Kurt Cobain
1967 – 1994 · United States
Known for: Voice of Generation X; frontman of Nirvana
“It's better to burn out than to fade away.”
Biography
With one song, Smells Like Teen Spirit, a reluctant frontman from a logging town in Washington ended the reign of glossy 1980s rock and gave a generation its anthem. Kurt Cobain's band Nirvana made Nevermind, an album that knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the charts and made "grunge" the sound of the early 1990s.
He never wanted the fame that came with it; the sensitivity that made his songs so raw made stardom agony. He died at 27, and the loss defined an era. But the honesty remains: for millions of teenagers before and since, Nirvana was the first band that sounded like the inside of their own heads.