Did you know that Kurt Cobain was briefly homeless as a teenager? Or what nearly caused Nirvana to
cancel their 1992 SNL appearance? Keep watching to learn more tragic details about Nirvana.
Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic first became vaguely aware of each other as
fellow bullied outcasts at the high school in Aberdeen, Washington.
Novoselic, the son of Yugoslavian refugees, used to cleverly sabotage school assemblies. Cobain
left his mother's house when he was only 17, dropped out of school, and soon became homeless.
According to the Aberdeen Museum of History, some of the places he slept at night included
a cardboard box, the hospital waiting room, and under a bridge. That is, when he wasn't being
arrested for putting graffiti on alleyway walls. In a sadly ironic twist, the teenage Cobain's
quest for employment landed him a janitorial job at the very same high school he'd dropped out of.
It was during this time, according to NME, that Novoselic — who was still a student — first took
note of how Cobain was always expressing himself artistically, even when on the job. Cobain had
already put together a DIY album, and he gave a copy to Novoselic... who ignored it for months.
Once Novoselic did listen, though, he realized that the guy had serious talent,
and accepted his offer to start a band. The two kids started jamming together at a hair
salon operated by Novoselic's aunt, probably having no idea that their punk mentality,
unique sound, and working class origins were about to change popular music forever.
Cobain and Novoselic took a long time to find their niche. At first, nobody was too thrilled
with the music they were creating, according to NME. Admittedly, the Nirvana that played those
early shows wasn't the Nirvana you know today. The band hadn't yet gotten into their groove, and
nowhere was this more evident than in the band's quest for a proper name. "Fecal Matter" was one
name that Cobain liked, according to Yahoo, which is definitely hard to imagine playing well on MTV.
Other band names he came up with included Smell Fish,
Man Bug, Ted Ed Fred, Skid Row, and the Reaganites. Eventually,
LouderSound writes that Cobain switched gears, realized that he wanted a more beautiful,
meaningful band name and settled on "Nirvana," based on the Buddhist concept of enlightenment.
Now, if you're a Nirvana fan, you've probably noticed the absence of one key name from
the band lineup, and that's Dave Grohl. That's because, according to Mental Floss,
Nirvana went through a boatload of drummers on their way to the winner, many of whom
exited the group for criminal reasons. Their first guy, Aaron Buckhard, was ditched after
getting into a fight with a police officer, and somehow getting Cobain's car impounded.
The next drummer, Dale Crover, had a brief stint before relocating to San Francisco. Several
others followed, most notably Chad Channing, until Cobain and Novoselic finally met Grohl.
Grohl and Nirvana were, thankfully, a match made in heaven. As Cobain later said, according to NME,
"The band is finally complete because all the other drummers we had pretty much sucked."
While this constant drummer shuffle was going on, Nirvana had been hitting small
venues across the Northwest, making waves. One of Nirvana's demo taps fell into the lap
of a Seattle independent record label named Sub Pop, who signed the band.
By 1988, they had their first single — a cover of the Shocking Blue song
"Love Buzz" — and their debut album, Bleach, hit shelves the following year.
As Encyclopedia Britannica
points out, the moment where Nirvana went from underground hit to worldwide phenomenon was,
without question, the 1991 release of their first major label album, Nevermind.
"Why did you title the album 'Nevermind'?"
"I don't know."
This included their hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which played nearly 24/7 on MTV, quickly
turning it into one of those songs that everyone can hum along to, even if they don't understand
the clever sarcasm of the lyrics. After the initial thrill of success, though, Nirvana quickly
felt uneasy with all the attention they were getting. Cobain's new reputation as the spokesman
for his generation wasn't something he embraced. At one point, Cobain flatly told Rolling Stone,
"I'm a spokesman for myself."
Cobain went on to argue that he was just as confused as everyone else out there,
and didn't have the answers people were looking for.
"You know, I just want to sell albums to people who really like us,
and who already know about us, and already like us."
Regardless, Cobain rapidly became a cult hero. His grungy, down-to-earth reputation was only further
enhanced by his dislike of celebrity godhood, his refusal to accept offers of limo rides,
and so on. As Nirvana became icons, though, rumors swirled that Cobain might be doing heroin.
Back then, he dismissed these allegations, but time would prove them sadly accurate.
All the way back in a 1992 Rolling Stone interview, Cobain publicly discussed the
mysterious, undiagnosed stomach pains that had plagued him for much of his life — and denied
allegations of using heroin. He went so far as to diss drug use entirely, calling it a, quote,
"waste of time," and also argued that his poor health had reached a point
where he couldn't even drink alcohol anymore, much less use hard drugs.
This was not true, to say the least. In reality, according to Newsweek, Cobain's
chronic stomach ailment and his heroin use were deeply intertwined. He began using the drug
intermittently in the late eighties, specifically as a way to ease his gastrointestinal symptoms.
Easy enough to empathize with — if, albeit, not wise — but Cobain's lifelong struggle
with depression made for a toxic fit with heroin abuse, and he became an addict.
Though casual observers have often speculated that Cobain's drug issues may have been caused
by either the sudden fame of Nirvana, or his turbulent relationship with Courtney Love,
the facts show that his struggles predated both of these things.
By 1992, there was no questioning the fact that Nirvana had become the biggest band in the world,
and that same year, they made a landmark appearance on Saturday Night Live.
