How Kurt Cobain Achieved The American Dream
Most people who go into the music industry don’t come out successful, but there’s sometimes people that break out and become icons of a generation. One of those people is Kurt Cobain; he’s important because he influenced rock music and its multiple subgenres. Cobain was a hugely successful rock musician, whose music was able to capture what people felt before they knew they felt it. To be able to understand Kurt Cobain’s legacy and success, one must learn about where he came from, including hardships and how those events led to achieving the American dream.
Everything started on February 20 in 1967, Kurt Cobain was born to Donald and Wendy Cobain. Kurt grew up with a decently good childhood up until he was seven, which is when his parents got a divorcement. Cobain grew up with a keen interest in music and art. Kurt established his band, Nirvana with a couple of his friends in 1987. His band got a lot of popularity from one particular song called, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from their second album. In the article “Kurt Cobain”, the author, Charles R. Cross writes, “As a teenager he frequently moved between various relatives’ houses, stayed with friends, and occasionally slept under bridges. ” When Kurt was a teenager he went through a lot of trauma from his parents getting divorced, to frequently getting bullied by local toughs, and a lot of stomach pains he had from early age so he was always moving place to place to escape from his issues.
Kurt Cobain began to use drugs as way to treat his hardships. When he began to gain popularity with his band, Nirvana, he started to use drugs more frequently, because he was very uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting from the press and fans. Kurt also wanted to find purpose in being a father, he wanted his daughter to grow up with ease, when he finally was able to give his daughter just that, he messed up and all the effort went to nothing. In the same article, the writer, Anthony DeCurtis wrote, “At twenty-seven years old, Kurt Cobain wanted to disappear, erase himself, to become nothing. ” Essentially Kurt was tired of the spotlight, although he never liked the spotlight, and having no privacy, He began to see no other way out than suicide. After a failed suicide attempt on tour, Kurt Cobain was sent to a hospital in Rome, he was then later placed into a L. A. rehab center which he later escaped a month later to his Seattle house and shot himself dead.
Kurt was not found until three days after his death. When Kurt wrote his suicide note he wrote about how he didn’t like being famous and how he regretted it, and how his spouse, Courtney Love was too good for him, also stating that he rather ‘Burn out than fade away’. Author DeCurtis writes about how Ms. Love struggled with the way Orellana 2 Kurt handled his fame in a chronological order stating, “Courtney Love careens from reverence, (‘I feel so honored to be near him’) to exasperation (‘He’s such an asshole’) to anger (‘Well, Kurt, so fucking what? Then don’t be a rockstar’)”. After Kurt’s suicide Courtney blamed herself for it, and she did so for years. Although Cobain went out the way he did; he accomplished many things in his lifetime.
A major achievement noted by many people is that, rock music, and various subgenres of rock such as Grunge, are all agreed to be influenced by Kurt. His band, Nirvana, received multiple awards for their songs, although Cobain was reluctant to accept them. Kurt was the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Nirvana, which is the band he co-founded, with how many roles he played and how well he did it, he soon became a largely known famous rock musician. A large number of people say Kurt’s influence is still felt in today’s music, even after over twenty years have gone by since he passed. In a different article about Kurt, the author wrote how “In Essence, Nirvana transformed the 80’s into the 90’s”.
Writer DeCurtis also wrote about how Kurt’s music was seen, “People looked to Kurt Cobain because his songs captured what they felt before they knew what they felt. ” Nirvana’s music progressed 80’s rock music into more subgenres with its mass appeal to many.
Kurt Cobain achieved the American dream by rising to fame even though he came from a broken home, he even struggled with drugs and was tormented through his childhood, yet still being able to become a voice of generation. In the eyes of his followers he accumulated, Kurt and Nirvana the grunge band, were able to create a sound that made people feel a way before they knew they were feeling a type of way.
