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15 Years Ago Today: Kurt Cobain Died
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2009
Modified Apr 5, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 5, 2009
Modified Apr 5, 2009
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Fifteen years ago today, Kurt Cobain died at the age of 27—he was found three days later inside of his home in Seattle. That day many fans of the band came home from school or work to see this MTV Kurt Loder broadcast (which we don't remember him delivering quite so detached). Soon after, Loder talked to Courtney Love—that year, 1994, she lost both her husband and her friend/bandmate Kristen Pfaff. Today fans are gathered, as they are every year, at the unofficial memorial of the singer: a bench in Viretta Park in Seattle (Cobain has no gravesite).
Last week MSNBC looked at the roots of grunge, saying that while it formed in Seattle, "the emergence of Nirvana, and the stardom that came to singer-songwriter Kurt Cobain, happened in part via an assist from the New York-based post-punk band Sonic Youth." Here's Nirvana performing on MTV's Unplugged series, which was filmed on November 18th, 1993, at Sony Studios in New York (the recording was released after Cobain's death, in November of 1994).
The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones said of Cobain, “His singing style especially became the default template for rock music. He changed the way singing was done.”
Tagged
anniversary
death
kurt cobain
nirvana
suicide
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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