sometimes go over to his uncle Chuck’s place and Chuck would put him in the basement, give him a microphone, and he would tape Kurt singing.

Kurt’s mom made sure he and his sister, Kim, looked good for school. She’d make sure their hair was combed and their teeth was always clean. She’d dress them in the nicest clothes she could afford. Kurt says him mom always told him not to hang around the poor kids, because she didn’t people to think they were poor also. Kurt used to pick on this one kid who smelled like pee. He eventually stopped, because he figured the smelly kid was probably cooler than anybody else. Kurt’s house was in the middle of the trashiest neighborhood, but it was the nicest. His father made sure of that. He installed wall-to-wall carpeting, fake-brick fireplace and made sure the outside looked good. Kurt described his house as white-trash posing as middle-class.

When Kurt was around 7 or 8 his idol was Evel Knievel. He too wanted to be a stuntman when he grew up. While going through this phase Kurt would often go inside and take all the blankets and pillows he could find, take them outside and spread it out on the deck. He would climb onto the roof and jump off onto the padded platform he had made. Once he found a piece of metal, attached firecrackers to it, duct-taped it to his chest, and then lit the firecrackers off. He soon realized he didn’t want to be a stuntman anymore.

When Kurt was 8, his mother decided to divorce Don. She says she did it, because he was never around to spend time with his family. He would always be off playing sports, coaching teams, or refereeing some kind of activity. Kurt took the divorce very severely. It hurt so bad that he hated his parents afterwards. Mostly his father though. He was ashamed that his parents split up. This made Kurt shy and not as outgoing as he had once been.

His mom got remarried to a guy named Pat O’conner, and his father also got remarried. (I don’t know the name of her though). She had kids of her own. While Kurt was staying with his father, he didn’t get along with the others. Especially his new mom. He soon realized that his father was paying more attention to his step kids than he was to his own son. Don had made Kurt join the junior high wrestling team. Kurt liked it a little and he was good at it too. During a championship match, to get back at his dad, to piss him off, he would let his oppenent pin him. Then he’d look at his dad and give him a smile. His dad left imediately. Kurt had embarassed him. His little plan worked. Kurt’s teenage years consisted mostly of moving back and fourth from his mother’s house to his father’s house constantly. He even had lived with some of his uncle’s and aunt’s houses and he even lived with his grandparents for a short time. This meant he had to keep switching schools. Kurt would get into trouble for vandalism, into trouble with his mom for drugs, into trouble with the police for spray-painting God is gay on the side of a truck. He was fined $180. While living with his mom, Kurt found a friend. His name was Myer Loftin. Loftin would often spend the night at Kurt’s house on the weekends and party. One time Kurt’s mom came home from a party of her own and she caught the two smoking pot. Trying to scare them out of smoking pot in the future, she ate their stash. She was high and sick the rest of the night. (It didn’t scare them, cause they kept smoking it). Loftin eventually told Kurt that he was gay. It didn’t bother Kurt though. Until he started to get beat up in the locker room after phys. ed. He took the crap for a little while, but he soon afterwards found Loftin and told him he couldn’t be his friend anymore. Loftin understood completely.

During Kurt’s freshman year he became a stoner. Every day after school he would get stoned every night. This continued all through his high school career. One reason why he became a stoner was, because he was always around them. He didn’t like the jock type. So he’d hang around the stoners. Even though he didn’t like them all that much. The jocks were always trying to get Kurt to join their little group, but Kurt wouldn’t. The only reason they wanted to hang around him was, because all the girls thought he was cute and the jocks figured if they’d hang around him the girls would want them. But Kurt wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. With 2 weeks left till Kurt’s high school graduation he realized he had to many credits to make up, so he dropped out of school. When his mother learned of this she told him he had better get a job or he had to leave. Kurt didn’t believe her. About a week later, returning home from a friend’s house, Kurt found his stuff in boxes on the dining room floor. He had to leave. He stayed with friends, he even snuck into his mom’s attic a couple of times to sleep, snuck onto the deck, stayed in an unocupied apartment above Krist’s mom’s hair design shop and he even slept underneath a bridge that looked over the Wishkah river. He lived off fish and sometimes when he visited his mom she made him lunch, because he felt bad about putting him on the streets to live. While living on his own, Kurt severely burned his hand on french frie grease while making french fries. He rushed over to his mom’s house and she took him to the hospital. The doctor there said he would never be able to play guitar again. Wendy didn’t believe it. So she took him to a specialist at the Gray’s Harbour College nursing progam. She would change his bandages twice a day. His hand finally recovered untill you could hardly tell there was a scare there.

