2004-04-06
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/10cobain20040405
Last Updated Mon, 05 Apr 2004

CBC News Online

A decade after he killed himself, the short but influential life of rocker Kurt
Cobain is being celebrated Monday, with unofficial fan gatherings, and tributes
on radio, in print and at a museum exhibit in his hometown.

Ten years after the 27-year-old leader of the alt-rock band Nirvana fulfilled
the self-proclaimed prophesy that his "suicide genes" would lead to his early
death, fans will gather for candlelight vigils in his Washington hometown of
Aberdeen and at Seattle's Viretta Park, where some of his ashes are scattered.

Rock radio stations announced plans to devote Monday's airplay to Nirvana's
music, while Cobain has a special place in Rolling Stone magazine's current
feature "The Immortals: The 50 Greatest Artists of All Time."

"Music at that point was so prefabricated, so fake, so 'hairspray' that Nirvana
was really a breath of fresh air," Cobain biographer Charles Cross told The
Associated Press. "It was more organic than anything we'd seen in music in
years."

The band was plagued both with the pressure of its newfound success and with
Cobain's persistent heroin use, which he claimed was self-prescribed to
alleviate his chronic stomach pain.

In 1993 and 1994, Cobain survived several suicide attempts. However, in the
early days of April 1994, after leaving a Los Angeles detox centre, he returned
to Seattle where he wrote a suicide note, went into the greenhouse of his
mansion, injected himself with a massive dose of heroin and shot himself in the
head. His body was found a few days later.

Cobain's suicide note quoted Neil Young, saying it was "better to burn out than
fade away."






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