Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ca. April 5, 1994) was the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band, Nirvana. He served not only as the band's frontman, but as its "leader and spiritual center" {{ref|spiritualcenter}}. With the band's success, Cobain became a major national and international celebrity, an uncomfortable position for someone who claimed to be "ill at ease with fame and ill-equipped to handle the responsibility that accompanies success" {{ref|fame}}.

Musical influences

Cobain was a devoted champion of early alternative rock acts. He would often make reference to his favorite bands in interviews, often placing a greater importance on the bands that influenced him than on his own music. Interviews with Cobain were often littered with references to obscure performers like The Vaselines, The Melvins, Daniel Johnston, The Meat Puppets, the Pixies, Young Marble Giants, The Wipers, and The Raincoats. Nirvana even covered songs by those bands. Cobain was eventually able to convince Nirvana's record company Geffen Records to reissue albums by The Raincoats and The Vaselines.

Related Topics:
Alternative rock - The Vaselines - The Melvins - Daniel Johnston - The Meat Puppets - Pixies - Young Marble Giants - The Wipers - The Raincoats - Geffen Records

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Cobain also made efforts to include his favorite performers in his musical endeavors. In 1993, when Kurt decided that he wanted a second guitarist to help him on stage, he recruited Pat Smear of the legendary L.A. punk band The Germs. When rehearsals of three Meat Puppets covers for Nirvana's 1993 performance for MTV Unplugged went awry, Cobain placed a call to the two lead members of the band, Curt and Cris Kirkwood, who ended up joining the band on stage to perform the songs.

Related Topics:
Pat Smear - L.A. - The Germs - MTV Unplugged - Curt - Cris Kirkwood

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Where Sonic Youth had served to help Nirvana gain wider success, Nirvana attempted to help other indie acts attain success. The band submitted the song "Oh, the Guilt" to a split single with Chicago's The Jesus Lizard, helping Nirvana's indie credibility while opening The Jesus Lizard to a wider audience.

Related Topics:
Sonic Youth - The Jesus Lizard

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One of Cobain's earliest and most important musical influences was none other than The Beatles; Cobain expressed a particular fondness for John Lennon, whom he called his "idol" in his journals, and even admitted that the song "About a Girl" was essentially his attempt at writing a Beatles song. He also found himself heavily influenced by punk rock, and often credited bands such as Black Flag and The Sex Pistols for his artistic style and attitude.

Related Topics:
The Beatles - John Lennon - About a Girl - Black Flag - The Sex Pistols

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"All the hype the Sex Pistols had was totally deserved. They deserved everything they got. Johnny Rotten was the one I identified with--he was the sensitive one. Never Mind The Bollocks has the best production of any rock record I have ever heard. It?s totally in-your-face and compressed." -- Kurt Cobain, Nirvana (Vox Magazine September 1992)

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Even with all of Cobain's indie influences, Nirvana's early style was clearly influenced by the major rock bands of the 70s, including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Kiss. In its early days, Nirvana made regular habit of playing cover songs by those bands, including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" and "Dazed and Confused", and a studio recording of Kiss' "Do You Love Me?".

Related Topics:
70s - Led Zeppelin - Black Sabbath - Kiss - Immigrant Song - Dazed and Confused

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There were also earlier influnces: Nirvana's MTV Unplugged concert ended with a haunting version of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"; while critic Greil Marcus suggested that Cobain's "Polly" was a descendent of "Pretty Polly", a murder ballad that might have been a century old when Dock Boggs recorded it in 1927.

Related Topics:
Leadbelly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Greil Marcus - Polly - Dock Boggs

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