All through high school Kurt dreamed of starting his own band. He found some people and many drummers and name changes later they came up with the one every one would soon fall in love with.

Kurt and NIRVANA (Kurt[lead guitar-vocals], Krist Novoselic[bassist], Chad Channing[drums]) became known through their album Bleach. It did good for record sales, but the best part was they started to get noticed by people. They started playing at gigs, and they did a US tour. They hired another guitarist by the name of Jason Everman, because Kurt didn’t think he could handle singing and playing guitar at the same time. He realized he could and after the tour they fired Everman. NIRVANA quit with their record label Subpop and they resigned with David Geffen Company. Then they made the album that would revolutionize the music industry...Nevermind. It went platinum a while after its release. Smells Like Teen Spirit would later become known as the anthem for all teenagers. SLTS hit #1 on the Billboard music chart in 14 weeks. NIRVANA would later release 4 more successful albums. Incesticide, In Utero, Unplugged In New York and From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah. Upon receiving In Utero, Geffen said is that it! Or something like that. They hated it. They told NIRVANA that they would be committing career suicide if they were to release it the way it was. So off they went back to the recording studio to remix some of the songs. After its release people fell in love with it.

Kurt and Courtney (Love) get married in Waikiki, Hawaii on February 24, 1992. Kurt wearing pajamas and Courtney wearing an old dress once owned by the actor Frances Farmer. On August 18, 1992, Frances Bean Cobain is born. She is named after a member of the Vaseline’s.....not Frances Farmer, but Kurt afterwards says he wishes he would have named her after Farmer. Bean came from the shape she appeared in a sonogram.

On March 4, 1994, Kurt is hospitalized comatose. He had overdosed on champagne and tranquilizers backstage before a show. Some say it was an accident, others say it was a suicide attempt. (I think it was an accident. He was just having fun and he went a little overboard). When he awakened from the coma he asks for a milkshake. Almost a month later Kurt was admitted into Exodus Rehabilitation Center for his heroin addiction. He stayed there for a couple of days, then he just decided couldn’t stay there any more. So he jumped the fence and went to his cottage over looking Lake Washington. On April 8, 1994, Gary Smith, an electrician, went to the cottage for repairs and he finds Kurt’s body on the floor with a shotgun next to it. He calls the police and the police report states that Kurt died of a self inflicted gunshot wound. That was the tragic ending to music history, but we can keep NIRVANA alive by listening to them and hearing what Kurt has to say in his lyrics. There will never be any band that even comes close to NIRVANA.

Some believe it was suicide. Some people think it was murder. Personally I believe suicide. You could tell it was coming through his lyrics and music, but most people ignored it. Just remember, It’s better to burn out than to fade away. NIRVANA was, NIRVANA does, NIRVANA will always be will until the end.

---www.nirvanaclub.com---



Weird Facts

~There have been 2 other bands called Nirvana, one was a group from the early
sixties who had one minor hit, and the other is a Christian band from the early
80's who tried to sue them.

~Courtney was married in an old dress of Francis Farmer's

~Frances was not named after Francis Farmer, but after a member of the
Vaselines. Kurt says he'd wished he'd thought of naming her after
Farmer.

~Frances's middle name comes from the shape she appeared in a sonogram (bean).
A picture of the sonogram appears on the cover of the Lithium single on
the left side.

