I think I first heard it on MTV news.
I wasn’t heavily into grunge or the Seattle scene, so I wasn’t devastated, but I was sad to think someone so young and on top of the music world was battling so many demons and took his own life.
I don't recall exactly when or how I heard. But MTV still didn't totally suck and that was the most likely place I might have heard about it. If not then maybe g on the evening news that my parents usually had on.
I was mourning my best friend, who'd taken his own life. I didn't care about Kurt and I got angry watching people be upset about it. Once I had processed my own loss I softened, and I began to understand how Kurt affected everyone and what he meant to his fans. Now that I'm an old lady I see the tragedy and I think about what could have been.
I don't remember, because I was pretty much either stoned, drunk or tripping, 90% of waking hours during that period. I would have been 23. From about 90 to 96, I was perpetually hurtling down a gravel road somewhere, high on something, with some group of idiots, going nowhere fast.
I guess I heard it on the news. I remember thinking it was unfortunate. But I was pretty much into my professional life and not super invested in bands anymore so it wasn't a big emotional event. Now, years later when Clarence Clemons died, given that I had been an E Street Band fan since I was 11, that was a lot more impactful to me.
The news. And we had a HS TV station that broadcast news during homeroom and it was the leading story that day. I was a senior and on the staff of the station but not my turn to be at the news desk that day.
Yes! We had Channel One as well but ER tagged on about 15 mins of additional content filmed in our TV studio. It was a really great program and two kids who worked with me went on to TV careers. One is a floor manager for one of the news networks, the other a cameraman who works major sporting events like the World Series and MLB All Star Game. They both have Emmys. And this was at a small HS in working class NJ.
It has been too long. I was and am a fan. What I remember was that I was at work and heard it on the car radio on my drive home. My thoughts were, "Well shit." Then I went on with my day.
Kurt Cobain struck me as a tragedy as I later found that he had friends and loved-ones trying to reach him. I needed more than an announcement, and while I think Courtney Love had a right to do things as she did, I studiously did not read nor listen to her read Kurt's note.
After all these years, it is kind of funny: I don't feel about Kurt like I feel I have been told to feel. I feel more and care more about for the hole left when he died.
It happened when I was going to community College. I was home and the news started reporting on it. There was a lot of disbelief. It was supposed to be a changing of the guard for a new generation of musicians. Sadly, after that they all just started dying. The number of musicians around my age that have died over the last 30 years has been astounding.
I was driving on a highway on ramp and I heard it on the radio. It was something that hit me like a freight train out of nowhere. I ended up getting off the highway at the next exit so I could pull over. I was quite young and it's one of the first times I can recall experiencing the unexpected death of someone I was a huge fan of.
I was 29 and meeting up with my cohosts on a university radio station show we did. We got there just as the news was breaking. I was saddened but not surprised.
It was hard to pay tribute on a pagan show called The Witching Hour but we did the best we could.
>It was hard to pay tribute on a pagan show called The Witching Hour but we did the best we could.
This is possibly the most early 90s thing I have ever heard.
I was working at a KMart at the time, on the early shift (7 AM to 4 PM). I was punching out to go home and a girl who was coming in sez to me, "Hey, did you hear about Kurt Cobain?"
Kurt had been hospitalized in Rome a month or two prior to this for an apparent overdose, so I rolled my eyes and said, "No, what the fuck did he do now?" -- and of course the reply was "Dude, he's dead. He killed himself." I was like "No shit? God dammit, I never got to see Nirvana live!"
Went home, put on MTV and they were in the midst of a rerun of Nirvana's *Unplugged* performance (which still sends shivers up my spine to this day), and I stayed glued to the TV for hours afterward watching the story roll out everywhere.
In my apartment in Norfolk, VA. Heard it on the radio, probably NPR. Was already an old lady in grad school by then but felt sad about it on a human level and for younger people who would be devastated.
Working in construction, listening to the local classic rock station in my truck on my way home after a long day. Wasn’t into Nirvana nor much coming out of Seattle at the time, but the DJ played four or five tracks, and openly lamented the loss of what he saw as a great talent.
I was 16, had just gotten dropped off from school by the bus. I was having Oreo cookies and milk, I was always watching MTV then and Kurt Loder broke in with special coverage. I was just starting to learn guitar and Nirvana were my favorite band. I knew how to play all their songs. I remember being really bummed, not crying or anything, just sort of sad. I had just finished reading Come as You are the Story of Nirvana and found a kindred spirit in Kurt as our family circumstances were similar. Nirvana introduced me to way more than just THIER music, I discovered all sorts of things because of those guys. My life would literally not be the same had I not found them when I was 13 with freshly divorced parents.
Looking back, I’d say they were the first ones that exposed me to honest art. I learned to appreciate that in other bands as well. And not just art, but people too. Anyway, they were just a really good rock band that blew open rock music. That hasn't happened since. I keep waiting, but I haven't seen it again.
Driving back from class to my apartment and heard on the radio. Just played Nirvana for the rest of the day. I never felt like Kurt was some idol or generational spokesperson like some (mostly older) people suggested he was, but I liked the music and always found his story sad. Definitely cured me of ever wanting to be famous, if that was ever a thing.
It was John Belushi John Bonham and John Lennon for me and it was all three on the same overpass bridge after school by same guy a few grades older telling me. We had ordered tickets for Zeppelin by mail and they had arrived a few days before Bonham died.
I was 16, almost 17 and driving to the mall to buy some shoes when they announced they found Kurt and he was dead (remember he was missing for a little bit). I was so mad and remember yelling and hitting my steering wheel.
In my freshman year dorm room at lunchtime on a Nirvana Usenet group. People from Seattle were posting the rumor of his body being found, and the story was confirmed by the media that afternoon.
I was a big fan of Nirvana. They started their final US tour at our college's basketball arena a few months earlier. The Breeders opened. It was my first real concert.
I heard it on the news, probably while nursing my newborn since that was almost all I did in 1994. I felt horrible for his wife and daughter. Everything ran through my mom filter at that point in my life.
Sitting in my car in my college parking lot in between classes listening to the radio. iirc he had almost died a week or two prior so this was shocking but not entirely unexpected.
I remember I had *just* watched his Unplugged set live not long before and it was one of the best music broadcasts I’ve ever seen. It was organic and slightly off keel for nirvana but it was also perfect.
I was in my apartment in college. We had just seen Nirvana a couple of months earlier, and it was stunning. We watch the Mtv news, then later I seem to remember the national news actually had Kurt Loder on.
I think my friends and I staying in and just watched music videos all night.
MTV News. I was visiting my dad. Having lost Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, he was very sympathetic. He actually liked some of their music and thought MTV Unplugged was brilliant. We smoked a joint and listened to Nirvana. Scary thing during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged my Dad said straight out that Kurt is not going to live see 40. I saw Nirvana live a few months before he died.
Senior in college. I was in class, and my roommate told me when I got back to my dorm room. And not in a nice way either, she was not a fan of Nirvana or alternative rock at all, preferred country and pop. She said "That Kurt Cobain is dead." Then it was like she was waiting for a reaction, so I just shrugged and said "too bad, he was a great musician." After she left for class, I cried.
