Fury over Cobain suicide shirts

T-shirts printed with Kurt Cobain’s suicide note have been from sale after Nirvana fans described them as “repulsive”.

The tops appeared for sale on fashion website Etsy, but were swiftly removed after Reddit users hit out. They later appeared for sale on eBay, being sold by a retailer in Thailand, but they too are no longer available.

The baseball shirts and tank tops feature a print of Cobain’s hand-written suicide note, which was discovered at the scene of his death in April 1994.

A Reddit thread discussing the tops included comments from outraged fans, one of whom wrote: “This makes me question the morality of the fashion industry and how far people are willing to go just to make a quick buck.

“I’m actually speechless and really this is just sick and obnoxious on every level, no doubt about it, I really see no logical nor creative reason to have this as a ‘fashion’ statement.”

Another user wrote: “As a huge Kurt fan, I find this shit repulsive.”

Other fans recalled seeing similar shirts for sale in the 1990s, not long after Cobain’s death. Some described shirt printed with an image of Cobain’s death certificate.

The suicide note saw the singer talk of his guilt at no longer enjoying his work. It included the line: “There’s good in all of us and I think I simply love people too much, so much that it makes me feel too fucking sad. The sad little, sensitive, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man. Why don’t you just enjoy it? I don’t know!”

He signed off with: “I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

The first fully-authorised Cobain documentary, Montage Of Heck, is due out in UK cinemas this year, featuring feature previously unheard songs.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.