Fans mourn grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain 25 years after death
FILE In this Dec. 13, 1993, file photo, Kurt Cobain performs in Seattle. On the 25th anniversary of Cobain’s death, dozens of people gathered throughout the day at a Seattle park near the house where the music icon killed himself, leaving flowers, candles and written messages. Cobain, whose band Nirvana rose to global fame amid the city’s grunge rock years of the early 1990s, shot himself on April 5, 1994, in his home in a wealthy neighborhood near Lake Washington. (AP Photo/Robert Sorbo, File)
SEATTLE — On the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, dozens of people left flowers, candles and handwritten messages at a Seattle park near the house where the Nirvana frontman killed himself.
Cobain, whose band rose to global fame in the city’s grunge rock music scene of the early 1990s, was 27 when he died April 5, 1994, in his home in a wealthy neighborhood near Lake Washington.
Fans trekked Friday to nearby Viretta Park, leaving memorials on benches, where flowers mixed with handwritten phrases like “thank you for your art” and “find your place.”
Flowers honoring the late Kurt Cobain appear on a park bench, Friday, April 5, 2019, in Seattle. People gathered throughout the day at Viretta Parkin in Seattle, Friday, leaving flowers, candles and written messages on the 25th anniversary of Cobain’s death. Cobain, whose band Nirvana rose to global fame amid Seattle’s grunge rock years of the early 1990s, shot himself on April 5, 1994 in his home near Lake Washington. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In an essay on the Crosscut news website, Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross wrote that few Seattle musicians “have been as tied to Seattle in the mind of the popular zeitgeist as Kurt Cobain.”
Nirvana’s breakthrough album, “Nevermind,” was released in 1991. Featuring the hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the album went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.
Nirvana was the most prominent of the era’s series of Seattle grunge bands, including Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, that would go on to release best-selling records.
Grace Dubec, 15, of Indianapolis, Ind., wears a Nirvana T-shirt as she looks over a park bench covered with messages honoring the late Kurt Cobain, Friday, April 5, 2019, in Seattle. People gathered throughout the day at Viretta Parkin in Seattle, Friday, leaving flowers, candles and written messages on the 25th anniversary of Cobain’s death. Cobain, whose band Nirvana rose to global fame amid Seattle’s grunge rock years of the early 1990s, shot himself on April 5, 1994 in his home near Lake Washington. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Cobain’s angst-filled lyrics and his band’s powerful, dark rock struck a chord with young people. Days after his death, thousands of people gathered near the Space Needle for a public memorial.
An investigation determined he took a massive dose of heroin and then shot himself. /muf