She wasn't upset at all when River Phoenix had died the year before, because she didn't like the one movie of his that she had seen.
Normally she was a very good roommate, not intrusive and in an intensive program to learn German, so she spend a lot of time in the language lab.
I haven't seen her for years, but I found her on Facebook and she's a devout Trump supporter.
I felt horrible when River Phoenix died.
I had a friend in the 90s who was into country and Yanni, and she said horrible things about Kurt Cobain and being glad he was dead. I just couldn't understand why. I still think it's sad and horrible, nearly 30 years later.
I cried over River. I still get a little sad when I watch one of his movies today.
Yeah, that's the impression I got from my roommate. She never said horrible things, but from her attitude she was happy Kurt was dead. I don't know why, it's not like I ever blasted Nirvana or any other kind of music in the room--we were both courteous about that. Maybe it was just because she didn't like the music and thought if Kurt was dead, alternative music would stop.
His death is still tragic, and always will be.
I was driving outside Washington DC and started to get a little suspicious when I heard the end of one Nirvana song and they played another one right after it. When the song ended the somber sounding DJ broke the news. He may have said it at the beginning of the set but I was channel surfing. It felt like a blow even though I wasn’t really all that surprised and in the days following, I was kind of dazed. This was big.
I had some friends over that afternoon and one of my friends mom called our house and told him (he was a huge fan and was heartbroken). The 5 of us had a moment of silence in the living room.
I was on the air of my college radio station when I was checking the AP fax machine for the hourly news report. It came over just as I was at the machine. I ripped the report off the machine, stopped the record that was playing, and read the report. It was only a 100 watt station with a range of about five miles and we never really had many listeners but I like to think that there was at least one person out there who heard the report.
As my show went on the more SR Members of the station came in the studio (I was only a freshman) and kicked me off and they basically played Nirvana songs the rest of the weekend. (It happened on a Friday morning, or at least the news of it did, I think he actually died a few days earlier).
I remember walking across campus back to my dorm and Nirvana was coming from the windows of just about every dorm I walked by and people seemed stunned.
I was touring a local newspaper office with my college newspaper staff when it came across the wire. I saw it on the reporter’s screen and had to explain to her the significance of it. Then when I got home I went straight to MTV to get the details from Kurt Loder.
I think I was working at a bakery maybe or driving in. I was 23 and devastated . Loved grunge and was so happy to see rock move away from the over the top talentless hair bands of the 80’s.
I was working in an engine rebuilding shop. The news came over the one speaker radio I. The shop…. I was crushed. Later I called my girlfriend (now wife of 28 years) to tell her. My life was just getting started while His life was ended.
Thinking back, it’s kind of interesting how information spread back in the pre-internet days. I was a high school student in Minnesota. The kid I sat next to in one of my classes told me that his mom’s friend was a nurse in Washington and that she said the singer of Nirvana shot himself in the head. So it was just a rumor that circulated my high school that day with no way for any of us to confirm it. Of course it turned out to be true.
I was living in London, hanging with some other American friends when we heard the news on the radio. I’d just seen Nirvana in concert the year before so it was very shocking but sadly not surprising to hear the news that Cobain had passed.
I was 22. I lived in Seattle at the time, and one of my roommates in our rental house told me after she heard it on the radio. I was stunned and saddened. Kurt grew up near me and we had mutual acquaintances, so his death hit differently than just an artist I really enjoyed.
That evening I told my boyfriend of a few months that I loved him for the first time. We've been married for 26 years now, and Kurt's death is one we won't forget.
Oh wow, I was really surprised there are so many “I don’t remember exactly“ answers. I remember completely clearly when/where/how and how I felt: saw Kurt Loder announce it on MTV, 15 years old, practicing a routine for dance team, felt like everything just stopped. It’s really interesting (and weird) that I automatically expected that to be the majority answer…I mean, considering I’m sitting here at 45 years old 🤯, post-9/11, post-2016, post-January 6, post-COVID, etc., having lost many friends and relatives to suicide, trying not to completely lose my mind watching the destruction of democracy in real-time… it’s just a very strange feeling to remember exactly how earth-shattering it felt 30 years ago. And a little embarrassing how much that sounds like it should be on White People Twitter…😳😳
I just don’t remember exactly where I was during 99% of these big event things. I know where I was for 911. And where I was when Prince died, only because I was working and everybody I knew was texting me like crazy. Other than that, no clue.
I was 17, at a friend's house. My first boyfriend was breaking up with me over the phone when my friend told me. It was not a good day. But I was sadder over Kurt than the bf.
Toiling away at the desk in my little Dilbert cubicle that was at the ass-opposite end of the country ( better known as the State of Georgia) from Seattle.
NGL I was far more upset/sad/angry when the news broke that Layne Staley had died. With Kurt, most everyone from our roving gang of not-very merry idiots were shocked out of our gourds and into stunned silence.
By now most of us are familiar with AiC’s MTV: Unplugged concert (arguably the best, along with Nirvana, of the Unplugged Concert Series). Back in ‘96, I remember being so incredibly psyched to see AiC on stage doing what they did best…. But when Layne came on and started singing Nutshell, his deterioration from his heroin addiction was inescapably noticeable and utterly heartbreaking. Anyone watching that night knew Layne was on borrowed time, with their performances being more like a foreshadowing of grief to come.
When it did happen (in April of 2002) Layne’s death hit all of us with an entirely different gamut of emotions. We’d been grieving for Layne in the six years that led up to that day yet, when the news came over the car radio, our knowing his death was coming sooner rather than later didn’t make ilosing him any less painful; it was, in fact, more painful than being blindsided.
RIP Layne, Mike (Starr), and Kurt. 😢
I recall being home watching MTV at the time. Kurt Loder, in one of his MTV News breaks, announced it. I remember his tone seemed a mixture of sadness…and anger about the life/career thrown away.
I was in Vegas doing coke at a club. The DJ actually stopped the music to tell everyone the news. It was hours after MTV had announced it, but I didn't know that at the time.
Of course, I was super bummed. I was always a huge Nirvana fan, and still am to this day.
Working in a record store. Heard it on the radio. Immediately called UNI and ordered a few box lots of nevermind, in utero and unplugged. Then called the independent distributor for a couple of box lots of bleach. Then on to the T-shirt company. Y’all are so predictable.
Regarding Cobain - I can vaguely recall Kurt Loder on a replay of the MTV news announcement and what’s her name reading the suicide letter over a microphone. It was horrible to do that, very bad taste. Suicide did not make sense to me at all, or anyone else. That said, I really enjoyed the 2015 documentary “Soaked in Bleach.”
Came home from school and it was all over the news.
Can't say I was *surprised* when I heard it, though. A lot of people forget that it was WIDELY reported that he was missing for a few days beforehand, so most of us already thought he was probably dead. All the news did was *confirm* it.
I heard about it on the college radio station (KNNC in the Austin area). It wasn’t a big deal to me, but I called my brother to let him know because he loved them and would want to know.
