- Said he eventually wanted to experiment with filmmaking. He even wrote a script for a horror movie.
- The last movie he watched before his death was The Piano (1993).
- During a Nirvana concert, he witnessed a girl being groped in the audience. Without missing a beat, he threw his guitar to the ground (a Martin D-18E electric guitar, one of the rarest electric guitars ever made and worth a significant amount of money), dived into the audience and angrily confronted the man who groped the woman. Upon returning to the stage, Cobain and the other band members openly mocked the man as he was being forcibly led out by security.
- Died at 27 years old, making him a member of the "27 Club"; The 27 Club is a group of prominent musicians who died at the age of 27. Other members include Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones, guitarist Jimi Hendrix, singer Janis Joplin, guitarist Alan Wilson, The Doors frontman Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse.
- John Lennon's song "In my Life" was played at his funeral.
- Suffered chronic stomach pain due to a re-occuring red irritation, back pain from scoliosis (curvature of the spine), and chronic bronchitis due to heavy smoking.
- Was a left-handed guitarist and a right-handed drummer.
- "Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters of concern over the past years. I don't have the passion anymore and so remember, it's better to burn out than fade away" (addressed to Nirvana fans in his suicide note).
- Drew Barrymore is the godmother of his daughter Frances Bean Cobain.
- In a 2008 NME magazine interview, Courtney Love claimed that Cobain turned down the role of Lance in Pulp Fiction (1994). The part was eventually taken by Eric Stoltz.
- According to his widow, Courtney Love, Cobain left behind 109 unreleased, recorded songs when he died in 1994. Some are just song fragments, some music "collages", and about eight are acoustic numbers that Love deems good enough for release. One song, "Stinking of You", which he wrote with Love, includes the line "Stinking of you...I don't care if my life is shattered, it's my point of view..."
- He wore blue-plaid pajamas and a woven Guatemalan purse to his wedding to Courtney Love.
- Posthumous album "Nirvana: MTV Unplugged" earned he and Nirvana a 1995 Grammy. It was the only Grammy they won.
- The original title for "Heart-Shaped Box" was "Heart-Shaped Coffin."
- Obsessed with vinyl, he had a substantially expensive record collection.
- Although Cobain's death was officially ruled a suicide, certain aspects about his death have led to speculation that he was murdered: He had entirely too much heroin in his system at the time of his death to have been able to operate a shotgun; he would have been incapacitated within seconds of injecting it. Also, the so-called "suicide note" may have been a letter to his fans expressing his desire to quit both Nirvana and the music business altogether. In addition, one of Cobain's credit cards was being used a few days AFTER his death.
- Has said in interviews that he always wanted to give acting a try and be in a movie.
- His body was discovered on April 8, 1994 - a day on which he was originally scheduled to perform at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.
- Strong supporter of LGBT equality and similar causes. He emphatically stated in an interview that if someone was homophobic, racist or misogynistic, then they could do the band a huge favor and refrain from buying a Nirvana album or attending any their concerts because he didn't want their money and wanted nothing to do with them.
- His 3 favorite films were Paris, Texas (1984), - as stated on the "Nevermind - It's An Interview" CD; Over the Edge (1979); and Rear Window (1954).
- Ashes were scattered in McLane Creek in Olympia, Washington. A handful were scattered under the willow at the front of 171 Lake Washinton Boulevard in Seattle, and another handful was given to a Buddhist to make a "tsatsu" (a memorial sculpture).
- Surpassed Elvis Presley to become the world's top-earning dead celebrity. He raked in £26.3 million from beyond the grave during 2006, according to US business website Forbes.com.
- His death marked the end of the Grunge era.
- Played a trick on the MTV brass when he began Nirvana's appearance at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards by playing the first few chords of the song "Rape Me" and singing the first verse. He then quickly switched to playing "Lithium", the song the band had agreed to play in the show as a compromise with MTV executives. Cobain had wanted to sing the then-new song "Rape Me", while MTV's bigwigs wanted the band to lead off the show with their signature song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The two sides settled on a mid-show rendition of "Lithium".