~Stay Away was originally called 'Pay To Play' and was recorded at that. A last
minute change of taste caused the change.

~In Utero went through 2 name changes. It was originally to be called 'I hate
myself and want to die' and then later 'Verse-Chorus-Verse'. Both of these
are songs from the In Utero sessions.

~The pictures in the Incesticide liner are (from l to r):
Kurt, Krist, Dave, Dale Crover, Chad Channing, Dan Peters

~The morning of the New Music Seminar 7/23/93, Kurt od'd on heroin,
Courtney injected him with an illegal drug used to wake people
who've od'd on heroin. He went onstage and performed. No one knew
the difference.

~The rights for 'Never Fade Away: The Kurt Cobain Story' were sold
to Paradigm Talent, who plan to make a movie. Cobain's family prevented
Azerrad from selling the rights to his stunning AUTHORIZED biography
'Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana'.

~Where did the title for Smells Like Teen Spirit come from? the deodorant?
One day Kurt and a friend were having a discussion about teenage revolution,
they later got drunk and his friend wrote on the wall 'Kurt smells like
teen spirit', Kurt was inspired, he thought she meant he would be
the type of person who could incite a teen rebellion. He went and wrote the
song. She thought that he just smelled like the deodorant. Kurt hadn't heard
of the deodorant at the time, he claims to have rarely used it himself.

~What about Rape Me?
Kurt always insisted that it wasn't aimed at the media, but one line
of the song is directed toward the Vanity Fair article and it's author,
Lynn Hirschberg. 'My favorite inside source', Lynn claimed to have gotten
the info that Courtney did heroin the whole time of her pregnance from
'an inside source'. The song itself is a song of justice (as Kurt put it),
A guy rapes a girl, goes to prison, and is raped there.

~Is it Kurt, Kurdt, Curt...etc...?
It is spelled Kurt, the odd spelling Kurdt came from when they recorded
'Mexican Seafood' for the Teriyaki Asthma compilation. When it came time
to make the album, they realized that they didn't know Kurt's name
so they got ahold of someone who 'thought they knew' and it went from there.
Incidentally, the people at Caroline records (who put out the Teriyaki
Asthma compilation) received no money for the appearance of 'Mexican Seafood'
on Incesticide because they didn't bother with a contract cuz they didn't
see much of a future for Nirvana.

~What's the deal between Kurt and Axl?
Axl had asked Kurt to join them on their huge tour. Kurt declined.
Later Axl asked Kurt to play at his 30th birthday party. Kurt declined.

~This is from 'The Advocate' Feb 03 1993. Kurt was asked 2 questions about
Guns and Roses.
Q: Is there anything about Guns N' Roses' music you like?
A: I can't think of a damn thing. I can't even waste my time on that band,
because they're so obviously pathetic and untalented. I used to think that
everything in the mainstrteam pop world was crap, but now that some
underground bands have been signed with majors, I take Guns N' Roses as
more of an offense. I have to look into it more: They're really
talentless people, and they write crap music, and they're the most popular
rock band on the earth right now. I can't believe it.

Q: Didn't Axl Rose say something nasty to you at the MTV Video Music
Awards in September?
A: They actually tried to beat us up. Courtney and I were with the baby
in the eating area backstage, and Axl walked by. So Courtney yelled,
"Axl! Axl, come over here!" We just wanted to say hi to him--we think
he's a joke, but we just wanted to say something to him. So I said,
"Will you be the godfather of our child?" I don't know what had
happened before that to piss him off, but he took his aggressions
out on us and began screaming bloody murder.
These were his words: "You shut your bitch up, or I'm taking you down
to the pavement." [laughs] Everyone around us just burst out into tears of
laughter. She wasn't even saying anything mean, you know? So I turned to
Courtney and said, "Shut up, bitch!" And everyone laughed and he left.
So I guess I did what he wanted me to do--be a man. [laughs]

~Kurt told this story to the crowd at the Portland OR 9/10/92 concert, try
to get it if you can.