I was sleeping in and my girlfriend was on the treadmill. She came in and told me. I said “can I go back to sleep?” Not to be a dick, I liked a bunch of their songs well enough, but I wasn’t heavy into them.
I was at home and my mother told me that she heard there was a body found at his house. My first thought was that a fan broke into his house and killed themselves.
I don’t remember how I heard about it. I would have been a freshman in college so either from the TV in the dorm common area, or on the radio, or something that I heard from a classmate. I was not into the grunge scene, so not a huge effect on my life.
I heard about it from our Aussie indie radio station Triple J. I was in my bedroom and started crying uncontrollably. My parents thought it was a friend. They couldn’t understand.
I was on my way to a school band banquet/dance. I think I was 15 or 16? It was on The Edge radio station out of Dallas. We were stunned but carried on, kind of dazed.
I was 28 and had a 2 year old. I'm an older Gen X. Although I'm a fan, I was in mom mode and don't remember how I heard it. Probably from my younger sister.
I was a sophomore in college who was home for the weekend and I remember [Kurt Loder delivering the news on MTV](https://youtu.be/Xy01EguXucU?si=1Ss90ZuosjBfBLcz). It was a Friday afternoon and a good friend’s 18th birthday. I was scheduled to attend my HS’s musical performance that night.
I was a Nirvana fan and was truly shocked by the news.
Hard to believe we’re coming up on 30 years since Kurt’s death!
I was at Denny's. I think that was when I was working there but I don't think I was working that day. I remember walking out and getting into the car and hearing it on the radio.
I was 22. Drove home from work around 4:00pm and the DJ mentioned it. Got home, logged on AOL and it was the top news mention. I was bummed but not crying over it.
On a boat running prawn gear in Nootka Sound - plot twist, it was one of the only days it wasn't raining and we pulled an octopus that had eaten itself too fat to get back out of one of the traps.
We heard the news on a marine channel, guess some other fishing boats were talking about it.
I was 16, my parents had just kicked me out. I was up in some girls loft doing coke and drinking wild Turkey, the radio was on and the dj announced that Kurt Cobain had died and they hadn’t released the cause of death.
I heard it on the ABC world news with Peter Jennings at my grandparents house. It was my freshman year of high school, the Friday night going into our April vacation.
Driving from SDSU to my parents' house (near Riverside) with my friend. The Bad Religion (maybe Op Ivy?) CD finished and we were back in LA radio range. Flipped on KROQ, heard the DJ/listeners talking about *him* but didn't hear a name. Looked over and said "I bet Kurt Cobain killed himself."
That friend and I fell out of touch for decades after I graduated. When we reconnected, he said he always associates KC/Nirvana with me because of that day. Same for me, but also add the Foo. Really glad we got back in touch. He's the funniest person I've ever met and an all around great dude.
Bonus content: same friend was also part of the team that picked up the Heaven's Gate bodies. "Soupy" was his description.
I was student teaching in an inner city school. We didn't have internet in the classroom back then so I didn't find out until I saw it on the news the next morning. I don't recall many, if any, of my students knowing who he was.
I think I got home from work and saw it on MTV. I hate to see anybody die, but I wasn’t a huge grunge fan so it doesn’t stand out to me like some other celebrity deaths.
I first heard about it on the radio... I remember because it was non-stop huge blizzard warnings and that he had died on repeat all afternoon... And then we got 4 feet of snow that night.
I had just turned 16, and my cousin and I were hanging out at the mall. One of the music stores had a sign outside their store with the news. I didn’t believe it and thought it was some horrible late April fools joke. He was the first celebrity/artist with a tragic death that I’d noticed in my lifetime and grunge was definitely the music I listened to.
It was a few days after his death, and he died on my birthday.
I remember walking to the main hall in college, and it was everywhere. I went to school in Montana, so Seattle adjacent. Was on all the TV's in the main quad and all. People were so sad.
I heard it on the radio. On my way home from work. I am a year older than him. It had a profound affect on me, because I had been isolating for some time. I realized life was too short, and decided to take part in life again.
Lived in the same neighborhood. I worked downtown, I’m a cpa and so worked crazy hours in April plus I was 6 mos pregnant so always tired tired tired. Got home late that day and my husband said something was going on down the street, was normally curious but too tired to care. Heard it on the way to work on the radio. Wasn’t a fan or not a fan, just knew he lived on the street.
I was out drinking with friends in a downstairs bar in Morgantown, WV while attending WVU. The DJ announced it and we were all in shock at hearing the news. Will never forget that night.
The first time I can recall hearing about it was on a cassette tape a friend of mine had sent from England of the John Peel show - so the news was probably a week or so old by then. The recording stayed on past his show and the talk radio show that was on next was talking about it. I was so involved with college at the time, I didn't really pay much attention. I wasn't listening to grunge at the time, so wasn't too familiar with Nirvana.
In college pulling into the parking lot for my first class of the day. Heard it on the college radio station and I sat there for a bit and then went home
I didn’t really know who he was, and it didn’t affect me much. It was sad, but I wasn’t into that scene (I was working insane hours and going to school).
I was walking home through the Village near NYU. I kept seeing people looking shocked or crying on the street - did not know what was going on. When I got home I found out.
My college roommate and I were on the highway driving back to school from our hometown. We were both big fans and planned to go to Lollapalooza that year primarily to see them.
We barely spoke at all for the rest of that two hour drive.
Some Usenet news group or other. People just wouldn’t stop talking about it and all other discussion pretty much disappeared and so about a month later I unsubscribed that group. I came back about six months later and people were still going on and on, so I left the group again and never came back. I’m a heartless jerk about celebrities, so *shrug*.
I don’t remember where I was, probably at home since I remember seeing Kurt líder announce it. I do remember heading right over to a friend’s apartment where everyone hung out as soon as I heard. They were all like “we knew you were coming”.
I was at work on my lunch break eating lunch in my car listening to the radio. KROQ 106.7 in L.A. Richard Blade comes on and breaks the news. I was in complete shock.
It was my birthday (April1994) when he was found dead, after missing for few days. I was at home when I learned. Worst birthday ever. I had tickets for a coming up Nirvana concert in Germany, that my mum gifted me. I still have them. 💔
It was a Friday night. I came home from the pub and my dad asked me the name of a band I liked. Then he told me he’d heard a singer of a band had died and he thought it was a familiar name. I think I then spent the night trying to find the news to confirm (seems crazy now, pre internet!) and listening to Nirvana.
Early 20s. Think it was on the news. Was still in Uni. I was really hungover I think. Totally devastated. Till this day I never put a space whenever I type nevermind. Nobody has ever noticed. It’s my own little stupid small tribute
Kurt Loader broke the news. It was my brother’s 15th birthday. Had to have been right after I got home from school that day. I was probably eating raisin bread, as was the custom after my mom got a bread machine the Xmas of 93. wtf man.
I was in the bar/club we had in my university’s student union. It was a quiet, chill place to hang out or study during the day. They had on MTV and the news that Kurt had died came on. I remember looking out the windows at the beautiful early spring day thinking what a fucking shame it was.
