Handwritten Note from Kurt Cobain to Tam Ohrmund

This note was handwritten by Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) to Tam (Tamra) Ohrmund in about 1988. Ohrmund acted as Nirvana’s band manager at the time and was involved in the local music scene, even performing with Olympia, Washington bands like The Go Team in the 1980s. It was during this time that Nirvana released their debut 45 “Love Buzz,” which was praised by local music journalists earning them their first contract with Sub Pop Records in late 1988.  

With the release of their sophomore album, Nevermind, on September 24, 1991, and the constant MTV rotation of the single “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana became the face of the once underground genre of Grunge and suddenly made Seattle and the Pacific Northwest the epicenter of popular music culture in the early 1990s. By the end of 1991, Nevermind was selling over 400,000 copies per week and by January 1992, the album was number one on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart. Nirvana’s success paved the way for bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, and others who soon followed. By all accounts, 1992 was the year of Grunge, and that year Nirvana undertook two tours; Cobain married Courtney Love (b. 1964) of the band Hole; Cobain’s and Love’s daughter, Frances Bean, was born; and the band headlined the Reading Festival.  Despite difficulties with drug use, Cobain continued to perform throughout 1993 and the beginning of 1994, when Nirvana had to cut their European tour short due to his overdose in Rome, Italy. On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found in his Seattle home, dead by suicide. He was 27 years old.  

Despite his tragic death which lead to Nirvana disbanding, Nirvana and the Grunge genre have made an indelible mark on popular music that resonates to this day.