27: Kurt Cobain by Chris Salewicz Page B

town with an 18,000 population that has an average rainfall of almost 100 inches. Grays Harbor County, in which the town is located, has one of the highest suicide rates in the United States. Later, Alice Wheeler, Kurt’s photographer friend, would visit Kurt in Aberdeen. ‘It would always be raining,’ she said. ‘You’d always witness some kind of domestic violence.’
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    Kurt Cobain had been born on 20 February 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. (On that day Jimi Hendrix was in the studio in London, making one of his first recordings.) His father, Donald Cobain, was a 21-year-old car mechanic, and his mother, pretty Wendy Fradenburg, whom he had married when she became pregnant almost as soon as she graduated from high school, was only 18. Three years later, Kurt’s sister Kim was born. From the age of two, Kurt showed an interest in music. This was hardly surprising, as everyone on his mother’s side of the family played one musical instrument or another. Wendy’s sister Mari was a guitar-playing country musician who had actually made a record. When he was five Kurt was learning to play the drums. By the time he was seven, Mari would play him Beatles and Monkees records, and was attempting to teach her nephew the guitar.
    Already it was evident that the boy was a talented artist, a gift he was encouraged to explore and express. Birthday and Christmas presents would often be gifts of new pencils or paints. For a long time he wanted to complete his education at art school. ‘The plan for my life, ever since I can remember, was to be a commercial artist,’ he said. [1] ‘My mother gave me a lot of support in being artistic. She was really complimentary of my drawings and paintings. So I was always building up to that. By the time I was in ninth grade, I was taking three commercial art classes and I was going to art school and my art teacher would enter my paintings and stuff for contests. I wasn’t interested in that at all, really. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I knew that I wasn’t as good as everyone else thought I was in that town … I’m a better artist than probably everyone else in that school, but that doesn’t say anything if you compare it to a larger city. I knew my limitations. I really enjoy art, I like to paint still. I’ve always felt the same about writing as well. I know I’m not educated enough to really write something that I would like to read.’
    Kurt was one of those kids who finds security in burying himself in books. ‘I went to the library a lot, and I skipped school a lot, especially during high school, and the only place to go during the day was the library. But I didn’t know what to read, it was just whatever I found. During grade school I would read S.E. Hinton books [the most famous is
The Outsider
]. I really enjoyed those. I read a lot in class too, when I went to school. Just to stay away from people so I didn’t have to talk to them. A lot of times I’d even just pretend to read, to stay away from people.’
    As he grew older, Kurt had a group of very loyal, supportive friends in Aberdeen who held him in high regard, respecting the image of the consummate artist that he exuded. His semi-abstract paintings were strikingly interesting, sometimes fascinating, and he wrote witty, often extremely dark but very distinctive poetry, diligently logged away in sets of journals. (Later, seeking lyrics, he would often purloin them from his collection of poetry, noting those contrasting occasions when he wrote a set of lyrics specifically for the song in question.)
    Kurt’s entire life was overshadowed by the trauma of his parents’ divorce, when he was eight. ‘I had a really good childhood until my parents divorced,’ Kurt said in 1993. ‘I was ashamed of my parents. I couldn’t face some of my friends at school. I desperately wanted to have a typical family. I wanted that