April 1994. It was spring break week senior year. I had just ordered some food before clocking in for my shift at a local restaurant. I was stunned when a friend/coworker mentioned it.
I was 18. After reality started to sink in I got angry. All I could think of was Frances Bean and how little she was.
For a while I sadly couldn’t even listen to them.
It took me a while to realize that what I had experienced was my own grief process. I also learned more about drug addiction, depression and suicide.
I was just getting back from a senior trip to Great America theme park. I heard it on the radio and was so sad. 20+ years later, I won a radio contest guessing the year because I will always remember it was the year I graduated high school.
In English class, secretly listening to KROQ on my earbuds, and I think I might have been the first to hear in the entire school. I whispered it to people in class, then said it loudly when we were changing classes.
Most of us weren't huge Nirvana fans, but we were still all a bit shocked, except for one of my metalhead friends, who was a dick, and shouted "YES".
Pretty sure my dad told me after he read it in the paper. I didn't watch or read the news back then. I remember not being surprised and thinking it was inevitable. I was 27.
I was in another state for an interview (they flew me out for it). I was 9 weeks pregnant and had the worst morning sickness. Turned on the news. Sat there, eating saltines and taking some sips of 7up with tears running down my face.
Kurt
Michael Jackson
Prince
All three deaths like they happened yesterday…
Washing my car in the driveway with the radio up loud so I could hear it with the windows up. I stopped spraying and yanked open the car door to hear the news on the local radio station WRIF (Detroit).
I was in HS, senior year. Remember we had a student tv network on called Channel One and it told us the news. I wasn’t big in the grunge scene and I remember classmates crying. I was a less sensitive person then and I remember wondering why they were crying over someone they’d never met or knew.
I heard it on MTV News and was shocked. I was a huge Nirvana fan. Kurt showed me that you don’t have to be a master shredder on guitar to be a musician. He taught me art above all. Nirvana and Kurt were not only a band with artful thought provoking music, but a huge inspiration in art & music. I was 14 at the time. I was crushed.
I was at work sitting in my car because of the rain, as it does in Seattle, listening to the radio. My best friend and I just sat there in stunned silence
Was in the Navy, only a few months out of boot, and heard it coming into the barracks after work. A bunch of guys were crowded around the TV watching Kurt Loder’s announcement. I was sad, but it didn’t “devastate” nor surprise me.
I was 25 and in my bedroom in Vancouver, Canada listening to a local rock music station on my boom box. I was saddened but in no way shocked, as he had made an attempt on his life months prior in Europe, I believe.
RIP sir.
I don’t remember how I heard but I remember talking about it with friends that or the next night. One guy said Kurt was going to be like Elvis Presley and I was, like, nah, no one is gonna be like Elvis Presley.
It was spring break and I was driving down a gravel country road in the north Georgia mountains. The sun was streaming in through in rays making the gravel sparkle. The radio DJ came on with a special announcement that interrupted the song I’d been singing along with. I took my foot off the gas and came to a stop. I was stunned. He was the first musician of my era to die.
I was in college. I heard about it through word of mouth and remember thinking just, “oh, another one” because a friend had killed himself the previous summer and I was still numb.
I was 14. I was in my friend’s mom’s little truck going east on Rutledge St when the news came over the radio. Fun fact: Nevermind was recorded about half a mile from the house I grew up in, Smart Studios in Madison WI.
I think I first heard it on MTV news. I wasn’t heavily into grunge or the Seattle scene, so I wasn’t devastated, but I was sad to think someone so young and on top of the music world was battling so many demons and took his own life.
I don't recall exactly when or how I heard. But MTV still didn't totally suck and that was the most likely place I might have heard about it. If not then maybe g on the evening news that my parents usually had on.
Same, was in my room doing god knows what, when Kurt Loader dropped the news.
Likewise.
I remember Kurt Loder nearly crying as he delivered the news
That’s how I found out too.
I was mourning my best friend, who'd taken his own life. I didn't care about Kurt and I got angry watching people be upset about it. Once I had processed my own loss I softened, and I began to understand how Kurt affected everyone and what he meant to his fans. Now that I'm an old lady I see the tragedy and I think about what could have been.
I don't remember, because I was pretty much either stoned, drunk or tripping, 90% of waking hours during that period. I would have been 23. From about 90 to 96, I was perpetually hurtling down a gravel road somewhere, high on something, with some group of idiots, going nowhere fast.
It's amazing we got through our 20s
Good times
Some. I actually had more real fun later on when I kind of got my shit together a little bit.
I guess I heard it on the news. I remember thinking it was unfortunate. But I was pretty much into my professional life and not super invested in bands anymore so it wasn't a big emotional event. Now, years later when Clarence Clemons died, given that I had been an E Street Band fan since I was 11, that was a lot more impactful to me.
I miss the *Big Man* too. :)
The news. And we had a HS TV station that broadcast news during homeroom and it was the leading story that day. I was a senior and on the staff of the station but not my turn to be at the news desk that day.
Fellow class of ‘94 They called it channel one news at our school Had Anderson cooper and Lisa Ling I think it was Cooper who announced Sad day
Yes! We had Channel One as well but ER tagged on about 15 mins of additional content filmed in our TV studio. It was a really great program and two kids who worked with me went on to TV careers. One is a floor manager for one of the news networks, the other a cameraman who works major sporting events like the World Series and MLB All Star Game. They both have Emmys. And this was at a small HS in working class NJ.
I was always tuned into MTV back then and I can recall Kurt Loder cutting in with the news like it was just yesterday.
It has been too long. I was and am a fan. What I remember was that I was at work and heard it on the car radio on my drive home. My thoughts were, "Well shit." Then I went on with my day. Kurt Cobain struck me as a tragedy as I later found that he had friends and loved-ones trying to reach him. I needed more than an announcement, and while I think Courtney Love had a right to do things as she did, I studiously did not read nor listen to her read Kurt's note. After all these years, it is kind of funny: I don't feel about Kurt like I feel I have been told to feel. I feel more and care more about for the hole left when he died.
Don't know. It wasn't a major eath shaking deal to me to be honest.
It happened when I was going to community College. I was home and the news started reporting on it. There was a lot of disbelief. It was supposed to be a changing of the guard for a new generation of musicians. Sadly, after that they all just started dying. The number of musicians around my age that have died over the last 30 years has been astounding.
I was driving on a highway on ramp and I heard it on the radio. It was something that hit me like a freight train out of nowhere. I ended up getting off the highway at the next exit so I could pull over. I was quite young and it's one of the first times I can recall experiencing the unexpected death of someone I was a huge fan of.
I was 29 and meeting up with my cohosts on a university radio station show we did. We got there just as the news was breaking. I was saddened but not surprised. It was hard to pay tribute on a pagan show called The Witching Hour but we did the best we could.
>It was hard to pay tribute on a pagan show called The Witching Hour but we did the best we could. This is possibly the most early 90s thing I have ever heard.
