Grunge and anger: Kurt Cobain's biography

Kurt Donald Cobain was born in the year 1967 in the rural community of Aberdeen in Washington. He was described as a grunge icon who love feedback and volcanic drumming (MTV, 1993). This paper would present Cobain as an icon and a representative of his generation, the generation X. His life would be looked at through its turning points.

Turning Point 1: 9 years old (1976)
Failed Marriage of Parents

Cobain’s first turning point in life would be when he was in the age of 9. His overall personality, experienced a dramatic shift, from being a loving child to an angry and rebellious one. He became withdrawn and antisocial in a sense. Such a shift in his overall personality is attributed (as cobain says so himself) to his disappointed and anger towards his parents. At the age of 9, his parents decided to get a divorce and this has influenced his coming decisions in life. He was shuttled between 10 different relatives and family friends making him feel so unloved which he would later tell interviewers after he became famous. A lot of his anger, which would later exhibit its influence in his music, would come from these experience. (MTV, 1993)

On a national scale, this experience of Cobain holds true to the lives of his generation. His generation was known as the “Generation X” or “GenX” as coined by Dougland Coupland (Holtz, 1995). This is the generation that were born in the period within the 1960 and 1980.

Divorce has been a common occurrence in this period and as such became the shared cultural experience of this generation. In the years 1965 to 1977, the rate of couples that entered into divorce has doubled up. The children of the so called baby boomers have become the “experimental project of a society testing the effects of changes in family structure and dynamics”. They have often been referred to as the “lonely generation” due to the failed marriages that they have witnessed. (Miller and Miller, 2000, p.3 and p.4).

Holtz (1995, p.29) cited a study that was conducted by Wallerstein. In this study, Wallerstein found out after a year and a half into the divorce of parents, two thirds of the children in the study saw no improvement in the life of the family. Also, only one out of five of the children supports the decision of their parents to divorce. After five years however, half of the kids still saw little and no improvement in the life of the family and one third of them strongly disapprove of the divorce that their parents had entered into.

According to Holtz (1995, p.1), this generation experienced a lot of changes in “political, social, and economic environment” that has led to the uncertainty of the future of this generation in society. They have been labeled as “slackers, cynics, apathetic, drifters, and malcontents” (Miller and Miller, 2000, p.3), often engaging in rebellious acts against their parents and the society as a whole.

Turning Point 2: 17-18 years old
Introduction of Punk Rock

Kurt was introduced to the genre of Punk Rock by his friend Buzz Osborne, the leader of The Melvins band, in the mid 1980’s. He was also the person who took Cobain to his very first punk rock concert. Later, in his journal entries, he would recall the experience, and gave his take on it. He wrote in his journal “I like punk rock more than anything in the whole wide world”. It’s a rebellious form of music where he could channel his anger on life in general. (MTV, 2013)

According to Fey (2000, p.35), punk rock has a musical genre is an avenue of “expression of youthful anger and frustration over social conditions”. The youth of the generation X turned to punk rock in their release of surmountable anger towards the failed marriages of their parents and the failure of their parents to provide for them economically, due to the economic situations of the country.

It makes sense that such a form of music developed in the US between the years of 1964-1978. Due to the nature of this form of music and due to the generation the developed it, we see the hype of looking for other avenues to express dissatisfaction among youths. On a more national and global scale, such a development in music could be attributed to the hype of liberalism and the hype of postmodernism in societies. The anti-establishment nature of postmodernism and the liberalist thought would transform itself on punk rock in its unconventional take on rock music.

Turning Point 3: 20 years old (1987)
Nirvana

Cobain would later form a band with a friend named Noveselick. The band would later be called Nirvana, meaning “freedom from pain and suffering in the external world” as according to Cobain. The band would be playing at the underground scene of punk rock. A show would give them a $30 fee. (MTV, 2013)

Cobain did have ambitions of becoming famous but he kept this to himself. Such an ambition was not that seemly in the community of punk rock. Also, having such ambitions made him feel guilty. Due to the economic circumstances that doing music entails, he planned other ways in which he could raise money - going as far as looking at janitorial services to make it big. While working on his janitorial services, he was sending out demo tapes to major record labels. (MTV, 2013)

Youth in lower class settings tend to have a “unrealistically high aspirations and at the same time more depressed expectations” of themselves as compared to youths that grew up in a higher income bracket (Pearl, 1965, p.89)

We could see that Cobain as a representative of this generation has his aspirations in life, that of being a rock star. Due to the economic standpoint in which he was in, he often feels guilty of having such high ambitions. For this generation, they tend to have a more realistic outlook regarding their future but we cannot really obliterate the aspirations.

