The Death of Kurt Cobain
- Paige Phillips
- Jan 11, 2019
- 5 min read
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on 20th February 1967, and was most known for his role as guitarist and frontman of the rock band Nirvana. He is remembered as one of the most iconic and influential rock musicians.
Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington and formed the band Nirvana in 1987 with friends Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard. In 1991, they signed to major label DGC records and began their route into mainstream music with their iconic “smells like teen spirit” from their second album Nevermind.
Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. He first used marijuana at age 13 and continued to use the drug throughout the rest of his life. He was prone to alcoholism and solvent abuse and was a regular hard drug user. By the end of 1990, Cobain had developed a full-fledged addiction to heroin, citing it as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition.
He met his future wife, Courtney love on 12th January 1990 and the pair bonded of their shared love of music. They married on February 24th 1992 in Hawaii and share a daughter, named Frances Bean Cobain.
On April 8th 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle by an electrician who had come to his home to install a security system. It was determined the cause of death was due to a self-inflicted gun wound to his head. There was a suicide note found next to his body.
Although it initially appeared to be a suicide, there is much speculation around whether or not this case had the potential to be a murder.
Potential Hypotheses:
It was suicide:
Many argue that Cobain’s persistent drug addiction, clinical depression and handwritten suicide note are conclusive proof his death was due to suicide. His family had commented how they also had a clinical history of suicide. It was also noted that during Nirvana’s 1991 European tour, Cobain’s stomach condition became so painful that he became suicidal and took heroin as the only way to cope. However, a year before his death he managed to receive correct treatment for this condition after visiting a doctor who finally found the cause and began prescribing correct pain medication in order to manage it. Cobain mentioned in an interview before his death how he hadn’t had any pain in over a year.
Tom Grant:
Tom grant was a private investigator employed by Courtney Love after Cobain’s disappearance from rehab, and was one of the first people to suggest his death was not a suicide.
There are several components to his theory:
1. Blood stream heroin levels
On April 14th 1994, it was reported that Cobain was high on heroin when he pulled the trigger. The toxicological tests determined that the level of morphine in Cobain’s bloodstream was 1.52 milligrams per litre and that there was also evidence of Valium in his blood. Dr. Randall Baselt of the Chemical Toxicological Institute stated that Cobain’s heroin concentration was high by any account, but added that the strength of the dose would be dependent on a variety of factors, including how tolerant Cobain had become to the drug. Grant believes that the heroin was used to incapacitate Cobain before the final shotgun blast was administered by the perpetrator. Grant argues that the dose of heroin was so high that he would not have been physically capable of pulling the trigger on himself.
2. Suicide note
Whilst working for Courtney Love, Grant was given access to Cobain’s suicide note and used her fax machine to make a photocopy. After studying the note, Grant believes the note was actually written to announce Kurt’s intent to leave Love, Seattle and the music business. Grant shows how only the last few lines of the note imply the idea of suicide. The last few lines of the note also show a change in handwriting, and several handwriting experts have found the results of this ‘inconclusive’, suggesting these lines could have been written by a third party. However, it has been argued that it is difficult to draw a conclusion on the matter, as it is a photocopy being studied and not the original note.
3. Lack of fingerprint evidence
There was a lack of fingerprints connecting Cobain to key evidence, including the shotgun. Cobain’s fingerprints were absent from the suicide note as well as the pen that had been shoved through it, but Cobain’s body was found without gloves in, nor were there any gloves found near or around his body.
4. Rosemary Carroll
Rosemary Carroll was Cobain’s attorney and Grant spoke to her on April 13th 1994. Carroll had urged Grant to investigate Cobain’s death and said that he was not suicidal. Carroll also claims that Cobain had asked her to draw up a will excluding Love because he was planning to file for divorce, which gives a motive for Cobain’s death. Carroll also gave Grant a handwriting practice note that she found in Love’s backpack that was left at her home. It has been suggested that the handwriting in this note is incredibly similar to the handwriting found on the last four lines of the suicide note.
5. Eldon “El Duce” Hoke
Eldon Hoke was The Mentor’s bandleader, and spoke to a filmmaker producing a documentary on Cobain’s death and his relationship with Love. He claimed that Courtney Love had offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. He also claimed that he knew who killed him, but refused to mention a name and did not offer an evidence to support his claim. He made reference to a man called “Allen”, before quickly interjecting and saying, “I mean, my friend” and then joked saying, “I’ll let the FBI catch him”. This would be Hoke’s last interview and he died days later after being struck by a train in the middle of the night.
The gun used has also bought some concerns into question about whether Cobain’s death was a suicide. The gun used was a long barrel shotgun, and some believe it would be incredibly difficult to kill yourself using such a gun, and even further, suggest a large amount of blood would be produced, when there was seemingly very little at the crime scene. However, in 2016 images were released by the police department showing how it would be possible for Kurt to have killed himself using this weapon, as the gun was found inverted on his chest with his left hand wrapped around the barrel.
My thoughts:
Although I do think Kurt Cobain had a long history of depression and substance abuse which does make his suicide plausible, the fact he was sobering up around the time of his death and seemingly working harder to be happy for the sake of his daughter encourages the idea that, for me, this wasn’t a suicide.
Courtney did not help look for her husband after he had escaped from rehab. She hired a private investigator who even told her she should return to Seattle to help in the search, but she refused and said she had business to do, which just seems super odd. If my husband was missing, I’d know for sure I’d be wherever I needed to be looking for him. It also all just seems a little too coincidental that Kurt was planning on filing for divorce around the time of his death and the inconsistencies in the note just provide too much doubt that this may have not been a suicide. At the very least, I think the Seattle police department should re-open the case and re-investigate his death, because there just seems to be too much that doesn’t add up.
Regardless of the mystery surrounding his death, Kurt will always go down in history as one of the most iconic musicians of the generation X era, with a truly beautiful soul.
Kendall Rae has made a very in-depth video on this subject, covering more subject matter than I did, however I found conflicting reports on a lot of the information so chose not to include it for validity. You can watch her video here:
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