Kurt Cobain: Looking Back at the Nirvana Frontman's Life, Legacy at 45 (Video)

To commemorate Cobain's 45th birthday, THR celebrates the birthday of this brilliant but too-brief career with two vintage clips that reveal his talent and thoughtful sensitivity.

1:33 PM PST 2/20/2012 by Todd Gilchrist

Comments

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Monday marked what would have been the 45^th birthday of Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman who became synonymous with the grunge rock movement in the early 1990s before committing suicide on April 5, 1994. The Hollywood Reporter celebrates the singer-songwriter’s life with a pair of clips from his days with the band, starting with an interview at Seattle, Washington’s Riverfront Hotel.

Grammys 2012: Dave Grohl and Butch Vig Reflect on Nirvana, Adele and the State of the Music Business (Q&A)

The Muppets Cover Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on Movie Soundtrack (Audio)

Memories of Nirvana, Grunge Scene: A Reporter's First-Hand Account

PHOTOS: A History of Grunge in Pictures

The music industry may be more acutely aware of Cobain’s legacy in 2012 because of the recent death of Whitney Houston, another talented performer who succumbed to her demons before the world was ready to let her go. Through most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and pain from an undiagnosed stomach condition, but he struggled to deal with the fame and controversy he attracted as a member of Nirvana, and took his own life with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

In the interview, Cobain talks about how his relationship with Courtney Love brought stability to his life: “now that I’ve found that, the world seems a lot better,” he said. Cobain also revealed that he had no idea where the term “grunge” came from, and when asked about whether or not he worried a possible Nirvana backlash, he said, “isn’t that over with?”

Check out the clip below:

Cobain’s musical bona fides remain indisputable, however, and his performances were always unique and invigorating, lending further luster to his legend as he developed a career. Thanks to Keith Shapiro’s recent documentary Rhino Resurrected, which won the Best Documentary prize at the 2012 Oxford Film Festival, THR found a clip online from a performance he and Nirvana bandmates Chad Channing (later replaced by Dave Grohl) and Krist Novoselic gave in 1989 at Los Angeles’ storied Rhino Records. The trio performs “Dive” to a capacity crowd in the confines of the store’s former Westwood location.

PHOTOS: Dollars After Death: 12 Albums That Got Big Posthumous Sales Boosts

Check out the clip of their performance below: