FREE ESSAY ON KURT COBAIN

KURT COBAIN

On April 9th the world woke up to the news of Kurt Cobain's suicide. Those who followed
the grundge music of Cobain's band, Nirvana, were angry, but not surprised. With songs
such as I Hate Myself and Want to Die and constant references to suicide and drugs,
suicide was the obvious explanation for his death. Kurt put it best when he said, I'm
thought of as this pissy, complaining, freaked-out schizophrenic who wants to kill
himself all the time. (Bozza)
To many people, Cobain just joined the club of rock stars who self-destructed. Janis
Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones set the precedent. The Seattle Police
Department confirmed the conclusion everyone had already made; Kurt Cobain committed
suicide. Sympathy was hard to find. After his death, Kurt was called a worthless shred of
human debris by Rush Limbaugh. (Amirault). Even Cobain's fans were not sympathetic to the
pain Kurt suffered at all. They were mad. At his vigil, the crowd chanted a**hole because
they thought of Kurt as a coward. (Jones) 
Cobain already had undergone a near-death experience in Rome earlier in the year that may
or may not have been a suicide attempt in which Cobain digested nearly fifty pills called
Rohypnol. He also locked himself in a room with a .38 caliber pistol and said he was
going to kill himself after a dispute. 
Kurt Cobain was also notorious for hating his fame. He was once quoted as saying, I'd
rather be dead than cool. (Jones) Kurt Cobain also had stomach pains that sometimes
caused him to vomit air because he could not even hold down water. Cobain's marriage and
band were both on the brink of breaking up. The pieces of the puzzle seem to fit together
perfectly. The suicide note, the pain, the history of Kurt Cobain, and the attitude
everyone perceived Kurt possessed pointed to suicide. Neither Kurt Cobain's character nor
what he did previous to this incident is in question. It is true that Cobain was a heroin
addict and times could be a malicious person. The question is whether Kurt Cobain
committed suicide or not. It is extraordinarily simple to overlook the facts in this case
and dismiss it as another rocker who couldn't handle the spotlight, but as new evidence
demonstrates Kurt Cobain not only didn't commit suicide, but was not even able to. In
fact, his own wife, Courtney Love had him killed in order to capitalize on the spotlight
Kurt Cobain's death caused.
To the public, Kurt Cobain appeared suicidal. To those who knew him, he didn't. Kurt
Cobain's best friend said that Kurt was not at all suicidal. (Amirault) Another one of
his friends, Mark Lanegan said, I never knew Kurt to be suicidal. (Amirault) Cobain's
former attorney, Rosemary Caroll, who believes Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed, does
not believe Cobain was suicidal. Even those who would know best if Cobain was suicidal or
not, the expert therapists at Exodus Treatment Center where Kurt sojourned shortly before
his death, did not consider him to be suicidal. 
The depressed attitude of someone who commits suicide did not fit the interview Kurt gave
to Rolling Stone on January 27 of that same year. Cobain said I still see stuff,
descriptions of rock stars in some magazine- 'Sting, the environmental guy' and 'Kurt
Cobain, the whiny, complaining, neurotic, bitchy guy who hates everything, hates rock
stardom, hates his life.' And I've never been happier in my life. As for the song, I Hate
Myself and I Want to Die Cobain said, Nothing more than a joke. It was totally satirical,
making fun of ourselves. The article also showed a side to Kurt Cobain that not many
people got to see or knew about. He tells a story in the article about going to a
nightclub and meeting some people there. He invited them back to his hotel and gave them
a place to stay and ordered them any food they wanted. Cobain also knew the end of
Nirvana was inevitable and he was not worried about it. Courtney Love, on the other hand,
was worried.
Courtney Love had a lot to gain if Kurt Cobain died. She also had a lot to lose if he was
still alive. Shortly before his death, Cobain asked Rosemary Caroll to start the divorce
papers. Cobain's estate was worth about $30 million. Love had proved her obsession with
money before when she yelled at Cobain publicly for not headlining the Lollapalooza tour
for $9.5 million. With the prenuptial agreement Love would only have received $1 million
plus child support. Courtney Love gained fame when Kurt Cobain died. Before Cobain's
death, a nanny claimed Love was obsessed with Cobain's will. The day after Cobain's
death, Courtney Love did an interview with MTV VJ, Tabita Soren. Love used the interview
to promote her album that was scheduled to come out in stores shortly after Cobain's
death. The events surrounding Love helped her to win album of the year by Rolling Stone
and Spin and also the Village Voice critics' poll. Love also used the opportunity to
launch a movie career, staring in The People Vs. Larry Flynt. She had arrived on the
Hollywood scene. Nothing would get in her way.
This attitude and way of life is apparent throughout Courtney Love's life. Courtney
Love's first husband, James Morland said, If somebody pissed her off a lot, she would pay
this guy she knew fifty or a hundred dollars to beat them up. It was pretty scary.
(Wallace) Nick Broomfield, who made a documentary on the death and life of Kurt Cobain
considers Courtney Love more dangerous than any other person he has documented.