~What went on with the Vanity Fair article?
Vaity Fair wrote an article about Courtney and her drug use. They twisted
the facts and got the Cobains into alot of trouble. Kurt was asked
2 questions about it.
Once again this is taken from 'The Advocate' Feb 03 1994.
Kurt: I've never read an article that was more convincing yet more
ridiculous in my life. Everybody from our record label to our management
to our closest friends believed that shit.
She [Hirschberg] did a really good job of taking a piece of what
Courtney had said and turning it into something completely different.
I've seen that happen before--it's happened with me alot of times--but this
was such an extreme and done so well that I have to give her credit.
She's a master at being catty.

Q: What about the drug use?
A: Courtney was honest about the heroin excursion we went on for a few
months. Then Courtney found herself pregnant, realized she was pregnant
and had a drug problem, and got off drugs. It's as simple as that.
But it made it look like eight months after the fact, Courtney was still
nine months pregnant and still doing drugs and everyone was really
concerned. Like there was some awful den of iniquity going on in our
apartment. I looked really skinny. Well, I am a skinny person, and
I gain ten pounds every time I'm photographed, so peopel assume I'm this
chunky, normal weight person.
I'm just so tired of talking about this. We have to live with the
resuslts of this one article every fucking day. It's something we have to
deal with all the time.

The results of thie article were that there was an investigation into
the Cobains that resulted in Francis being taken away for some time
(Courtney's sister took care of her). They finally got custody back
after being able to prove they were good parents.

www.nirvanaclub.com


Song meanings

Bleach - The band was in California, andthey saw some people in a disease control campaign encouraging people tobleach their used needles to sterilize them. The joke was that bleach wasgoing to become an invaluable commodity. Produced:Jack Endino Drums: Chad Channing (unless otherwise noted)

Blew - The whole song conveys themes of entrapment

Floyd the Barber - A song about a small town that goes bad, thetitle is taken from a character on The Andy Griffith Show. Everyone turnsout to be a mass-murderer. The song also shows Freudian castration fears- Drums: Dale Crover

About A Girl - A song written for Kurt's girlfriend Tracy, shethreatened to kick him out if he didn't get a job

School - A song about the incestous Seattle Scene. The bandsseem to resemble high school cliques

Love Buzz - A cover song from the group Shocking Bluefrom the Netherlands

Paper Cuts - Part of the lyrics are based on a true story ofa family that Kurt was acquainted with, who locked their children in aroom. Other lyrics have to deal with parents, and neglect. - Drums:Dale Crover

Negative Creep - the first person narrative from an antisocialperson

Scoff - A song that's directed towards the people who didn'tbelieve in Kurt's musical aspirations

Swap Meet - A battle of the sexes put in the background of aSunday swap meet

Mr. Moustache - Speaks out against the stereotypical male machoimage

Sifting - seems to take on authority figures with it's mentionof preachers and teachers

Big Cheese - This song is written about Sub Pop man JonathanPoneman and the pressures he put on the band

Downer - Kurt's attempt at a political song. - Drums:Dale Crover

Nevermind - Not caring about anything, a“whatever happens, happens” attitude. - Produced: Butch Vig Drums:Dave Grohl

Smells Like Teen Spirit - An attack on the apathy of our owngeneration

In Bloom - An attack on people who listen to certain music forthe wrong reason. Imagine the macho, gun toting guy who sings along toNirvana, but has no clue what he's singing about

Come As You Are - A song full of contradictions on how we actversus how we think society thinks we should act

Breed - Growing up and being trapped by Middle Class America

Lithium - A first person narrative of a nervous breakdown, oran update of the Marxist description of religion as 'Opiate of the masses'.An ode to disconnection

Polly - Based on the actual kidnapping of a 14 year old girland her torture

Territorial Pissings - Multi-themed song that attacks macho men

Drain You - A song about (plainly and simply) love. Highly medicaltheme

Lounge Act - A song about having a certain vision and being smotheredby a relationship

