Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix are arguably Seattle’s biggest rock music icons. Jimi was raised in Seattle and left to find fame. Kurt moved to Seattle after finding fame. It’s well know fact that Kurt and Jimi usually played left-handed Fender Stratocaster guitars, which they often smashed onstage, and both died at age 27. Here are 10 other remarkable similarities they shared:
1. Kurt and Jimi both had imaginary childhood friends: Kurt’s was “Boddah” and Jimi’s was “Sessa.” Kurt’s suicide note was written to Boddah.
2. Both Kurt and Jimi had troubled childhoods. Kurt and Jimi’s parents both divorced when they were 9 years old. They were both bounced from relative to relative sometimes living with their parents during their childhoods.
3. Both were arrested twice as teens: Kurt at ages 18 and 19 for spray painting graffiti. Jimi was arrested twice for riding in stolen cars at age 19, which led him to enlist in the Army to avoid a 3 year jail sentence.
4. Both had girlfriends who took care of them financially while they were struggling musicians: Kurt had Tracy Marander, Jimi had many girlfriends/benefactors.
5. Neither held regular jobs for long before forming their iconic bands. Kurt jumped from job to job sometimes as a janitor/custodian though he hated cleaning. Jimi served in the Army for about 1 year and was honorably discharged. Jimi never had another non-music job. He had numerous short stints as guitarist for Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, The Isley Brothers, and many others but was usually fired for upstaging them.
6. Both had their original last names changed by previous ancestors. Cobain was originally Coburn, Hendrix was originally Hendricks.
7. Both changed the spelling of their first name as stage names: Jimmy to Jimi and Kurt sometimes used the name Kurdt.
8. Their 1st singles were cover tunes: Nirvana “Love Buzz” (By Shocking Blue), The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Hey Joe” (By Billy Roberts).
9. Both Kurt and Jimi predicted they would become rich and famous. As a child Jimi told his Aunt Dorthy Harding that he was going move far away to another country, never come back to Seattle, and become rich and famous. At 14, Cobain reportedly told a schoolmate that he would be a superstar musician, become rich and famous, and kill himself in a blaze of glory like Jimi Hendrix, thinking Jimi’s death was a suicide.
10. Both Kurt and Jimi released 3 studio albums during their lifetimes and had about 4 years of international fame before they died.
Nirvana: Bleach, Nevermind, In Utero.
9. Both Kurt and Jimi predicted they would become rich and famous. As a child Jimi told his Aunt Dorthy Harding that he was going move far away to another country, never come back to Seattle, and become rich and famous. At 14, Cobain reportedly told a schoolmate that he would be a superstar musician, become rich and famous, and kill himself in a blaze of glory like Jimi Hendrix, thinking Jimi’s death was a suicide.
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