It's 4 o'clock on a cold Seattle afternoon, and Kurt Cobain, the lyricist-guitarist-lead singer of Nirvana, is sitting in a downtown hotel room, playing with his 5-month-old daughter, Frances, while his wife, Courtney Love-lead singer of her own band, Hole-applies her makeup. At the moment, the Cobains (including the baby) are on the cover of Spin magazine-which has named Nirvana as Artist of the Year-and the band's new album, Incesticide, is due out within the week. The Nirvana media machine should be in high gear.
Kurt's grandfather Leland Cobain, 80, is plagued by the suspicion that Kurt didn't kill himself. "I think he was murdered," he says. (In fact, conspiracy theories have spread over the years, but the Seattle police say the case is closed.)
"It was pretty sad,"
Leland Cobain
says. "I didn't believe it. I couldn't
believe it was suicide. Still don't."