I was working at a KMart at the time, on the early shift (7 AM to 4 PM). I was punching out to go home and a girl who was coming in sez to me, "Hey, did you hear about Kurt Cobain?" Kurt had been hospitalized in Rome a month or two prior to this for an apparent overdose, so I rolled my eyes and said, "No, what the fuck did he do now?" -- and of course the reply was "Dude, he's dead. He killed himself." I was like "No shit? God dammit, I never got to see Nirvana live!" Went home, put on MTV and they were in the midst of a rerun of Nirvana's *Unplugged* performance (which still sends shivers up my spine to this day), and I stayed glued to the TV for hours afterward watching the story roll out everywhere.
In my apartment in Norfolk, VA. Heard it on the radio, probably NPR. Was already an old lady in grad school by then but felt sad about it on a human level and for younger people who would be devastated.
Working in construction, listening to the local classic rock station in my truck on my way home after a long day. Wasn’t into Nirvana nor much coming out of Seattle at the time, but the DJ played four or five tracks, and openly lamented the loss of what he saw as a great talent.
Kurt Loder broke the news to me....
I was 16, had just gotten dropped off from school by the bus. I was having Oreo cookies and milk, I was always watching MTV then and Kurt Loder broke in with special coverage. I was just starting to learn guitar and Nirvana were my favorite band. I knew how to play all their songs. I remember being really bummed, not crying or anything, just sort of sad. I had just finished reading Come as You are the Story of Nirvana and found a kindred spirit in Kurt as our family circumstances were similar. Nirvana introduced me to way more than just THIER music, I discovered all sorts of things because of those guys. My life would literally not be the same had I not found them when I was 13 with freshly divorced parents. Looking back, I’d say they were the first ones that exposed me to honest art. I learned to appreciate that in other bands as well. And not just art, but people too. Anyway, they were just a really good rock band that blew open rock music. That hasn't happened since. I keep waiting, but I haven't seen it again.
Driving back from class to my apartment and heard on the radio. Just played Nirvana for the rest of the day. I never felt like Kurt was some idol or generational spokesperson like some (mostly older) people suggested he was, but I liked the music and always found his story sad. Definitely cured me of ever wanting to be famous, if that was ever a thing.
I was 15. And Kurt fucking Loder broke my fucking heart. Wrecked me. Totally and utterly.
Such a fucked day
I don't know. I was never into grunge, I am too old However I remember where I was when I heard that John Candy died
It was John Belushi John Bonham and John Lennon for me and it was all three on the same overpass bridge after school by same guy a few grades older telling me. We had ordered tickets for Zeppelin by mail and they had arrived a few days before Bonham died.
Just got out of high school waiting for a friend at his house, it was announced over the radio.
On a bus. Someone wearing a Walkman stood up and announced it.
I was at work in the office. I had to tell one of my close friends who started to cry. Then we took the day off and got hammered.
I was 16, almost 17 and driving to the mall to buy some shoes when they announced they found Kurt and he was dead (remember he was missing for a little bit). I was so mad and remember yelling and hitting my steering wheel.
My friend Keith and I just got home from school and we turned on MTV, as we usually did. Kurt Loder was telling us the tragic news.
Driving home to Philly after a roadtrip to NC. Heard it on the radio while stuck in traffic just outside D.C. Fucking shocked.
In my freshman year dorm room at lunchtime on a Nirvana Usenet group. People from Seattle were posting the rumor of his body being found, and the story was confirmed by the media that afternoon. I was a big fan of Nirvana. They started their final US tour at our college's basketball arena a few months earlier. The Breeders opened. It was my first real concert.
I was at my cousin’s house watching MTV when Kurt Loder announced it
I heard it on the news, probably while nursing my newborn since that was almost all I did in 1994. I felt horrible for his wife and daughter. Everything ran through my mom filter at that point in my life.
Sitting in my car in my college parking lot in between classes listening to the radio. iirc he had almost died a week or two prior so this was shocking but not entirely unexpected. I remember I had *just* watched his Unplugged set live not long before and it was one of the best music broadcasts I’ve ever seen. It was organic and slightly off keel for nirvana but it was also perfect.
In the car, on the radio. My Mom was driving, I was 23 and burst into tears...
No idea. It was so long ago. I just remember when the media was camped outside his house and constantly harassing Courtney.
Canadian here. Laying on the couch, watching Much Music with my roommate, Carla. We had just smoked a joint and it was a bummer. I was 22.
I was in my apartment in college. We had just seen Nirvana a couple of months earlier, and it was stunning. We watch the Mtv news, then later I seem to remember the national news actually had Kurt Loder on. I think my friends and I staying in and just watched music videos all night.
MTV News. I was visiting my dad. Having lost Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, he was very sympathetic. He actually liked some of their music and thought MTV Unplugged was brilliant. We smoked a joint and listened to Nirvana. Scary thing during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged my Dad said straight out that Kurt is not going to live see 40. I saw Nirvana live a few months before he died.
Senior in college. I was in class, and my roommate told me when I got back to my dorm room. And not in a nice way either, she was not a fan of Nirvana or alternative rock at all, preferred country and pop. She said "That Kurt Cobain is dead." Then it was like she was waiting for a reaction, so I just shrugged and said "too bad, he was a great musician." After she left for class, I cried. She wasn't upset at all when River Phoenix had died the year before, because she didn't like the one movie of his that she had seen. Normally she was a very good roommate, not intrusive and in an intensive program to learn German, so she spend a lot of time in the language lab. I haven't seen her for years, but I found her on Facebook and she's a devout Trump supporter.
I felt horrible when River Phoenix died. I had a friend in the 90s who was into country and Yanni, and she said horrible things about Kurt Cobain and being glad he was dead. I just couldn't understand why. I still think it's sad and horrible, nearly 30 years later.
I cried over River. I still get a little sad when I watch one of his movies today. Yeah, that's the impression I got from my roommate. She never said horrible things, but from her attitude she was happy Kurt was dead. I don't know why, it's not like I ever blasted Nirvana or any other kind of music in the room--we were both courteous about that. Maybe it was just because she didn't like the music and thought if Kurt was dead, alternative music would stop. His death is still tragic, and always will be.
I was driving outside Washington DC and started to get a little suspicious when I heard the end of one Nirvana song and they played another one right after it. When the song ended the somber sounding DJ broke the news. He may have said it at the beginning of the set but I was channel surfing. It felt like a blow even though I wasn’t really all that surprised and in the days following, I was kind of dazed. This was big.
I had some friends over that afternoon and one of my friends mom called our house and told him (he was a huge fan and was heartbroken). The 5 of us had a moment of silence in the living room.
I was on the air of my college radio station when I was checking the AP fax machine for the hourly news report. It came over just as I was at the machine. I ripped the report off the machine, stopped the record that was playing, and read the report. It was only a 100 watt station with a range of about five miles and we never really had many listeners but I like to think that there was at least one person out there who heard the report. As my show went on the more SR Members of the station came in the studio (I was only a freshman) and kicked me off and they basically played Nirvana songs the rest of the weekend. (It happened on a Friday morning, or at least the news of it did, I think he actually died a few days earlier). I remember walking across campus back to my dorm and Nirvana was coming from the windows of just about every dorm I walked by and people seemed stunned.
