Kurt Cobain

"I'm going to be a superstar musician, kill myself, and go out in a flame of glory!" Those are words from Kurt Cobain when he was fourteen. The sad thing is, that is exactly what happened. Kurt Cobain, one of the starters of Grunge Rock and front man of Nirvana, had a very interesting but sad life that started out good but lead to drugs, depression, and death. One of the happiest times of his life was his childhood.

Kurt Cobain's Childhood was pretty good. Kurt was born on February 20, 1967. He was born at Gray's Community Hospital. This was a hospital on a hill that overlooked Aberdeen, Washington. He lived and spent some of his early childhood at 2803Ð... Aberdeen Avenue. This house was in Hoquiam. When Kurt was born he weighed seven and a half pounds. His hair and complexion was dark. After five months his hair turned blonde and his skin was light. Everyone said he had the most remarkable eyes. They were Azure. He lived with both parents.

Kurt lived pretty close to most of his family. Kurt's mom's name is Wendy and his dad's name is Don. His Grandfather, Leland Cobain, lived nine miles away from Kurt in Montesano. He had six aunts and uncles on his mother's side and two uncles on his father's side. Kurt's father had French and Irish roots. His mother had German, Irish, and English roots. His father worked as a mechanic at a Chevron station. His mother was a stay at home mom. Don and Wendy got married is Idaho without their parent's permission. Kurt's talents were starting to show more and more to his family.

When Kurt was little, his mother knew he was smart. She said she remembers when she couldn't figure out how to lower Kurt's crib. He just went and did it by himself and he was only one and a half years old! By his second Christmas, he already became interested in music. His family, The Fradenburgs, was a very musical family. His Uncle Chuck was in a band called The Beachcombers. His Aunt Mari played the guitar. His Great-Uncle Delbert was an Irish Tenor. He was in the movie, The King of Jazz. When the Cobains visited Cosmopolis, Kurt would be fascinated by the family's jam sessions. Even as a toddler Kurt wrote his own lyrics. When he was four, part of a song he wrote went, "We went to the park, we got candy." Kurt was always very creative.

When he was two he made an imaginary friend that he called Boddah. His parents became concerned about Boddah, so they tried to get him to forget about him. One of the ways they tried to get rid of Boddah was when his uncle went to Vietnam. They told him Boddah had to go too. His parents figured out that he never believed them when he was three. He was playing with his aunt's tape machine while it was on echo. He heard the echo and asked, "Is that voice talking to me? Boddah? Boddah?" This was in their new home.

In September of 1969 when Kurt was two and a half years old, Kurt's parents bought their first home. This house was at 1210 East First Street in Aberdeen. It was a 1,000-square-foot home with a yard and a garage. It was a two-story house and cost $7,950.00 at the time. It was a middle-class home and the neighborhood was middle-class too. Kurt later described it as, "White trash posing as middle-class." At this house, a surprise was about to come.

When Kurt was three, his mother had a baby. It was a girl and they named her Kimberly. Even as an infant, everyone thought she looked remarkably like Kurt. Kurt really loved Kimberly. When she was brought home, Kurt wanted to carry her in. This was the beginning of a personality trait that stuck out his whole life, the fact that he was sensitive to the needs and pains of others. Sometimes he was too sensitive.

In September of 1972, Kurt started kindergarten. He went to Robert Gray Elementary. It was only three blocks north from his house. On his first day of school, his mom walked him to school. After that day he had to walk by himself. Many of his teachers knew him as a precious, inquisitive pupil with a Snoopy lunchbox. He wasn't shy at all. One time a student brought in a bear cub for show and tell and Kurt was one of the only kids who would pose for a picture with it. His best subject was art. When he was five, everyone already knew he was a good artist. He made everything look real. His grandmother, Iris Cobain, encouraged him to get into art. She collected Norman Rockwell memorabilia. She recreated many of Rockwell's images in needlepoint. She and Kurt would use toothpicks to reproduce his paintings on mushrooms. When they would dry, it would look like scrimshaw. Kurt really liked to draw Disney characters.

Art eventually led him to music. He never had piano lessons, but he could teach himself a melody on the piano. His sister, Kim, remembered, "Even when he was a little kid, he could sit down and just play something he'd heard on the radio. He was able to artistically put whatever he thought onto paper or into music." His parents bought him a Mickey Mouse drum set to encourage his love for music. He pounded on them everyday after school. He liked to use his Uncle Chuck's drums better though, because they were real. He also liked to strap on his Aunt Mary's guitar, even though it was too heavy. He'd play it and invent songs. He bought his first C.D., a single called "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. He also liked to look through his aunts' and uncles' albums. The Beatles were one of his favorites. This was about right before his personality trait started to stick out again.

He was very sensitive towards the increasing stress and fights between his parents. In the first few years, his parents hardly fought. There also was no evidence that there relationship was great either. His parents were overwhelmed by the circumstances of marrying young, like many others. they put their children first. They had become the center of their lives, which made their romance pretty much disappear. Don was more pressured by financial things. Wendy was to busy caring for the kids. They started arguing and yelling at each other in front of the kids.

The stress got worse in 1974. Don decided to switch jobs to the timber industry. He wasn't very suitable for cutting down 200-foot trees so he took the office job at Mayr Brothers. His first job was entry level. He was only getting paid $4.10 an hour, less than what he made as a mechanic. So he would do inventory at the mill on weekends to get extra money. Kurt would ride his little bike around the yard when his dad would bring him with. Later in 1974, Kurt was pit on Ritalin because the doctors said he had ADHD. Kurt told Spin Magazine in 1992,