

A very small community with a lot of people who have very small minds. In October 1992 Cobain reflected back on Aberdeen: "t's a coastal town about 100 miles away from Seattle. As a New York reporter later noted, "Cobain's fondness for poetry and painting did not go over big with the crowd in Aberdeen, Washington, a tough coastal logging town where young boys were expected to play sports and work the docks" (Sutton). Sensitive and artistic, Cobain didn't fit in with his schools' jock culture or stoner crowd.

He and Jesse Reed rented an apartment together and Cobain got a janitorial job at his old high school. Reed's father Dave had been the saxophonist/vocalist with the Beachcombers, and Kurt and Jesse enjoyed spinning that band's old 45s.Īfter Cobain dropped out of school the Reeds asked him to move out. Finally, Cobain began seeking shelter at the homes of various friends, including Jesse Reed, whose family's house in North River contained musical gear that Kurt was allowed to play. Frustrated, Cobain moved out and stayed with his grandparents, then with his mother - transferring from Montesano High to Aberdeen for his sophomore year - before returning to his father. In 1983 Cobain attended his first rock concert: Sammy Hagar at the Seattle Coliseum.Īs Cobain became obsessed with practicing his guitar and ignored his homework, Don halted the lessons. Fradenburg then arranged to have Mason give Cobain his first guitar lessons and helped the kid get a better-quality Gibson Explorer knockoff guitar.
KURT COBAIN UNPLUGGED FIGURE HOW TO
But when Cobain did so incorrectly, Mason showed the kid how to play the three-chord tune. That band's guitarist, Warren Mason, recalled Cobain saying he knew how to play "Louie Louie," the Pacific Northwest's signature rock 'n' roll song. A drummer, Fradenburg had played in Aberdeen's top 1960s band, the Beachcombers, and now worked with a local bar band, Fat Chance. In 1981, Cobain received a used Japanese electric guitar, a 14th-birthday present from his uncle Chuck Fradenburg. He played drums in elementary and junior-high-school bands, and continued drawing and painting. Don remarried in February 1978, his new wife and her kids moved in, and Kurt became unhappy again. After Wendy's new boyfriend moved in, Kurt left to live with Don at 413 Fleet Street S in nearby Montesano. A heartbroken Kurt and his sister Kimberly (b. When he was 7, diagnosed as hyperactive, Kurt was prescribed the controversial drug Ritalin. In time Kurt got a small drum set and Earl gave him an old electric Hawaiian steel guitar and amp. 1997) Cobain - and their grandson's favorite toys included a harmonica and a tin drum. His grandfather later recalled how Kurt loved to beat on pots and pans while visiting doting grandparents Leland (d. By age 2 young Kurt was singing along to Beatles and Monkees records, and before long toying with his aunt Mari Earl's acoustic guitar. In August the young family moved to 1210 E 1st Street in Aberdeen. Don worked as a Chevron gas-station mechanic near their rental home at 2830½ Aberdeen Avenue in Hoquiam. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, at Aberdeen's Grays Harbor Community Hospital, the only son of Donald and Wendy Fradenburg Cobain. More records and tours followed, but in April 1994 the tremendously talented yet troubled musician died by his own hand at his Seattle mansion. Nirvana's meteoric rise was soon recognized as part of an authentic "alternative rock" revolution. Cobain's angst-ridden songwriting exhibited a snarly punk musicality leavened with a keen pop genius that won over MTV, Rolling Stone, and the global radio industry. Nevermind, the group's 1991 album on the DGC label, was an instant commercial success and genuine cultural phenomenon, with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" becoming a Gen-X anthem. In 1988 Nirvana made its Seattle debut and Sub Pop began marketing the group as part of the Northwest's flannel-clad Grunge Rock uprising. Born in Aberdeen, Grays Harbor County, Cobain was an artistic kid from a broken home who loved rock music, played guitar from a young age, and in 1987 formed a band. Kurt Cobain, among the most famous musicians to emerge from the Pacific Northwest, established himself as the iconic rock 'n' roll anti-hero of his time.
