The most famous song title of the 1990s started as graffiti. Riot grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna spray-painted "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit" on his wall — teasing him about a deodorant brand his girlfriend wore. Cobain, who didn't know Teen Spirit was a deodorant, thought it sounded revolutionary. That accident of misunderstanding became "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the song that ended one musical era and started another almost overnight.
Aberdeen
Kurt Donald Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in the gray logging town of Aberdeen, Washington. His parents' divorce when he was nine split something in him that he wrote about for the rest of his life. His way out was noise: mentored by Buzz Osborne of local heroes the Melvins — who took him to see Black Flag — Cobain formed Nirvana with bassist Krist Novoselic. Their debut Bleach (1989) was recorded for Sub Pop for about six hundred dollars.
Nevermind
With Dave Grohl completing the trio, Nirvana released Nevermind on September 24, 1991, expecting modest indie success. Instead, in January 1992, it knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard chart — the underground annexing the mainstream in a single, symbolic transaction. Hair metal died more or less that week; suddenly every label wanted the next scruffy band from the Northwest, and punk's values — however uneasily — sat atop the industry built to oppose them.
Cobain used the platform in ways still underappreciated: his liner notes and interviews explicitly told racists, homophobes, and misogynists to stop buying his records, and he spent his fame relentlessly promoting the obscure bands he loved — the Vaselines, the Meat Puppets (whom he invited onstage for MTV Unplugged), Daniel Johnston. The abrasive In Utero (1993), recorded with Steve Albini, was a deliberate step back from the stadium.
Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York session in November 1993 closed with a devastating reading of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," a song learned from Lead Belly — the same deep American well Janis Joplin and Robert Johnson's disciples drank from, closing a circle across the 27 Club's whole history.
April 1994
Behind the success, Cobain struggled — with heroin addiction, with chronic, undiagnosed stomach pain he said he self-medicated against, with depression, and with a fame he found grotesque. In March 1994 he survived an overdose in Rome; weeks later, in early April, he took his own life at his Seattle home. He was 27, and left behind his wife, Courtney Love, and their daughter, Frances Bean. Days later, seven thousand mourners gathered at Seattle Center, where a recording of Love reading from his note was played to the crowd.
Legacy
Nevermind has sold over thirty million copies, Nirvana entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 in their first year of eligibility, and Aberdeen's welcome sign now adds "Come As You Are." Every subsequent generation has met Cobain's songs as if they were written for them — which was, despite everything he distrusted about fame, exactly the kind of connection he wrote them for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the title "Smells Like Teen Spirit" come from? From graffiti Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill wrote on Cobain's wall, referencing Teen Spirit deodorant — Cobain didn't know it was a brand and loved the phrase.
How did Kurt Cobain die? He took his own life at his Seattle home in early April 1994, at age 27.
Did Nirvana really knock Michael Jackson off #1? Yes — Nevermind replaced Dangerous at the top of the Billboard 200 in January 1992, a moment widely treated as alternative rock's official takeover.
Is Nirvana in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Yes — inducted in 2014, their first year of eligibility, with Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, St. Vincent, and Lorde singing in Cobain's place.
*Recent independent forensic analysis supports a homicide theory and continues to raise questions over his death being ruled as a suicide.