As Dave Grohl tells it, the surprisingly small size of the SNL set was mind-blowing,
to speak nothing of the manic energy or the fact that they immediately got
called up by Weird Al Yankovic, who asking for permission to spoof "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Unfortunately, the band's SNL appearance was clouded by the deepening pit of drug abuse that
Cobain was spiraling into. During a photo session on the day before the debut, according to Charles
R. Cross' book "Heavier Than Heaven," Cobain kept nodding off. He overdosed on heroin later
that night, and was only revived by an illegal dose of medication administered by Courtney Love.
Nonetheless, Nirvana was fully ready for SNL the next day. The band obliterated the
stage in a frenzied performance of both "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Territorial Pissings,"
breaking equipment all over the place. Luckily for the network,
they had prepared for this by replacing their regular sound gear with cheap stuff.
Nirvana didn't hold their tongues. When they
had a problem with other bands, they spoke out. For instance, in one interview with Rolling Stone,
Cobain slammed Pearl Jam as being corporate shills who had jumped on the grunge bandwagon.
Cobain's greatest ire, though, was reserved for Axl Rose of Guns 'N Roses.
Cobain often accused Rose's music of being meaningless junk, according to Rolling Stone,
which led Rose to eventually write off Cobain as a, quote, "junkie with a junkie wife."
However, the deeper reason that Cobain hated Rose so much was his belief that Rose was a racist,
sexist homophobe. See, even though people always paint Nirvana as a symbol of Generation X apathy,
the real Kurt Cobain was a tireless advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, and more, who was
way ahead of his time. According to Mashable, he frequently spoke out against homophobia,
publicly told bigots to stay away from his shows, and talked openly about how women were oppressed
by popular culture. He sometimes wore dresses on stage as a protest against sexism, and he once
said that though he wasn't gay, he wished he was, because it would make homophobic people angry.
Was he right about Axl Rose? Decide for yourself, but don't forget that in 2018,
as the Guardian points out, Guns N' Roses had to remove their 1988 song "One in a
Million" from an album reissue because the lyrics featured racist and homophobic slurs.
By 1994, Nirvana was bigger than ever. However, by this point, there was no hiding the problems
going on behind the scenes. In March, news hit that Cobain had been hospitalized in
Rome following a brief coma, brought about by a terrible combination of champagne and
prescription tranquilizers. Neither Cobain or Love commented on the matter, but the next month,
the Los Angeles Times reported that Nirvana had been forced to exit an impending appearance at
Chicago's famed Lollapalooza '94 music festival, citing Cobain's health issues.
Rumors swirled that the world's biggest band was on the verge of collapse.
Sources close to the band said these theories were bunk,
pointing out that Nirvana had often been close to breaking up, and the members always patched
things up in the end. Unfortunately, as you probably know today, the perceived threat of
Nirvana disbanding was minor compared to the tragic circumstances which soon transpired.
On April 8, 1994, Kurt
Cobain's body was found in the greenhouse above his Seattle garage, with a shotgun dropped on
his chest. He had been missing for days after a brief stint in rehab. The month prior, his
Nirvana bandmates, friends, and wife had staged an intervention, begging him to get treatment.
A suicide letter was found, and the autopsy found traces of both heroin and Valium in his body.
Cobain had fought against depression his entire life. It is believed that he considered taking
his life back when he was a teenager and the stresses of adult life, his health problems,
and his heroin addiction weighed heavily on him. Basically,
Cobain spent much of his life struggling against self-loathing, financial instability, addiction,
and undiagnosed health problems. His depression ran deep, and it's not fair to judge him for it.
Nirvana ended with the death
of Kurt Cobain. He was the voice of the group, the heart, and the center of their message. However,
as the dust settled and the years went on, his bandmates went back to making music.
Of the remaining Nirvana members, Krist Novoselic has kept the lowest profile.
He has played in a number of small bands, with his most recent venture being a local Wahkiakum County
group called Giants in the Trees. Dave Grohl founded the Foo Fighters in 1995, a band which
has produced iconic hits like "Everlong," earning their own place in music history.
In the end, though, it's hard not to ponder what might have happened if Cobain had lived.
Would Nirvana still be around today? It seems likely that Cobain's creative tendencies might
have eventually pushed him to strike out on his own to foster new innovations and approaches.
As the BBC points out, in 1993 he was talking about moving toward acoustic instruments,
and he was always moving in new directions. So, whatever would have happened next in his career,
it certainly would have been fascinating.
"Do you think you guys would've broken up because Kurt was going his own way?"
"I think, at that point, it was important we take a break. I think everybody felt that way."
Sadly, the tragedies surrounding Nirvana didn't end when the band separated. A few years after
Cobain's death, the former Nirvana members joined with Courtney Love to form Nirvana LLC,
a partnership dedicated to guiding future distribution of the iconic band's music.
This ran into problems in 2001 when lawsuits broke up the harmony, with Love filing an
injunction to prevent the release of a box set that contained the previously unavailable,
now cult-favorite song "You Know You're Right." The suit was settled in 2002,
as reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but the feud between Love and the former
Nirvana bandmates continued for nearly two decades, according to ABC News.
That said, the battle seems to have finally ended in 2014, right in time for Nirvana's
inclusion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As Love, Grohl and Novoselic united,
Cobain's widow proclaimed to the world that everyone beside her was family,
and that she only wished Kurt could have still been there with them.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).