- Very frequently changed up the words or the order of lines or verses of his songs when performing them live, rarely if every singing them the same from show to show.
- After his death, many musicians recorded tribute songs to him. Some of these include R.E.M.'s "Let Me In", Patti Smith's "About a Boy", Foo Fighters "My Hero", Neil Young's "Sleeps with Angels", "Tearjerker" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Shotgun Suicide" by El Duce, "Kurt Cobain" by Wesley Willis and Cher's "The Fall" (which she wrote after learning about his suicide and included on her album "Not.Comm.ercial", which was for sale only on the Internet). His death is referred to in the lyrics of the Badly Drawn Boy song "You Were Right". He is also mentioned in the songs "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers and "Innocent" by Our Lady Peace.
- His most famous song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", was voted by Rolling Stone Magazine and MTV as the 3rd best pop song out of 100 of all time.
- "Bleach", the first Nirvana album, spells his first name as "Kurdt". All subsequent releases use the more familiar "Kurt".
- Although he stated several times that he didn't like Pearl Jam, he got along very well with the band's lead singer Eddie Vedder, and they used to talk on the phone. When Cobain's body was found on April 8, 1994, Vedder paid tribute to him during a Pearl Jam concert in the same day saying that none of them [the band] would be there if it weren't for Cobain. Vedder also wore a t-shirt with the letter "K" over his heart when the band performed on Saturday Night Live on April 16, 1994. The documentary Pearl Jam Twenty (2011) shows a rare footage of Cobain and Vedder dancing together at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
- The song "About a Girl" was about his one-time girlfriend Tracy Marander.
- One of the last songs he ever recorded was entitled "I Hate Myself and Want to Die." It was released on the "Beavis and Butt-Head Experience" compilation album.
- His mom was 19 and his dad was 21 when he was born.
- His death was similar to that of Kenny MacLean and Layne Staley in that nobody found him until 3 days after he died. Cobain and Staley both died on April 5th, 8 years apart.
- Named 12th greatest guitar player of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.
- At one time sang in the choir at a Baptist church.
- His songs have been covered by bands ranging from Evanescence to hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver to female Japanese duo Cibo Matto.
- Ranked #49 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
- Had a daughter: Frances Bean Cobain (b. August 18, 1992) with wife, Courtney Love.
- Despite Nirvana's popularity, the group only released three studio albums.
- Daughter Frances Bean Cobain looks almost exactly like him. She has the distinct blue eyes, and nose.
- The Nirvana song "Scentless Apprentice" is based on a book called "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.
- Was runner-up for Best Songwriter of 1994 in "Rolling Stone" magazine's annual critics' poll. He ranked between Freedy Johnston and Sam Phillips, who placed 1st and 3rd in the poll, respectively.
- Has been voted as "the greatest rock'n'roll hero of all time" by the readers of "NME" magazine (10 May 2006).
- Was of Irish, English, German, and French ancestry.
- Recent biography is written by Charles Cross, an influential icon in the Seattle music scene. The biography, "Heavier Than Heaven", is said to be the most comprehensive biography of one of the most mysterious artists in music history.
- Samples of Cobain-penned song lyrics: "I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned" ("Negative Creep," 1989)... "She keeps it pumpin' straight to my heart" ("Aneurysm," 1990)... "And I forget just why I taste/oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile/I found it hard, it's hard to find/oh well, whatever, nevermind" ("Smells Like Teen Spirit," 1991)... "My heart is broke/but I have some glue/help me inhale/and mend it with you/we'll float around/and hang out on clouds/then we'll come down/and have a hangover" ("Dumb," 1993)... "I'll keep fighting jealousy/until it's fucking gone" ("Lounge Act," 1991)... "The animals I've trapped/have all become my pets" ("Something in the Way," 1991)... "Things have never been so swell/I have never failed to feel pain" ("You Know You're Right," 1994)... "All in all is all we all are" ("All Apologies," 1993).
- Nirvana were voted the 27th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.
- The song "Mighty K.C." by For Squirrels was written about him.
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