Remembering the Artist / Part 1
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. Kurt was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen to Wendy Elizabeth Fradenburg and Donald Leland Cobain. Wendy Fradenburg had a job as a waitress and was born in 1948. Don Cobain had a job as a automotive mechanic born in 1946. His parents were married on July 31, 1965, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Three years later his sister was born, Kimberly Dawn Cobain on April 24, 1970.
Kurt had dark hair when he was born but within a few months it'd turned blonde, and that, in combination with his striking azure eyes, helped make him the center of attention as a child.
A young Cobain eating and playing with his toys. He was always surrounded with family in his younger years. Everyone adored Kurt. (from Montage of Heck)
Aberdeen is a logging town. Back in the 60's, it was small enough that everyone knew each other and big enough where you had two movie theaters and a lot of stores. Aberdeen and the neighboring towns of Hoquiam and Cosmopolis became the center of the logging industry during the early 1900’s with 37 sawmills at its peak in 1930. Unfortunately, the Depression took a toll on the lumber business, one from which it never fully recovered. Today, while timber is still important, the area also depends on commercial fishing, tourism and regional services for employment. The trees that became timber in Aberdeen led to the population boom that brought people to the rainy city from around the world. In the later years, as the timber industry waned, the rain became an excuse to hang out, form bands and experiment with music in garages and spare rooms. It led to dark thoughts and creative lyrics that eventually represented an entire generation.
Pictures of a young Kurt in a suit and hat, with musical instruments and with his sister Kim Cobain.
Don and Wendy did everything a wife and husband do with their kids. Kurt and his family lived in Hoquiam for the first few months of his life. Then later moved back to Aberdeen. As a toddler, Kurt was making up his own lyrics. At Christmas time he loved to dress up with a suit and a hat. He was probably 2 years old. Kurt would put on a suit and play drums. Kurt was always busy with music, even on an early age.
At six months, he was banging on pots and pans. He got a drum and drumsticks. And he was always like, if music was on, he would always go to the beat. He just showed as the rest of his family, love for music right away, within the first year. He wanted a guitar, he wanted a drum set, he always wanted musical instruments. But he wanted cars, bikes and trucks too, like all the other kids. But he was really into music. It was just the way it was in his family.
A young Kurt playing guitar and celebrating his second birthday.
Kurt's uncle Chuck (from his mothers side) was a magician and built stereos. Chuck had all this equipment in his basement for recording. He had drum sets and recording gear and an echo chamber. Kurt was with his uncle Chuck a lot of times, watching the instruments and playing with recordings. Kurt participated in all of that. He was very entertaining. He would perform. He did dances, dressed up and played guitar. He put on little shows all the time. It was very encouraged by Wendy's side of the family.
From all accounts, Kurt really was that blissful a kid. "I can't even put into words the joy and the life that Kurt brought into our family," his aunt Mari. "He was this little human being who was so bubbly. He had charisma even as a baby. He was funny, and he was bright."
Kurt remained a mostly happy young boy. His family remembers him being a great entertainer. Kurt first took an interest in music at age two. Kurt's aunt Mary was a country musician. She introduced him to popular rock bands such as the Beatles and the Monkees. Mary gave Kurt his first guitar lesson. The lessons did not last long, as Kurt was too distracted to focus. But Kurt loved the music. When Kurt was seven, Mary gave him a bass drum. It was the perfect gift. Kurt would strap on the drum and walk up and down the street.
Kurt was not only interested in music, but also in drawing and painting. From about ten months (he was always trying to get up and to sit) Kurt was already practicing drawing, sitting on the lap of his mother, copying her. He drew really good circles. His mother learned him how to draw eyes. He was like then months, probably. He got really good. Cobain later became a brilliant visual artist making unique surrealistic and dark art.
A young Cobain with his family posing for a family photo shoot.
Kurt was also encouraged in art by his grandparents: Leland and Iris Cobain. Especially his grandmother Iris Cobain. She was a collector of Normal Rockwell art and had several Illustrations of him. She was an artist herself and created a lot of Illustrations inspired on Rockwell's work. Iris and Leland had a famous picture of Rockwell hanging on the wall of their trailer in Montesano. Iris motivated Kurt to be creative and they crafted many crafts together. Kurt Cobain's grandfather Leland Cobain wasn't that artistic himself but he was good with woodwork and he learned Kurt how to work with wood.
