Kurt Cobain died with this note about Courtney Love in his wallet


For a case that's been closed for 20 years (and remains closed), Kurt Cobain's suicide continues to make a lot of news. The Seattle Police Department's cold-case unit went back and re-examined the case files for the Nirvana frontman's death, and the only real new development was of a roll of 35 mm film. Then, on Wednesday, the Seattle PD posted 34 previously unreleased photos from Cobain's suicide scene, adding to the two released in March.
The most tantalizing news, though, is a note that was found in Cobain's wallet, released by the Seattle PD, following a freedom of information request, and first published by CBS News. The undated note, written on stationery from San Francisco's Phoenix hotel, is about Cobain's wife, Courtney Love. It isn't particularly kind: "Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife even when shes a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr money for doping and whoring, will you promise to f--k her at least once a week. OK."
(Image via CBSNews.com / Seattle Police Department)
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Since Cobain is dead, we will never know why he wrote the note — anger? a song idea? irony? — or why it was in his wallet. And Seattle police aren't even saying the handwriting is Cobain's. But for what it's worth, as Billboard notes, this is what Cobain wrote about Love in his suicide note: She was a "goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy." Not exactly unqualified adoration, but better than "bitch with zits."
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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