It is impossible to count how much Kurt Cobain influenced the lives he touched. Especially for his fans, he was an icon they looked up to in terms of being free, original, and non-judgemental. Unfortunately, he wasn’t happy with his life and decided to end it in 1994 at the age of 27. As he stated in his suicide letter, he wasn’t enjoying what he’s doing anymore, and that people’s lives would be better off without him.
Although it’s too late, he has been proven wrong ever since. Many contemporary artists like Lana Del Rey, Justin Timberlake, and Dave Grohl built up their careers based on Cobain’s musical and personal influence. Throughout his life, his actions towards social issues were looked up to and regarded ahead of his time. He wasn’t afraid to speak up about racism, sexism, and homophobia even when he got in trouble because of it.
Kurt Cobain Got Arrested For Saying ‘God Is Gay’
Cobain showed his ideas to people not only with his song lyrics but also by vandalizing cars and walls in the US. He spray-painted such phrases as ‘Homosexual sex rules,’ ‘Everyone is gay,’ ‘Jesus is gay,’ and ‘God is gay.’ That night of vandalism in Washington, he was painting the walls with with Buzz Osbourne.
Osbourne talked about it in an interview with ‘Divine Monkeyshines: Valentine’s Day Special’ according to Guitar World. Apparently they were a group and once the police came to bust them, they all ran in different directions where they were all able to escape except Cobain, and he ended up in jail. The phraise ‘God is gay’ was later used in the last line of the Nirvana song ‘Stay Away.’
He never understood why people would be homophobic and was extremely angry at their way of thinking. Even though he wasn’t a homosexual himself, he wished he would be just to piss those people off. He had admitted in an interview with Monk Magazine in 1992 that if it weren’t for his attraction to Courtney Love, he would define himself as bisexual. Aside from the sexual aspect of attraction, he loved people for who they are and not according to their gender.
How Did Kurt Cobain Define His Sexuality?
Cobain spoke about his childhood as being different than everyone else and defined himself as being ‘alienated.’ He was also being called ‘gay’ by his peers as if it was a bad thing. Because his mother was homophobic, she didn’t allow him to speak to one of his homosexual friends, which was very disappointing for him. He spoke about struggling with his identity when he was a child and his disappointment for having to break-up with his friend in 1993 to John Savage.
Here is what he stated back then:
“Yeah. Yeah. I even thought that I was gay. I thought that might be the solution to my problem. Although I never experimented with it, I had a gay friend, and then my mother wouldn’t allow me to be friends with him anymore because, well, she’s homophobic. It was real devastating because finally, I found a male friend who I actually hugged and was affectionate too, and we talked about a lot of things. I couldn’t hang out with him anymore.”
Even as a child, he had embraced his feminine side by dressing up in feminine clothes in general. Because of all the comments he got from bullies, he used to mess with people stating he was homosexual and was known that way since the age of 14. However, in the same interview, Cobain also stated that if it weren’t for his wife, he would have pursued a ‘bisexual lifestyle,’ but still admitted that he was sexually more attracted to women.