One day Kurt was drawing when he was visiting his grandparents. When he was finished he went to Leland Cobain and showed him what he his picture It was a picture of Mickey Mouse that he had drawn. Leland didn't believe Kurt had draw his picture and thought Kurt had traced the it. "I did not", Kurt said. "Yes, you did!" Leland responded. So Leland gave Kurt a new piece of paper and a pencil and challenged him to draw a new picture. "Here, you draw me another one and show me how you did it". The young Kurt sat down and began to draw. First he drew the eyes, then the nose, then the rest of the body. Without a model Kurt drew a perfect Illustration of Goofy and another of Donald Duck. He looked up from the paper with a huge grin, just as pleased at showing his Illustration to his grandfather as in creating his beloved duck.
One day his uncle Chuck came to the house and said "Kurt, could you draw me, like, Mickey Mouse?" Chuck and Wendy watched how Kurt first draw the nose and then the ears. "He doesn't draw like most people do". Most people would start with drawing a head and then they add ears and a mouth etc. Kurt draw specific parts first and then fill everything else in. It was really fascinating to watch him do that.
Kurt was so praised as a kid as an artist. With drawing, with painting. He liked it all, and he could do it and it just came so easy to him. And he didn't understand what all the fuzz was about. Because his family saw what a great artist he was, everybody got him art supplies, you know, for every birthday, every Christmas.
Kurt and Kim Cobain loved Disney characters. Kim was good at doing voices. She was very good at mimicking the voices of Donald Duck and Micky Mouse. It was my mom's big dream,” said Kim, “that Kurt and I would end up at Disneyland, both of us working there. With him drawing and me doing the voices."
The drawings Kurt made of his favorite Disney figures when he was 6 years old: Above Goofy. Below Donald Duck. June 1973.
March of 1975 was filled with joy for the eight year old Kurt: He finally visited Disneyland with his family. It was his first airplane ride and he was overjoyed with happiness.
Kurt would sing along with music and his family would record it. Kurt loved The Beatles. At age two, Kurt would sing "Hey Jude", Terry Jacks "Seasons in the Sun", and the theme song from the television show of the band The Monkees.
The Monkees would lead Cobain to the beginning of Grunge. A young Kurt singing "Hey Jude" and the theme song from the band "The Monkees."
Good Times With The Monkees
The Monkees were a rock/pop group from the late 1960's chosen for the purpose of a television show. The band, composed of Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones. They didn’t write most of their own music, weren’t originally experienced or accomplished musicians and their songs didn’t have the same substance as their quartet counterparts: The Beatles, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t make waves. Tork is credited as financially assisting Jimi Hendrix’s career, and Hendrix even later opened for them. David Bowie was born David Jones but changed his stage name so as not to get confused with the then-popular Davy Jones. The Sex Pistols covered them, Kurt Cobain adored his guitar with them, Brian Wilson was inspired by them and Breaking Bad showed meth being cooked sound tracked by them.
Kurt’s smashed guitar from 1988 that features The Monkees logo.
And I Love Her
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. They where a British musicial group of four and became very popular among hopes and dreams of a generation that came of age in the 1960's. The members of the band were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Other early members included Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
"If it was up to me, I’d get more oil tanker drivers drunk. I don’t value music much. I like The Beatles" - Kurt Cobain
Kurt was heavily influenced by The Beatles from an early age. He probably got this from his family from his mothers side. His mother loved to listen to music when Kurt was very young so The Beatles and the Monkees were regularly played.
Kurt later recorded cover songs of The Beatles. One of these newly uncovered pieces is a raw, acoustic take of ’ “And I Love Her”. It was one of several previously unheard tracks on Montage of Heck. It is a surprise find, as Cobain was not known for his love of the song’s author, Paul McCartney. Back in 1989, he was quoted as saying: “I love The Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney.”
Nirvana fans know that Cobain had a certain love for 60's music. Nirvana has made a cover of 'Love Buzz' on the album Bleach, originally from the Dutch band Shocking Blue. The Beatles where one of the favorite bands of the young Kurt. About A Girl from Bleach, was written by Kurt after listening to The Beatles all day. In his journal he writes that John Lennon is his idol. The Beatles were such a huge influence in Nirvana, Kurt loved The Beatles because the music was so simple and inspiring. Nirvana is called 'The Beatles of the 90's.
Cobain began developing an interest in music at a young age. On these pictures Kurt is playing drums, tambourine and piano. According to his aunt Mari (she herself a singer) Kurt began singing at the age of two. At age four, he started playing the piano and singing, writing a song about a trip to a local park. from a young age, Kurt would sing songs like Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song", The Beatles' "Hey Jude", Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun", and the theme song of the television show The Monkees.
