Friday, 21 March 2014
Despite the pledge in those
lyrics that went around the world in the early 1990s, police in Seattle say
that Kurt Cobain did have at least one gun.
A shotgun. And he killed himself
with it at age 27, their case concluded. Nothing has changed about that assessment
20 years after his death.
But as the anniversary of
Cobain's passing approaches early next month, rumors have stirred on social
media that police might be re-opening the case.
They are not, they
said in a statement. But they are releasing new photos of the crime scene.
The released photos do not
include images of Cobain's dead body.
But the dingy, scratched images
of syringes, a tainted spoon, a lighter and other personal belongings strewn
across the floor will likely bring back sad memories for many fans.
Immortal attachment
Despite the pledge in those
lyrics that went around the world in the early 1990s, police in Seattle say
that Kurt Cobain did have at least one gun.
A shotgun. And he killed himself
with it at age 27, their case concluded. Nothing has changed about that assessment
20 years after his death.
But as the anniversary of
Cobain's passing approaches early next month, rumors have stirred on social
media that police might be re-opening the case.
They are not, they
said in a statement. But they are releasing new photos of the crime scene.
The released photos do not
include images of Cobain's dead body.
But the dingy, scratched images
of syringes, a tainted spoon, a lighter and other personal belongings strewn
across the floor will likely bring back sad memories for many fans.
Immortal attachment
he attachment to the
singer-songwriter, who was as much the front man of an evocative musical
movement as he was of the band Nirvana, lives on.
As apparently do theories of how
the icon may have died. They include murder combined with rumors of personal
entanglements.
Some fans seem unwilling to
believe that Cobain, whose name was synonymous with the movement called Grunge
that transformed rock, fled into the arms of death to escape the torments of
depression and drug abuse in 1994.
Then news on Thursday that a
cold-case detective was reviewing Cobain's file triggered a storm of digital
chatter.
But Mike Ciesenski was merely
re-reading Cobain's materials, just in case.
"We knew with the 20th
anniversary coming up and we knew there was going to be a lot of media
interest," he said.
He also watched screened
documentaries and read articles on the conspiracy theories. "I can see why
people have questions," Ciesenski said. "But you can always point to
something and say 'what if.'"
Grungy photos
While reviewing the file, the
detective, who usually searches archives for loose ends, found one -- four
rolls of film taken at Cobain's house that had never been developed.
Twenty years ago, police found no
reason process them, since they had Polaroid snaps of the place where Cobain
perished.
Police had the 35 mm film
developed, but the images are not new evidence. They just want to make them
accessible to the public.
Fear of stoking conspiracy
theories kept them from doing it earlier, Ciesenski said.
"Sometimes people believe
what they read—some of the disinformation from some of the books, that this was
a conspiracy. That's completely inaccurate," he said. "It's a
suicide. This is a closed case."
Many music legends died at the
same young age of 27. They include Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
It takes many people a long time
to let go of an artist who touched their hearts so strongly through their ears.
Haunting
voice
Cobain's voice was as innovative
Nirvana's interpretation of rock and in step with it.
His velvety yet scratchy vocals
continue in recordings to carry social disappointment and cynical ire in flats
and sharps, all energized by fast-beat, electrified rock.
Just as it did then, when music
fans first took note of it on Nirvana's breakthrough album
"Nevermind" in 1991 -- with its shocking album cover of a baby
swimming naked underwater after a dollar bill on a fish hook.
Cobain's death ended a battle
with hard drugs. His ashes were reportedly scattered in a Washington state
river and a New York Buddhist temple.
Nirvana band mates Krist Novoselic
and Dave Grohl eventually formed other bands.
Cobain's widow, Courtney Love,
stayed in the limelight with an acting career and legal problems surrounding
her own drug problems. Frances Bean, the couple's daughter, has largely lived
outside the public eye.
What was unclear when Cobain died
was whether the music Nirvana created would endure or fade away.
If it does fade, it may remain
immortalized in one place -- Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen, Washington.
There visitors are greeted with a
sign that reads -- in his honor -- "Come As You Are."
.jpg)