Stay Away - An attack on any conformist clique

On A Plain - Many small lines of poetry having multi themes

Something in the Way - A song about Kurt's experiences livingunder a bridge when he was kicked out of home

Endless, Nameless - Previously called “The Noise Jam.” An experimentalsong created when one of the takes on Lithium (Territorial Pissings accordingto Guitar World) went bad

Incesticide - The killing of incestous people

Dive - Produced: Butch Vig Drums: Chad Channing

Sliver - A semi-biographical song about being deserted by yourparents - Produced: Jack Endino Drums: Dan Peters

Stain - Produced: Steve Fisk Drums: Chad Channing

Been A Son - Song about a girl whose parents wanted a boy - Produced:Miti Adhikari Drums: Dave Grohl

Turnaround - Cover of a Devo song - Produced: DaleGriffin Drums: Dave Grohl

Molly's Lips - Cover of a Vaselines song - Produced:Dale Griffin Drums: Dave Grohl

Son of a Gun - Cover of a Vaselines song - Produced:Dale Griffin Drums: Dave Grohl

(New Wave) Polly - Faster recording of Nevermind's “Polly”- Produced: Miti Adhikari Drums: Dave Grohl

Beeswax - Seems to be about sexuality and confusion. Also speaksof the objectification of women in society - Produced: Jack EndinoDrums: Chad Channing

Downer - see Bleach - Produced: Jack Endino Drums:Dale Crover

Mexican Seafood - Some people seem to believe this is about ayeast infection. Mostly likely another one of Kurt's songs where he justthrows a bunch of lyrics together - Produced: Jack Endino Drums:Chad Channing

Hairspray Queen - Produced: Jack Endino Drums:Chad Channing

Aero Zeppelin - Produced: Jack Endino Drums: ChadChanning

Big Long Now - Produced: Jack Endino Drums: ChadChanning

Aneurysm - Possibly about shooting heroin - Produced:Miti Adhikari Drums: Dave Grohl

In Utero - Literally means “in or of theuterus,” it's their most underdeveloped studio effort, making it somewhatlike a fetus still being in the womb. - Produced: Steve Albini Drums:Dave Grohl

Serve the Servants - An autobiographical song about the wholeNirvana experience, the 'witch hunt' on Courtney Love, and a sarcasticresponse to the emphasis placed on the divorce of Kurt's parents

Scentless Apprentice - Based on the novel “Perfume” by PatrickSuskind, about a perfume maker who kills virgins for their scent

Heart-Shaped Box - Themes of co-dependancy and many other themes

Rape me - In Kurt's words, the song is a sort of poetic justice.A guy rapes a girl, he ends up in jail, and is raped there

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle - A song aboutthe story of Frances Farmer, who was declared insane and lobotomized

Dumb - Ignorance is bliss. There is a certain care-free happinessinvolved in being dumb. Drug related themes dominate the song

Very Ape - An attack on the stereotypical macho man

Milk It - A song about co-dependancy, it heavily carries themedical theme

Pennyroyal Tea - A song about making a tough decision and thedifficult choices around it and the guilt following it. Pennyroyal Teais an abortive substance

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter - According to Kurt this song isa throwaway. A bunch of random poetry lines thrown together. The titleis a reference to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and it's slick, radio-friendlysound

tourette's - This song has no meaning at all. Kurt just screamedalot. Based on tourette's syndrome, which causes one to shout out obscenitiesat any time

All Apologies - Contrary to popular belief, this song is notabout Francis and Courtney. He wrote it for them, but none of the lyricsreally apply

Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip [Import version]- More or less, a poem to words. This is an improv-style song

Miscellaneous



Suicide note

Krist Novoselic's site

The Grunge Attitude NIRVANA Site
Complete Nirvana
Nirvana Another Rule
VERY NIRVANA
Grunge aint Dead
Cobain memorial thing


H-O-M-E