If the Beatles were a comfort to young Kurt, they could also haunt him. his aunt Mari recalled the day that he was helping her and ran to her in distress after going into her LP collection to look for a Beatles album. He'd come across a copy she owned of Yesterday & Today with the rare, recalled "butcher cover," in which the Fab Four posed somewhat creepily among pieces of raw meat. "It made me realize how impressionable he was at that young age," Mari said.
Having a lot of energy
Kurt had a lot of energy and was sorta hyper. He would go miles an hour almost all the time. He was labeled with ADHD which started at about three. Two and a half. Just about three. He would be full of too much energy, just rocking, banging against the wall, upside down watching Sesame Street, repeating everything back exactly as it was coming out of the tv. Kurt had definitely a speed racer mind. Kurt's brain was constantly going about something. There was always something going on.
Kurt was hyper. He was full of energy. Always busy. Jumping off of things, knocking things over. Anything that had to do with being a normal child.
His mother brought him to his doctor when he was about four, four and a half. He was going to start pre-school. The doctor observed Kurt and checked him for Rapid Eye Movement. Kurt's doctor gave him and his mother a prescription and sent them home with some pills. Kurt had to take the pills when they got home. When his mother gave Kurt his pills, he was up all night. He run into his parents bedroom with drawings and wanted his mother to read him stories. Kurt's mother called the doctor the next morning. His mother was scared: "His heart's pounding. He is out of his mind!" Kurt's doctor said to not give anything anymore pills. The next time Kurt's doctor give his mother a prescription for a sedative.
A young Kurt Cobain, alone and with his sister Kim Cobain.
When Kurt started with school, he was not running around anymore. He lost his interest. He was not sad or depressed or anything. The pills didn't do him any good, he was not his old self. "I liked the old Kurt better". his mom said. Wendy went back with Kurt to the doctor and said: "This isn't right. The teacher said that he is lethargic and has his head on the desk all the time".
The doctor said: "Well, the only thing we can do, what I can think of, is to cut out his sugar, and no red food coloring". And to this day, that is still the same. Kurt was taken of the sugar and the food coloring and he was fine again.
Kurt didn't really had a good relationship with his dad Don Cobain. He was abused as a child himself so he thought that raising a child had to be done in the same way. Don didn't know how to handle Kurt. He was one of those people that thought that children should be seen and not heard and shouldn't cause any trouble. Don ridiculed Kurt and embarrassed him in public. Kurt's dad would hit him in the face in front of others or would call him names.
One time Kurt and his family went to Pizza Pete Pizza (Kurt loved Pizza) and once a month they went there as a family. Kurt would get all excited and Don was always making everything worse with Kurt in public. He would knuckle rap him on the head all the time or pull on his ear. So one time they were at Pizza Pete and the waiter came and put Kurt's drink next to him, he put it too close to the edge of the table. Kurt was eating his pizza and he threw his arm back and the drink went all over the place. Don was very angry and flipped out. He was yelling at him, he made it so bad. His mother felt really embarrassed.
Don said that Kurt couldn't express himself when he was young. "That's why he was so angry all the time. He didn't have any control".
Kurt was extremely protective. From the time he was two years old and could notice that guys where looking at his mother, he would flip them off. His mother would drive in the car, Kurt in the backseat, seeing some guy looking at his mom and he'd flip them off.
Wendy: "He started doing that, like on an very early age. when men would look at me. I don't think he was protecting his dad's woman. I think he was protecting me from other men. He didn't want men looking at me. And two guys that I know, I knew their wives, they said, "Hey, Wendy, did you know when you guys were coming down over the bridge the other day, do you know that Kurt was sitting in back seat, and when I looked over and waved at you, he gave me the finger?"
And I went, "No..." And he goes,"Yeah."
And then another guy told me the same thing, so it was, like, "Hey, don't look at my mom." He wasn't a mommy's boy, though. He'd get really, really mad at me about things.
Kim: When I was young, I was kind of bullied by some guys one time and Kurt went and punched one of them in the face. I didn't know for months that he had done that until the guy came up to me and was, like, "Yeah, your brother punched me in the face for you." And I'm like, "What?"
Wendy: "If anybody messed with Kim, he was right at their front door ready to punch them out."
Wendy: "I know that he loved women. He just thought they were the greatest, even my mother. He really respected her, and he was always very polite and kind. So, yeah. He was a protector. Of women and women's rights."
Kurt felt very different from other children. He wrote that later in his journal. He never could find anyone who was totally into music and poetry as he did. He felt very alone. Kurt had developed a dark, sarcastic humor on an early age. Combined with becoming a teen he was already attracted to death and darkness. Although you should see it more in a creative way and being different, not being understood. His art reflects his darkness and his dark sarcastic perspective on life. As a young boy, Kurt was very interested in extraterrestrial life. Kurt loved to draw aliens, wolves or zombies.