Turning Point 4: 24 years old (1991)
Release of Smells Like Teen Spirit

The release of the album “Nevermind” and the single “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, signified a major leap in the career of Cobain. He became the symbol for a “frustrated and alienated youth”, looking for avenues in which to express their frustration and anger towards society as a whole. Smells like teen spirit became the theme song of the a generation. (MTV, 2013)

Turning Point 5: 25-26 years old (1992)
Drugs

This period marked cobains ultimate depression and his seeking out for comfort and relief in the form of drugs. Having low self-esteem and insecurities with his physique, he even went as far as taking steroids. Also, he became addicted to heroin in order to have some relief from a mysterious stomach pain that he has been experiencing for years then. His increase in drug use entailed an increase in his fear of the fame that he was having. He was also skeptical about the new fans of nirvana, going as far as labeling them as not true fans of punk rock music. This skepticism is also employed with his skepticism of the media. He is always complaining about the inability of the media to interpret the true meaning of his songs. (MTV, 2013)

The music industry has experienced rises in the use of drugs and also drug abuse in the 90’s. Heroin, pot smoking, and methamphetamines were these drugs that was popular during these period. The “music and cultures of the 90’s was surrounded by the idea of getting stoned”. Drug use was also “glamorized within the music industry”. Artists of these period had similar causes of death, that is overdoses in drugs. (Palm Partners Drug Rehab Center, 2013)

In a national scale, the use of heroin in the 90’s has increased significantly. This is due to the improvements in its purity in the 1980s and the 90s that led to its potential effective use. There is also an increase in the organizations that have been expanding their involvements into the heroin market at this point in time. (WGBH educational foundation, n.d.)

Turning Point 6: 27 years old (1994)
Suicidal

This period is the last period in cobain’s life. He can no longer handle all the stress in his life. His heart is no longer in making music. His drug addiction is no way near of being handled. He had gone to various rehabilitation programs but was never able to finish one. His writings would often hint at him attempting to kill himself and be gone from the world. He was always sending a message through his writings but nobody seems to be getting these. (MTV, 2013)

A study conducted by Dianna Kenny, a professor of psychology found out that pop stars and rock stars “die up to 25 years younger than the average person and have far higher rates of death by accident, suicide and homicide”. The sample that was used in the study included “12,665 musicians and stars” who death was between the year 1950 and 2014. Also, the sample came from those that were in the “popular genres” in the years mentioned. The sample size proved that almost 91 percent of these deaths were deaths of male stars. On the case of suicides, it was found that as compared to the average population, their rates of suicide were “between two and seven times greater”. The study concluded that the music industry is a very dangerous place that invokes stress and depression among people within it.

Kurt Cobain’s experiences was not unique in a sense. It is simply a representation of the experiences of his generation, the generation X. With the failed marriages of their parents, the changes in the structure of the economy, politics, and society, and also the advances in technology at this particular time, this generation found their common cultural experience. Although Cobain’s death was popularized by the media, it wasn’t a distinct one. Death by suicide is not new to the music industry. As a representative of the alienated and frustrated youth, he has sought to find expressions of this emotion through his music. Grunge song became the genre of the generation and cobain became the icon of the generation. His music and influence would transcend through time.

References:

Fey, J.W. (2000). Spirituality Bites: Xers and the Gothic Culture in Flory, R. and Miller, D. (eds.) Gen X Religion (2000). Routledge, New York

MTV (Director). (1993). Rise & Rise of Kurt Cobain [Video file]. Retrieved from

Miller, D. and Miller, A. (2010). Introduction: Understanding Generation X (Values, Politics, and Religious Commitments) in Flory, R. and Miller, D. (eds.) Gen X Religion (2000). Routledge, New York

Palm Partners Recovery Center. (2013, July 26). History of Drug Abuse: The 90's. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from http://blog.palmpartners.com/history-of-drug-abuse-the-90s/

WGBH educational foundation. (n.d.). A Social History of America's Most Popular Drugs. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html#fn20

Pearl, A. (1965). Youth in Lower Class Settings in Problems of Youth in Sherif, M. and Sherif, C. (eds.). Problems of Youth: Transition to adulthood in a changing world (1965). Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago: Illinois

Pearlman, J. (2014, October 28). Rock stars really do die young: Study finds musicians die 25 years younger than average person. Retrieved April 3, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11192839/Rock-stars-really-do-die-young-study-finds-musicians-die-25-years-younger-than-average-person.html