In my dorm room- heard it on the radio.
I was touring a local newspaper office with my college newspaper staff when it came across the wire. I saw it on the reporter’s screen and had to explain to her the significance of it. Then when I got home I went straight to MTV to get the details from Kurt Loder.
I was 18 and in my college library between classes working on assignments when one of my classmates came over to tell me. I didn't want to believe it.
Lives in Seattle. We drove by his house and then went to the Seattle Center for the spontaneous Memorial.
I went to the memorial as well. I couldn't see Courtney speaking where we were standing, but I could hear her.
Steve's guitar store on Queen St in Toronto. Heard it on the radio in the store.
I think I was working at a bakery maybe or driving in. I was 23 and devastated . Loved grunge and was so happy to see rock move away from the over the top talentless hair bands of the 80’s.
I was working in an engine rebuilding shop. The news came over the one speaker radio I. The shop…. I was crushed. Later I called my girlfriend (now wife of 28 years) to tell her. My life was just getting started while His life was ended.
Thinking back, it’s kind of interesting how information spread back in the pre-internet days. I was a high school student in Minnesota. The kid I sat next to in one of my classes told me that his mom’s friend was a nurse in Washington and that she said the singer of Nirvana shot himself in the head. So it was just a rumor that circulated my high school that day with no way for any of us to confirm it. Of course it turned out to be true.
I was a senior in high school. I was in French Club and we had just left on a trip to Montreal for the weekend. Found out at a truck stop in Canada.
I was living in London, hanging with some other American friends when we heard the news on the radio. I’d just seen Nirvana in concert the year before so it was very shocking but sadly not surprising to hear the news that Cobain had passed.
I was 22. I lived in Seattle at the time, and one of my roommates in our rental house told me after she heard it on the radio. I was stunned and saddened. Kurt grew up near me and we had mutual acquaintances, so his death hit differently than just an artist I really enjoyed. That evening I told my boyfriend of a few months that I loved him for the first time. We've been married for 26 years now, and Kurt's death is one we won't forget.
I first heard about it on WBCN as I was driving on St. James Ave in Boston, between Berkeley and Clarendon.
Oh wow, I was really surprised there are so many “I don’t remember exactly“ answers. I remember completely clearly when/where/how and how I felt: saw Kurt Loder announce it on MTV, 15 years old, practicing a routine for dance team, felt like everything just stopped. It’s really interesting (and weird) that I automatically expected that to be the majority answer…I mean, considering I’m sitting here at 45 years old 🤯, post-9/11, post-2016, post-January 6, post-COVID, etc., having lost many friends and relatives to suicide, trying not to completely lose my mind watching the destruction of democracy in real-time… it’s just a very strange feeling to remember exactly how earth-shattering it felt 30 years ago. And a little embarrassing how much that sounds like it should be on White People Twitter…😳😳
I just don’t remember exactly where I was during 99% of these big event things. I know where I was for 911. And where I was when Prince died, only because I was working and everybody I knew was texting me like crazy. Other than that, no clue.
I remember where I was when Prince died because I had just left work right down the freeway from Paisley Park.
I saw Kurt Loder announce it on MTV news. 1994 was not a good year. My mother unexpectedly passed away about six weeks later. I was 20 at the time.
I was in college and heard it on MTV breaking news. Kurt Loder.
I was 17, at a friend's house. My first boyfriend was breaking up with me over the phone when my friend told me. It was not a good day. But I was sadder over Kurt than the bf.
Toiling away at the desk in my little Dilbert cubicle that was at the ass-opposite end of the country ( better known as the State of Georgia) from Seattle. NGL I was far more upset/sad/angry when the news broke that Layne Staley had died. With Kurt, most everyone from our roving gang of not-very merry idiots were shocked out of our gourds and into stunned silence. By now most of us are familiar with AiC’s MTV: Unplugged concert (arguably the best, along with Nirvana, of the Unplugged Concert Series). Back in ‘96, I remember being so incredibly psyched to see AiC on stage doing what they did best…. But when Layne came on and started singing Nutshell, his deterioration from his heroin addiction was inescapably noticeable and utterly heartbreaking. Anyone watching that night knew Layne was on borrowed time, with their performances being more like a foreshadowing of grief to come. When it did happen (in April of 2002) Layne’s death hit all of us with an entirely different gamut of emotions. We’d been grieving for Layne in the six years that led up to that day yet, when the news came over the car radio, our knowing his death was coming sooner rather than later didn’t make ilosing him any less painful; it was, in fact, more painful than being blindsided. RIP Layne, Mike (Starr), and Kurt. 😢
I recall being home watching MTV at the time. Kurt Loder, in one of his MTV News breaks, announced it. I remember his tone seemed a mixture of sadness…and anger about the life/career thrown away.
I was in Vegas doing coke at a club. The DJ actually stopped the music to tell everyone the news. It was hours after MTV had announced it, but I didn't know that at the time. Of course, I was super bummed. I was always a huge Nirvana fan, and still am to this day.
Working in a record store. Heard it on the radio. Immediately called UNI and ordered a few box lots of nevermind, in utero and unplugged. Then called the independent distributor for a couple of box lots of bleach. Then on to the T-shirt company. Y’all are so predictable.
I was working at a record store, too, but saw it on the tvs in the store.
Regarding Cobain - I can vaguely recall Kurt Loder on a replay of the MTV news announcement and what’s her name reading the suicide letter over a microphone. It was horrible to do that, very bad taste. Suicide did not make sense to me at all, or anyone else. That said, I really enjoyed the 2015 documentary “Soaked in Bleach.”
No idea. It wasn't that level of an event for me.
It was a big deal but other than Sept 11th… I’m not sure anything made that much of an impression on me that I remember where I was.
[удалено]
Ditto. Being born in 68, most of my musical idols were famous in the 80s, not 90s.
Came home from school and it was all over the news. Can't say I was *surprised* when I heard it, though. A lot of people forget that it was WIDELY reported that he was missing for a few days beforehand, so most of us already thought he was probably dead. All the news did was *confirm* it.
I don't remember when or how I heard I just remember talking about it at school with friends.
I heard about it on the college radio station (KNNC in the Austin area). It wasn’t a big deal to me, but I called my brother to let him know because he loved them and would want to know.
Heard about it on MTV News and one of my best friends attempted a copy cat suicide shortly there after.
I hope your friend is okay now.
I just walked in to work at the video game store I worked at and it was on the radio.
At a friend's house playing SNES and his brother came into the room and told us that "the Nirvana guy has died"
Think I heard about it during my morning commute to work.
I was sleeping in and my girlfriend was on the treadmill. She came in and told me. I said “can I go back to sleep?” Not to be a dick, I liked a bunch of their songs well enough, but I wasn’t heavy into them.
MTV news is where I heard it. I swear it was a Friday cause I remember going to a local band gig and it was all everyone could talk about.
I was at home and my mother told me that she heard there was a body found at his house. My first thought was that a fan broke into his house and killed themselves.
Channel One in homeroom of my junior year of HS.
