Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love first met in 1989 at a Nirvana gig in Portland, Oregon. It may not have been love at first sight, but there was definitely signs of attraction. In fact, Courtney admitted that she was immediately attracted to Kurt. This may have been the case, but the pair didn't get together for another two years when they met again in 1991, after Dave Grohl, being a friend of Courtney, had introduced them to eachother. They both realized the attraction was still mutual, and they decided to hang out together.
But as many other relationships in the rock 'n' roll industry, constant touring took it's toll, and as Nirvana became more and more popular and public demand increased during 1991, the two saw very little of eachother. But they maintained their love by speaking frequently on the phone, and tried to join up as often as they could. Nothing could keep them from loving eachother.
In December 1991, the pair decided to marry. Some still see the whole marriage as being pushed forward by Courtney because she saw the increasing popularity of Nirvana's Nevermind album, and wanted a piece of the cake. But it is a known fact that Kurt always looked more content when Courtney was around.
On February 24th 1992, the pair married at a cliff on Hawaii. Kurt was wearing a pajamas, and Courtney was wearing an old dress that once belonged to Seattle actress Frances Farmer. Kurt didn't want it to be a big ceremony, as he was afraid he would cry. Krist Novoselic and his wife Shelli did not come to the ceremony, as the two pairs had just had a dispute because of Krist and Shelli thinking Kurt was still using heroin heavily, thinking it was majorly because Courtney had a bad influence on him. They cleared everything up after the wedding, but because of that feud, Kurt's best friend did not come to his wedding. By the way, Kurt did cry.
As Nirvana were to play Saturday Night Live for the first time (they played it twice), Courtney found out she was pregnant. The media had decided a long time ago that they would highlight on the pairs drug habits, and it was only the discovery of her pregnancy that drove Courtney to quit, Kurt however, continued. A while after that, Courtney became the victim of the worst tabloid article ever on the pair; Lynn Hirschberg of Vanity Fair decided that she would tear Courtney apart, write a lousy shit article on her and the pair's heroin use, and make the their life a living hell.
After the article, which had featured a heavily pregnant Courtney smoking a cigarette, Social Security started their own vendetta against the couple. "Fuck you, everybody smokes during pregnancy", Courtney excused herself. The fact that all of the info that was published in the article came from "inside sources" without given names didn't seem to matter for the Social Securities.
Frances Bean Cobain was born August 18th 1992. Social Security took her away from Kurt and Courtney, although the baby looked very well and was as healthy as it could be. The pair spent most of their income that year to fight against Social Security to get custody of Frances. They wouldn't get her home until some time before Christmas 1992.
Frances had a very happy childhood. Kurt and Courtney took good care of her. But after everything that had happened, the pair's reputation started sinking. They also started fighting a lot more, almost every day. Kurt called it arguments, but as time passed by, it seemed like not even Courtney or Frances, the two persons he loved the most in life, could keep him happy.
On March 1st 1994, Nirvana played their last ever show at Terminal Einz, in Munich, Germany. The rest of the European tour got canceled, and Kurt and Courtney went on vacation. Later that month, Kurt got rushed to hospital in Rome after OD'ing on sleeping pills and champagne. "It was an accident" the Geffen PRs claimed, but those who knew Kurt knew it wasn't. On April 4th it was all over. Kurt had escaped from detoxing in Los Angeles and flew back to Seattle and his home. For unknown reasons, probably depression and stomach pains throughout several years, he decided to kill himself with a shotgun he and his friend Dylan Carlson had bought for him before he went to Los Angeles. A living hell on earth was over, millions of fans, wife, child and friends were left behind. A semi-automatic Remington M-11 20 Gauge shotgun ended the life of one of the biggest stars in modern rock 'n' roll history.
The info on whether or not Kurt shot himself may be inaccurate. Tom Grant is still trying to convince me and everyone else that it was not a suicide, but a murder, arranged by Courtney Love herself. This is not something I want to start a huge debate on, I'll leave it up to everyone to judge for themselves. There are several sources for different views on this case, the best thing to do is to go to David Perle's page and look for the info you need. My personal opinion though is that it was a suicide.
After Kurt's death, the question on whether Courtney is releasing Kurt's material as her own has been asked several times. Courtney has released a song entitled Old Age three times; first on the 12" single Beautiful Son in April 1993 (featuring a picture of the young Kurt Cobain on the cover), then on the single Violet in July 1995. When it was released on the rarieties album My Body, The Hand Grenade in late 1997, Kurt was dead, and the lyrics had been changed a bit, even including some of Kurt's suicide letter ("You crippel, you take away my time, my peace, my empathy"). The end had been changed too, with "Rest in peace and I'm sorry, me in pieces so sorry".
The fact that Hole has also covered Nirvana songs on several occasions (Pennyroyal Tea and On A Mountain, aka You Got No Right), make one think she might have used some of Kurt's stuff in her own songs. With or without knowledge, Kurt might be a part of Courtney's "writing-team". After Live Through This was released in April 1994, Hole had no "real" albums released, only rarieties and an unplugged. Some say that Kurt was the person who wrote Hole's songs, and when Kurt died, the writer of Hole died too... [After the original text was written, Hole released their Celebrity Skin album.]
A lot of questions has been asked, and most of them has not been answered. Courtney herself has decided to keep her mouth shut. Either time will give us the answers, or the truth will die with Courtney. But one thing is for sure: Kurt loved Courtney, even though they were in a, as they described it themselves, "love-hate relationship".