A young Kurt Cobain drawing on canvas. He was about to use an
issue of Werewolf by Night co-starring Michael Morbius, the Living
Vampire, as reference.
Kurt loved to play with his sister and with the other children in Abderdeen. They loved to ride their bikes and to play with their toys in the neighborhood. Aberdeen was small enough to know where the children where. So for small children it's a nice place to play. Even though Aberdeen is a small city village, it feels more like a village. It's big enough to run around the streets and to play Batman, or to play with the other children. Kurt was always creating and created his own world. He was lucky that he was so talented with his art. At first Kurt made paintings about beautiful landscapes and lighthouses. Later, when Kurt was older his artwork became more dark.
Later, Kurt was sarcastic about him being an artist, saying: "My mother always encouraged me to be artistic. "It was written in a contract at an early age that I would be an artist."
Paintings made by a young Kurt Cobain. They are probably made around 1980. It's extraordinary that he was able to paint so well when he was young.
His early gifts as a visual artist seemed to far outstrip even his musical talents. He got so many art supplies every birthday or holiday occasion, that his room began to take on the form of an art studio.
A Changed Reality: The Divorce
Kurt had a happy childhood in Aberdeen until his parents divorced. The divorce left Kurt's outlook on the world forever scarred.
Kim Cobain: "I barely remember my dad being in the house. I know he did a lot of sports and all that, so he wasn't around in the house a lot. But really, my only images of my dad being there are him in his tighty-whities wandering around the house. And when we watched, (for the first time, The Wizard of Oz, and I was so scared of the flying monkeys and scared of the witch, I was hiding behind my dad. But I was like, four, so I was five when my dad finally moved out."
Kurt later said that the divorce had a profound effect on his life. Kurt's mother Wendy Cobain saw that his personality changed dramatically; Kurt became defiant, withdrawn and anti-social. In a 1993 interview, Kurt said about his parents divorce:
"I remember feeling ashamed, for some reason. I was ashamed of my parents. I couldn't face some of my friends at school anymore, because I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family. Mother, father. I wanted that security, so I resented my parents for quite a few years because of that."
Don and Wendy divorced in the winter of '79. Don went living with his mum and dad and then he and Wendy went back together. But there was to much guilt and mixed emotions that they decided to make their divorce final. Don remained in denial about the reality of the split for months or even years to come, which helped keep Kurt stuck in the same position. Apparently no one in the family except Wendy had seen it coming, even though there'd been increasing fights over money problems. Maybe the biggest problem: Don and Wendy had never been passionate about one another, and eloped in Idaho when she was just months out of high school because she'd become pregnant with Kurt.
Wendy: "The kids were gonna stay with me at the house. And then Kurt was nine at the time, and he became quite unruly. It just embarrassed him to death that we had gotten divorced. He took light bulbs out of all the lights and locked the babysitter and Kim outside".
Kurt was going into being eleven, and he and Don were getting along really well at that time because Don was spending time with his kids for the first time, really. On the weekends Don would come and get them. And he'd spend time with them, and they'd never had that before. Wendy Called Don and asked him if Kurt could stay with Don. Don agreed and Kurt went to live with his dad. Kim stayed with her mother.
Don: "She couldn't handle him. See, that's the funny thing I don't like to say bad things and stuff, but she talked bad about me to the kids all the time. And then when Jenny and I got married, Jenny began to have problems with him, we even went to a counselor and they said maybe he didn't feel like he was loved or something like that. So I went and got him legally, and Wendy signed the papers in about two seconds."
Don and Kurt loved to spend time together. They did sports together and Don and although uninterested in sports, Kurt was enrolled in a junior high school wrestling team at the insistence of his father.
Don joined the 'Music of the month club'. Every month, different records would be send to him. The albums where send to their home but Don didn't listen to the records. The records stayed in their box. Until one day, Kurt saw the box with records and decided to unwrap them. When Kurt opened the records his mind was blown away. He saw different kinds of records. Among the records was an album of Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath, mostly rock, you know, the harder stuff they wouldn't play in Aberdeen. Kurt's musical interests became more obsessive when his parents divorced. His world and his perception of life became more sarcastic and dark. There was always a connection with death. It was pure creative. Kurt was obsessed with babies, sickness and death as we will see in his artwork. He created his own dark world. Art was always Kurt's expression but music really began to dominate his life...
More about Kurt's life, art and his obsession with music in part 2 of The Kurt Cobain Biography.
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