The Final Days

Rip It Up, Issue 201, 1 May 1994, Page 5

The Final Days

Friday March 4 — While having a few days off in Rome on a European tour, Cobain is found unconscious on the hotel floor, 6.30 am by wife Coutney Love, he lapses into a 20 hour coma after a reportedly accidental combination of champagne and painkillers.

Sunday March 6 — Nirvana’s label claims Cobain is well enough to reply to mail sent to him by fans.

Monday March 7 — A hoax call pretending to be Courtney Love gets through Geffen Record’s reception to David Geffen’s home in Malibu saying Kurt has died. Geffen calls Gary Gersh in New York (now Capitol Records’ boss but signed Nirvana to Geffen) but Gersh confirms with the band’s Management, Gold Mountain, that Cobain is alive.

— Geffen and Gersh reportedly both took initiatives to confront Cobain and Love.

Tuesday March 8 — an NME headline asks the question: "Killing the pain ... or himself?” And the writer suggests the Rome incident may have been a suicide attempt. Industry sources since Cobain’s death suggest there was a suicide note in Rome. This has not been substantiated.

Friday March 18 — Police called to Cobain’s Seattle house by Courtney Love who said her husband was locked in a room with his guns and threatening to kill himself. Cobain leaves the room and denies Love’s report. The police conviscated four guns (including a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle) and 25 rounds of ammunition.

Tuesday March 22 — NME announces Nirvana’s UK concerts postponed to April and May.

Friday March 25 — Love facilitates a chemical dependency intervention lead by a counsellor.

Monday March 28 — Cobain and Love entered a drug re-hab programme at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Marina del Rey, a suburb of Los Angeles.

— Los Angeles Times claim Nirvana have split. "That is so not true,” says Janet Billig of Gold Mountain Management, "Kurt was in a coma. Kurt is recovering. It’s going to take some time . . . we don’t know when they’re going to tour again.”

— Press are pressuring Geffen Records and Nirvana’s management as rumours of the band’s splitting-up follows their cancelling from the Lollapalooza line-up. Geffen’s Jim Merlis dismissed reports saying, “This band breaks up all the time."

Thursday March 31 — three days later Cobain ran away from the rehab hospital and went AWOL — back to Seattle. “He jumped the wire,” said Love, "I didn't know where he was. He never disappeared like that. He always called me.”

Monday April 4 — With Kurt still missing, Courtney Love was interviewed by Los Angeles Times for the cover story of the upcoming Sunday Edition (April 10) said of Cobain in Rome, “I don’t ever want to see Kurt on the floor like that again ... he was blue.” “I thought I went through a lot of hard times over the years but this has been the hardest.”

Tuesday April 5 — Journalists pursue Nirvana’s label and management. Gina Arnold, writer of Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana was tracking three stories: "the band’s inexplicably dutiful agreement to change the album cover of In Utero for acceptance at the Walmart chain, their

withdrawl from Lollapalooza and , finally, some rumours of a breakup.”

— Police think Cobain locked himself in the room above his garage on Tuesday afternoon or

evening

Wednesday April 6 — the coroner’s estimate of the day that Kurt shot himself. Courtney love later read out pieces of Cobain’s suicide letter: “(I) missed all the warnings from Punk Rock 101 . . . guilty beyond years that the manic roar of the crowd doesn’t affect me as much as it did Freddie Mercury ... I can’t fool you, any of you. The worst crime I can think of would be to put people off by faking it. Sometimes I feel as I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on the stage. I’ve tried ... to appreciate it, and I do, God believe I do, but ... I still can’t get out of the frustration, the guilt and the empathy I have for everybody ... I simply love people too much. So much that it makes me feel too bad. I thank you all from the pit of my nausous stomach for your letters and concern during the last years.”

Thursday April 7 — mother Wendy O’Connor filed a missing persons report with Seattle Police. The police report described him as, “not dangerous, armed with a shot gun, possibly suicidal.”

— The same day Courtney Love overdoses in Beverly Hills and is charged at the Century City hospital for possession of heroin and (stolen) Doctor’s prescription forms.

— A KROQ, Seattle, spokesman said later, that on Thursday April 7, “We got a statement from their management, who I just despise,” saying, “They’re fine, the band’s still together.”

— Courtney Love is free on SUSIO,OOO bail

Friday April 8 — Kurt Cobain’s body found by a 50 year old electrician, Gary Smith, working on the $1.5 million property (Cobain and Love had purchased and since vacated) when he looked in the window of the room above the garage. Reportedly the electrician phoned a local rock radio station, then phoned emergency services. — Courtney Love flies to Seattle. — Brief eulogies issued by Geffen Records and Gold Mountain Management. . — Seattle’s Sub Pop label’s receptionist blocked all calls, “No comment.”

Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl

refuse to talk to press and acts associated with Cobain such as the Melvins refuse to speak to MTV.

— Cobain’s body identified through fingerprints as facial damage severe.

Saturday April 9 — Seattle Times prints a photo of Cobain’s body lying on the carpet. — A private Sub Pop label party at the Crocodile Club proved a refuge for young bands and friends from the local music community including new Seattle resident R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. A shaken label co-owner Jonathan Poneman said, “Being here tonight is the best possible way of celebrating Kurt’s life and his true spirit. Nirvana have had a hugely positive affect on all of us. We should remember and celebrate the positive things about Kurt Cobain.”

Sunday April 10 — 200 friends and family attend a private memorial service at the Unity Church of Truth, Seattle.

— A few blocks away a public candlelight vigil organised by three Seattle radio stations saw 5000 mourners listen to taped messages from Courtney Love and Krist Novoselic. Love’s raw message included quotes from Cobain’s suicide letter — Love adding such asides as — “It’s like a letter to the fucking editor” / “. . . personal stuff that is none of your goddam business” / “Oh, he’s such an asshole! I want you all to chant ‘asshole’.” (The crowd complied chanted “asshole”, then many danced in the city fountain to a Nirvana songs on the P.A.) — Krist Novoselic’s prerecorded message described Kurt as, “Caring, generous, sweet,” and asked that his music “be remembered for ever in our hearts.”

Monday April 11 — Still in Seattle, Courtney Love with her lawyer Rosemary Carroll issued a statement to the LA Weekly. “Tough love doesn’t work on real artists. Lock-step 12-step interventions may be fine for lawyers, journalists, nightclubbers and record executives, and pedestrian artists like Steve Tyler. But they are useless at best and damaging at worst, when directed at those few souls who are put on this planet to offer the rest of us a glimmer of transcendence. It’s all bullshit. That ‘Bos tough-love bullshit doesn’t work. We should have let him have the thing that made him feel better, the thing that made his stomach feel better.”