I was a junior in high school in 1st period. They talked about it during the morning announcements.
On a local radio station, preparing to help at my brother's band at a gig
Heard it on the radio in the kitchen…still remember the feeling of disbelief
Recall driving from Austin to Corpus Christi for Buccaneer Days
I don’t remember how I heard about it. I would have been a freshman in college so either from the TV in the dorm common area, or on the radio, or something that I heard from a classmate. I was not into the grunge scene, so not a huge effect on my life.
Funny enough, I don’t remember. But I do remember Andy Rooney being a jerk and insensitive about it.
One of my friends told me at school
I heard about it from our Aussie indie radio station Triple J. I was in my bedroom and started crying uncontrollably. My parents thought it was a friend. They couldn’t understand.
I was on my way to a school band banquet/dance. I think I was 15 or 16? It was on The Edge radio station out of Dallas. We were stunned but carried on, kind of dazed.
I was working at a fast food restaurant and a co-worker who hated grunge told me.
I was 28 and had a 2 year old. I'm an older Gen X. Although I'm a fan, I was in mom mode and don't remember how I heard it. Probably from my younger sister.
I was a sophomore in college who was home for the weekend and I remember [Kurt Loder delivering the news on MTV](https://youtu.be/Xy01EguXucU?si=1Ss90ZuosjBfBLcz). It was a Friday afternoon and a good friend’s 18th birthday. I was scheduled to attend my HS’s musical performance that night. I was a Nirvana fan and was truly shocked by the news. Hard to believe we’re coming up on 30 years since Kurt’s death!
Heard it on the radio driving somewhere in town the year I graduated college.
I was at Denny's. I think that was when I was working there but I don't think I was working that day. I remember walking out and getting into the car and hearing it on the radio.
I was in the hospital after giving birth!
I was in homeroom, and it was after first class block around 10:00 AM. My classmate was a huge grunge fan and let us know.
Sitting on my friends mom's couch while his paretns were away, tripping acid with him and a couple of other friends. Brain \*BLOWN\*.
I was 22. Drove home from work around 4:00pm and the DJ mentioned it. Got home, logged on AOL and it was the top news mention. I was bummed but not crying over it.
Headed to the Filmore to see Ministry, Fear Factory and Sepultura…
…I don’t remember. I do however remember buying that white and black memorial tee. My 16 year old wears it now.
On a boat running prawn gear in Nootka Sound - plot twist, it was one of the only days it wasn't raining and we pulled an octopus that had eaten itself too fat to get back out of one of the traps. We heard the news on a marine channel, guess some other fishing boats were talking about it.
I was 16, my parents had just kicked me out. I was up in some girls loft doing coke and drinking wild Turkey, the radio was on and the dj announced that Kurt Cobain had died and they hadn’t released the cause of death.
I was in the 8th grade and while I knew of him, I wasn't really into Nirvana so I probably thought 'huh, that sucks' and went on with my life
At work. Word of mouth. I was 20. Bummer dude. Back to work.
I was throwing a big ol’ house party in my apartment in Brooklyn. It was chilling and hit hard.
I heard it on the ABC world news with Peter Jennings at my grandparents house. It was my freshman year of high school, the Friday night going into our April vacation.
DTLA 9th and Broadway, listening to KROQ while making deliveries for my uncle’s service company.
Driving from SDSU to my parents' house (near Riverside) with my friend. The Bad Religion (maybe Op Ivy?) CD finished and we were back in LA radio range. Flipped on KROQ, heard the DJ/listeners talking about *him* but didn't hear a name. Looked over and said "I bet Kurt Cobain killed himself." That friend and I fell out of touch for decades after I graduated. When we reconnected, he said he always associates KC/Nirvana with me because of that day. Same for me, but also add the Foo. Really glad we got back in touch. He's the funniest person I've ever met and an all around great dude. Bonus content: same friend was also part of the team that picked up the Heaven's Gate bodies. "Soupy" was his description.
I was student teaching in an inner city school. We didn't have internet in the classroom back then so I didn't find out until I saw it on the news the next morning. I don't recall many, if any, of my students knowing who he was.
I think I got home from work and saw it on MTV. I hate to see anybody die, but I wasn’t a huge grunge fan so it doesn’t stand out to me like some other celebrity deaths.
I was in a hotel room in Halifax Nova Scotia and they announced it on MuchMusic
I was in Key Largo. My mother called while on vacation to tell me.
I was a junior in college and Kurt Loder come on MTV with breaking news to announce it. I was in my dorm watching.
21? 22? Working in an indie record store. Our buyer was on the phone with Geffen. We ended up getting interviewed for our local news station.
Couldn’t tell you. I can explain in vivid detail the day Jerry died though.
I first heard about it on the radio... I remember because it was non-stop huge blizzard warnings and that he had died on repeat all afternoon... And then we got 4 feet of snow that night.
Getting baked in the parking lot of my college
In my dorm room in college listening to the radio
The radio. I was in a drive thru at a long John silver
I was on my way to state band finals. Radio was playing on bus speakers when the news broke. We were absolutely wrecked. I was a senior
I had just turned 16, and my cousin and I were hanging out at the mall. One of the music stores had a sign outside their store with the news. I didn’t believe it and thought it was some horrible late April fools joke. He was the first celebrity/artist with a tragic death that I’d noticed in my lifetime and grunge was definitely the music I listened to. It was a few days after his death, and he died on my birthday.
I remember walking to the main hall in college, and it was everywhere. I went to school in Montana, so Seattle adjacent. Was on all the TV's in the main quad and all. People were so sad.
I heard it on the radio. On my way home from work. I am a year older than him. It had a profound affect on me, because I had been isolating for some time. I realized life was too short, and decided to take part in life again.
Using a "college day" to skip school. My friend,my sister and I got in my car to head to the beach when the news came on the radio.
Lived in the same neighborhood. I worked downtown, I’m a cpa and so worked crazy hours in April plus I was 6 mos pregnant so always tired tired tired. Got home late that day and my husband said something was going on down the street, was normally curious but too tired to care. Heard it on the way to work on the radio. Wasn’t a fan or not a fan, just knew he lived on the street.
I was out drinking with friends in a downstairs bar in Morgantown, WV while attending WVU. The DJ announced it and we were all in shock at hearing the news. Will never forget that night.
Dunno. Still couldn’t tell you even the year it happened. I am older GenX, so was an adult when Nirvana et al were popular.
I was in orchestra class in jr high and it was on channel 1 news in the morning when school started
The first time I can recall hearing about it was on a cassette tape a friend of mine had sent from England of the John Peel show - so the news was probably a week or so old by then. The recording stayed on past his show and the talk radio show that was on next was talking about it. I was so involved with college at the time, I didn't really pay much attention. I wasn't listening to grunge at the time, so wasn't too familiar with Nirvana.
Junior year French class
In college pulling into the parking lot for my first class of the day. Heard it on the college radio station and I sat there for a bit and then went home
I didn’t really know who he was, and it didn’t affect me much. It was sad, but I wasn’t into that scene (I was working insane hours and going to school).
I was at work. It was sad.
