He might have had a chance to mature as a musician, kick drugs and do some great work. However, he was murdered by that hole Courtney Love.

He changed music, for the worse. PS He wanted to be in Cheap Trick.

Absolutely.

Every couple of decades, an artist will come along who can actually deliver "3 chords and the truth" - Kurt did that and we listened...

Changed it yes, but change is not always better

Dude was totally overrated. Some dumb ingrate kid whining about his charmed life isn't change.

Ask any people who Kurt Cobain is and most will say I have no idea.

To his generation, yes. To anyone who wasn't "of age" in his prime, no... which works out just fine for those in the know.

Absolutely. Cobain was the creative force behind Nirvana, and Nirvana brought "alternative" rock into the mainstream.

Always felt he was overated...I know Cobain was the voice of his generation blah, blah but he was actually better songwriter than musician

Sure he's influential, but dying early means you don't have to face critics over a longer span. Eddie Vedder hasn't been relevent since VS

Being in my 50s, I can honestly think of only one other musician who gave us comparable gifts to what Kurt gave, that being John Lennon.

Lyrical ingenuity of an 8th grade creative writing class (Serve the Servents, Scentless Apprentice, it's a crime when I rhyme all the time.

Where theres a shift, theres a change...he was part of that shift, he's part of the change. to non believers...listen again...

More for his death and his poetry than as a "musician". If he saw further is was because "he stood on the shoulders of giants."

Mudhoney! Screaming Trees! Soundgarden! AIC! I miss Layne Staley.

if he did, why does so much of today's music suck? crap lyrics, no melodies, zero talent. btw, louder doesn't mean better!

Only few artists come along in a lifetime that change the music scene. Kurt and Nirvana were one of them.

Cobain played punk-which was nothing new. Nirvana was just marketed very well-and people bought it. In Utero was the only good album.

Undoubtedly, Kurt DID change music. From the "grunge" era, though, I MUCH prefer Soundgarden.

Yes. Absolutely. Had he lived longer, as with every other artist, the music would become better. We just didn't get the chance to hear it.

Listen to Kurt and Nirvana. His lyrics and style changed music and he will go down in music history.

Kurt was gifted beyond anyone else in a very gifted Seattle scene. Grunge brought back rock and Kurt led the charge.

The fact that it's still even being debated 15 years later should be answer enough.