Broomfield has done documentaries on serial killers. Broomfield includes in his
documentary a death threat on the answering machine of writer Lynn Hirschberg of Vanity
Fair. At the 1992 Academy Awards, Love attacked the journalist, using the Oscar won by
Quentin Tarantino as a weapon. Kristen Pfaff, former bassist for Love's group, Hole, died
on June 15, 1994. The connection between her death and Courtney Love are yet to be made
and may not exist, but suspicious circumstances surround her death. She reportedly died
of a heroin overdose. The report also claims she was addicted to the substance which her
family vehemently denies. Detective Antonio Terry of the Seattle Narcotics Department
also died an untimely death. He was the first officer of the Seattle Police Department to
be murdered in nine years. This was after Courtney Love told the public he might have
additional information. (Amirault)
There are also suspicious circumstances involving the death of Seattle rocker, Eldon Hoke
Hoke went on a walk to the liquor store with someone that his roommates had never met
before. (Hoke was a heavy alcoholic.) El Duce, as Hoke was also known was later found
crushed to death on the railroad tracks. This was eight days after talking to Nick
Broomfield. What Hoke said is a key piece of evidence in this case. Hoke said that Love
told him, My old man's been a real a**hole lately. I need you to blow his f*****g head
off. To which Hoke responded, Are you serious? Love replied, Yeah, I'm as serious as a
heart attack. I'll give you fifty thousand dollars to blow his f*****g head off. Make it
look like a suicide. (Katz) This alone would not be very convincing evidence given the
sketchy personality of El Duce. He was an alcoholic and into porno-rock. The most
convincing detail is that Hoke passed a polygraph test given by Dr. Edward Gelb, a
leading polygraph expert. His clientele includes O.J. Simpson. According to Gelb, Hoke's
story is completely truthful. Also the idea that Hoke's testimony is not worth noting
since he didn't have the best personality possible is ludicrous. Courtney Love did a
smart thing by hiring someone whom she can always discredit because of his personality.
In a battle of your word against mine, Hoke would probably lose every time except when he
passes a lie detector test.
The facts in this case point to a homicide, rather than a suicide. In the suicide note
there are no references to suicide until the end where the handwriting seems to differ.
The letter instead seems like a letter announcing the breakup of Nirvana. In the letter
Cobain says such things as, I haven't felt the excitement...creating music...for many
years now. and Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk
out on stage. (internet shrine) The only blatant reference to suicide comes after Cobain
signs his name. The writing also appears larger and doesn't seem to be the same writing.
The suicide note is the key piece of evidence that points to suicide and many question
its validity.
The evidence other than the suicide note suggest that Kurt Cobain was murdered. After
Cobain's death, someone tried to use one of Kurt's credit cards repeatedly. The next key
piece of evidence is the lack of fingerprints. That includes the shotgun, the shotgun
shells, and the pen used to write the suicide note. One of the pivotal reasons to look at
Courtney Love as a murder suspect is her attitude in this whole encounter. She had the
gun used in the shooting destroyed. Love had Cobain cremated. She also destroyed the
suicide note he wrote from the Rome incident when he overdosed on pills. Love also
refuses to sue any person or company for libel despite the allegations of her being a
murderer. 
The most important sign of homicide comes from Roger Lewis', Dead Men Don't Pull
Triggers: Observations on the Death of Kurt Cobain. In the essay, Roger Lewis states his
belief in the homicide of Kurt Cobain because of the extreme dosage of morphine (heroin
turns into morphine when it enters the system) in Kurt Cobain's system. Cobain had 1.52
milligrams of morphine per liter of blood. This is about three times the lethal dose for
even the most severe user. With that level of morphine, Cobain probably had about 230 mg
of heroin. That much heroin would lead to immediate and complete incapacitation or
immediate death. The lethal dose of heroin has been known to go as low as 3 mg. The essay
also includes a study of 3,586 heroin-related suicides. None of which involved a gun with
the heroin, although some homicide cases studied paralleled Cobain's case. Very simply,
Lewis' essay states there is no way Kurt Cobain could have pulled the trigger of a gun
due to the extremely high level of morphine. This evidence leads to the conclusion
someone else pulled the trigger.
Many people look so distinctively at the black and white of an issue, they fail to see
the gray. To them, Kurt Cobain and death equals suicide. It makes sense. I, myself was
guilty of believing this when I heard of Kurt Cobain's suicide. It was a forgone
conclusion. That's the attitude the police took into the investigation and that is why a
murderer is on the loose. All the circumstantial evidence can be contributed to a
conspiracy theory. It often happens when anyone famous dies. According to some, Elvis
Presley, Jimmy Hoffa, and Tupac Shakur never did die. This is a whole different story. In
this case, there is concrete, scientific fact. There is no way Kurt Cobain could have
pulled the trigger to end his life. The only person devious enough to do that was
Courtney Love. On second thought, she was even worse because she sent someone else to do
her dirty work. She already had one failed attempt with Eldon Hoke and with her marriage
and financial stability coming into question she tried a second time and it worked to
perfection. She was never implicated. The murder looked like a suicide and Courtney
basked in the warm glow of the spotlight of Hollywood. The evidence is all there and
someday the case will be reopened as a homicide case, but until that day we must see the
shades of gray and believe in an unbelievably bizarre and sickening truth of Kurt Cobain
and Courtney Love. By the way, the person who started the 'a**hole' chant at Cobain's
vigil was Courtney Love.
Bibliography
Works Cited Page
Amirault, Andrew. The Murder of Kurt Cobain. Online. Tiacnet. 5 Dec. 1998. Available
http://www.tiac.net/users/tobya
Bozza, Anthony. Kurt Cobain. Rolling Stone. 27 January 1994: 37
Jones Jr., Malcom. The Fallout of the Burnout. Newsweek. 25 April 1994: 58
Katz, John. High Times. April 1996: 94
Kurt and Courtney. Dir. Nick Broomfield. Perf. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Roxie
Releasing. February 27, 1998.
The Kurt Cobain Internet Shrine. Online 10 Mar. 1999. Available http://kurt-cobain.com
Lewis, Roger. Dead Men Don't Pull Triggers: Observations on the death of Kurt Cobain.
Online. Globalserve. 4 Jan. 1998. Available
http://web.globalserve.net/~artnet/dmdpt97f/html.
Wallace, Max and Ean Halperin. Who Killed Kurt Cobain? The Mysterious Death of an Icon.
May Wallace: 1999