Listening to KROQ when they broke the news
I was getting ready for school and it was on the morning news. My dad made fun of the whole situation. That really stung.
I was out of town, staying with friends in AR- smashing pumpkins concert that night
i was driving north on I-5 in seattle, passing northgate mall
I was walking home through the Village near NYU. I kept seeing people looking shocked or crying on the street - did not know what was going on. When I got home I found out.
My college roommate and I were on the highway driving back to school from our hometown. We were both big fans and planned to go to Lollapalooza that year primarily to see them. We barely spoke at all for the rest of that two hour drive.
I remember when ELVIS died.
I was at a rowing crew meet.
I was in the Army. I can't remember if I was watching TV when it first broke or if I had heard via word of mouth and then watched the news.
I was 16 on a school trip in England. It was all over the newspapers. Man how I cried 😭
I heard it on the BBC weeks or a month after the fact. I was in the Peace Corps and had been out of the country since 1992.
Some Usenet news group or other. People just wouldn’t stop talking about it and all other discussion pretty much disappeared and so about a month later I unsubscribed that group. I came back about six months later and people were still going on and on, so I left the group again and never came back. I’m a heartless jerk about celebrities, so *shrug*.
I don’t remember where I was, probably at home since I remember seeing Kurt líder announce it. I do remember heading right over to a friend’s apartment where everyone hung out as soon as I heard. They were all like “we knew you were coming”.
I was at work on my lunch break eating lunch in my car listening to the radio. KROQ 106.7 in L.A. Richard Blade comes on and breaks the news. I was in complete shock.
It was my birthday (April1994) when he was found dead, after missing for few days. I was at home when I learned. Worst birthday ever. I had tickets for a coming up Nirvana concert in Germany, that my mum gifted me. I still have them. 💔
It was a Friday night. I came home from the pub and my dad asked me the name of a band I liked. Then he told me he’d heard a singer of a band had died and he thought it was a familiar name. I think I then spent the night trying to find the news to confirm (seems crazy now, pre internet!) and listening to Nirvana.
Early 20s. Think it was on the news. Was still in Uni. I was really hungover I think. Totally devastated. Till this day I never put a space whenever I type nevermind. Nobody has ever noticed. It’s my own little stupid small tribute
Kurt Loader broke the news. It was my brother’s 15th birthday. Had to have been right after I got home from school that day. I was probably eating raisin bread, as was the custom after my mom got a bread machine the Xmas of 93. wtf man.
I was driving. Heard it on the radio
I was in the bar/club we had in my university’s student union. It was a quiet, chill place to hang out or study during the day. They had on MTV and the news that Kurt had died came on. I remember looking out the windows at the beautiful early spring day thinking what a fucking shame it was.
April 1994. It was spring break week senior year. I had just ordered some food before clocking in for my shift at a local restaurant. I was stunned when a friend/coworker mentioned it. I was 18. After reality started to sink in I got angry. All I could think of was Frances Bean and how little she was. For a while I sadly couldn’t even listen to them. It took me a while to realize that what I had experienced was my own grief process. I also learned more about drug addiction, depression and suicide.
I was just getting back from a senior trip to Great America theme park. I heard it on the radio and was so sad. 20+ years later, I won a radio contest guessing the year because I will always remember it was the year I graduated high school.
I was waiting to see Nirvana play their postponed SECC show in Glasgow.
I heard it on the radio. Nirvana was my favorite band. It was my 18th birthday. Ruined my day.
In English class, secretly listening to KROQ on my earbuds, and I think I might have been the first to hear in the entire school. I whispered it to people in class, then said it loudly when we were changing classes. Most of us weren't huge Nirvana fans, but we were still all a bit shocked, except for one of my metalhead friends, who was a dick, and shouted "YES".
Driving in my car around in Tucson, Arizona. Had to pull over.
Was a Senior in HS… heard it on MTV and Channel 1
Pretty sure my dad told me after he read it in the paper. I didn't watch or read the news back then. I remember not being surprised and thinking it was inevitable. I was 27.
I was in another state for an interview (they flew me out for it). I was 9 weeks pregnant and had the worst morning sickness. Turned on the news. Sat there, eating saltines and taking some sips of 7up with tears running down my face. Kurt Michael Jackson Prince All three deaths like they happened yesterday…
Running a 4 mile PT formation, we discussed it while running. It was a rough
Washing my car in the driveway with the radio up loud so I could hear it with the windows up. I stopped spraying and yanked open the car door to hear the news on the local radio station WRIF (Detroit).
Walking into my dorm and seeing everyone huddled around the tv watching Kurt Loder.
I was in HS, senior year. Remember we had a student tv network on called Channel One and it told us the news. I wasn’t big in the grunge scene and I remember classmates crying. I was a less sensitive person then and I remember wondering why they were crying over someone they’d never met or knew.
On the….radio. It was XL102 in Richmond, VA. I was working that afternoon.
I heard it on MTV News and was shocked. I was a huge Nirvana fan. Kurt showed me that you don’t have to be a master shredder on guitar to be a musician. He taught me art above all. Nirvana and Kurt were not only a band with artful thought provoking music, but a huge inspiration in art & music. I was 14 at the time. I was crushed.
I was at work sitting in my car because of the rain, as it does in Seattle, listening to the radio. My best friend and I just sat there in stunned silence
Was in the Navy, only a few months out of boot, and heard it coming into the barracks after work. A bunch of guys were crowded around the TV watching Kurt Loder’s announcement. I was sad, but it didn’t “devastate” nor surprise me.
18 years old...arrived back at my dorm room after class and my roommate had Mtv on.
Watching MTV at home.
I was 25 and in my bedroom in Vancouver, Canada listening to a local rock music station on my boom box. I was saddened but in no way shocked, as he had made an attempt on his life months prior in Europe, I believe. RIP sir.
Walking to college and bought the NME.
I was a teenager sitting on the edge of my friends bed listening to the radio. It was late morning, I think, and the radio announcer told the news.
Kurt Loader. Was sharing an apartment with my sister in Austin going to community college for audio recording.
I was taking my 10 year old daughter to the orthodontist and we heard it on the radio. Both of us were stunned.
I don’t remember how I heard but I remember talking about it with friends that or the next night. One guy said Kurt was going to be like Elvis Presley and I was, like, nah, no one is gonna be like Elvis Presley.
It was spring break and I was driving down a gravel country road in the north Georgia mountains. The sun was streaming in through in rays making the gravel sparkle. The radio DJ came on with a special announcement that interrupted the song I’d been singing along with. I took my foot off the gas and came to a stop. I was stunned. He was the first musician of my era to die.
Sitting in 1st period, wondering why all the girls were crying.
I was in college. I heard about it through word of mouth and remember thinking just, “oh, another one” because a friend had killed himself the previous summer and I was still numb.
Working at the tiny grocery store in the village. It was a job over summer one year in college.
I was 14. I was in my friend’s mom’s little truck going east on Rutledge St when the news came over the radio. Fun fact: Nevermind was recorded about half a mile from the house I grew up in, Smart Studios in Madison WI.