On April 5th 1994 Kurt Cobain’s body was found in his home in Olympia,
Washington.
His death was ruled a suicide, but was he murdered? Did his wife hire a hitman to kill her husband? Did someone else kill him? Or was the police report correct? Let's take a look at the case and find out.
Kurt Cobain, born on February 20, 1967, was the vocalist and lead guitarist for the band ‘Nirvana’. Kurt had addiction issues most of his life, which was caused by the stress his father put him through when he was a child. Kurt’s sister claimed that Kurt had bipolar disorder, as well as being mentally unwell. Kurt was documented to have struggled with depression also, this combined with the drugs could only have a dangerous turn out. Kurt only smoked weed for most of his life, until he met Courtney Love. Courtney introduced Kurt into heroin, and Kurt used heroin frequently to combat his stomach issues that doctors couldn’t identify, but self-medicating only worsened his issues. Kurt was very introverted, he often preferred to be by himself and was very quiet. Another aspect of Cobain’s character is his nonconformity, he often went against social norms whether it be wearing women’s clothing, or singing about sensitive subjects in his songs. Kurt was also very sensitive and empathetic, this reflects in his music and how he can tap into another’s emotions. Kurt struggled with his identity when Nirvana was successful, he was concerned with the expectations of the audience. Kurt struggled with fame also, Kurt didn’t want to be a big rockstar or the “voice of a generation” like people have proclaimed him to be he felt it went against his underground roots. Cobain is quoted saying “I never wanted to sing, I just wanted to play the rhythm guitar, just hide in the back and just play.” This quote by itself shows how Kurt didn’t want to be in the limelight, he’d rather just play the guitar with the focus on someone else. Kurt was also rebellious in his own way. During the 1991 Top of the Pops, Nirvana was told that they would pretend to play their instruments having a pre-recorded track playing the music for them. Nirvana didn’t take this lightly, they went on stage and didn’t even pretend to play their instruments and to top it off, Kurt sang in a low-pitched voice obviously mocking the event. Kurt had empathy for people who were discriminated against. He was a supporter of women’s rights, and even wore dresses to show his support for the LGBTQ community. Kurt is quoted saying “ I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes” (Toofab). Kurt disdained the people who discriminate against others. Kurt was very talented, how he could reflect his emotions through his songs is what made him a creative genius. A great example of this is the song “Heart-Shaped Box” where Kurt is talking about his wife, and how he writes about the heart-shaped box, which is a metaphor for emotional confinement. Kurt’s mental health issues only became worse as Nirvana became increasingly popular, he felt the pressure of being seen as the voice of a generation which only added to his feelings of isolation. His lyrics reflected this, in the song “Come As You Are” Kurt sings “Come as you are, as you were. As I want you to be, As a friend, as a friend, As a known enemy” which is one example of how he wanted people to accept him as he was, not how people expected him to be. Kurt Cobain is quoted saying “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” which goes to show how he was feeling isolated and that no one accepted him for who he was. All the pressure of fame, mental and physical health struggles and drug addiction finally caught up to Kurt on April 5, 1994. Where he allegedly took his own life in his greenhouse in Seattle, Washington. Kurt writes in the note he left, “ It is better to burn out, than to fade away.” Again, reflecting his emotions in something he wrote. Kurt Cobain was a talented artist, who had a rough childhood. That rough childhood led Kurt to have mental health issues, and turn to drug abuse. Kurt’s mental health issues made him struggle with fame, and the pressure from fame in turn made Kurt’s mental health worse.
Did Courtney Love kill Kurt Cobain? Research proves that “Kurt’s body was found on April 8th, 1994, the forensics team said Kurt had 3 times the lethal dose of heroin in his system when he died. Which should’ve left him unable to pull the trigger much less pick up the shotgun” (Herron). Kurt’s suicide note was about him leaving the music industry at the beginning, but then turned into him talking about suicide at the end with different looking handwriting. Courtney Love knew that Kurt was going to leave the music industry, and called a hitman to kill Kurt and stage it like it was a suicide so that she could get all his profits from Nirvana. Matt Herron goes on to say “Kurt called his lawyer two weeks before his death, to ensure Courtney Love was removed from his will” (1). Private investigator Tom Grant was hired by Courtney Love to track down Cobain after he ran away from Exodus Recovery Center in Marina Del Rey, California. Mr. Grant thinks Cobain was murdered because “Cobain couldn’t have injected himself with such a large amount of heroin, and then had been able to shoot himself.” (1) There is a theory that also states that “There was a man named Eldon Hoke who claimed that Courtney Love tried to offer him 50,000$ to kill Cobain ... But days after that interview about Cobain he was found dead by being run over by a train” (1). This is one possible theory, but here is another. After Cobain’s untimely death, a man named Allen Wrench “bought a new house, sports car, and a new truck. Wrench was asked about this in the past, And he’s claimed that he is guilty of killing Kurt Cobain” (1).
It is also likely that Courtney Love hired a man by the name of Allen Wrench to murder Cobain. “After the death of Kurt Cobain, Allen Wrench bought a house, a sports car and a new truck. Wrench has been asked about this in the past. And he has claimed that he’s guilty of killing Kurt Cobain” (1). Wrench was caught on tape saying “ Courtney (Love) gave me 50,000$ for blowing away Cobain.” After Cobain’s death MTV went days only playing Nirvana songs, and the music videos that was made for them. Nirvana: MTV Unplugged In New York was the first album put out after Cobain’s death. It was like a funeral for Kurt himself, but also Nirvana. People think that Cobain did not commit suicide, “In 2021, The FBI released a report on Kurt Cobain death theories they have received. There have been thousands of calls to the FBI to change the death to undetermined” (1). Despite possibly being murdered by Love, Kurt’s legacy has lived on through his own music, and through Nirvana. Kurt Cobain lived a rough life, but was the bitter end his own doing?
Works Cited
Herron, Matt. THE KURT COBAIN TAPES: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? (2023 Documentary). September 30, 2023 THE KURT COBAIN TAPES: What Really Happened? (2023 Documentary)
Margaritoff, M.. Inside The Chilling Theory That Kurt Cobain Was Murdered. ATI.2024, February 8 Retrieved February 8, 2024. https://allthatsinteresting.com/kurt-cobain-murdered
Staff, T. 15 of Kurt Cobain’s most inspiring quotes, from standing up to bigotry to embracing feminism (photos). 2017, February 20. https://toofab.com/2017/02/20/kurt-cobain-nirvana-50th-birthday-lgbt-rights-feminism-equality/
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