What would troubled Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain be doing at 50, almost 23 years after his death?

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who defined grunge and the rise of alternative rock, would have turned 50 today. He remains an enduring cultural presence even for many young people – but what would he be doing if he were still alive?

The 27-year-old shot himself at his home in Seattle on April 5, 1994, ending his life and, at least symbolically, the grunge movement. Rock has kept evolving since his suicide yet Nevermind, Nirvana’s brutal 1991 masterpiece, is still widely considered one of the most influential albums in history.

“He remains the most important musicians of the last two decades in music, with an album that is still one of the last great rock records,” says Charles Cross, who has written three books on the artist including Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain.

To Cross, Cobain’s key contribution is opening the way for songwriters to tackle a wider emotional range. Nirvana’s songs included Lithium, a frank exploration of Cobain’s manic depression, and the searing Rape Me. “His impact on songwriting was that he made it okay for songs to be about painful emotions, angst, depression – even something as awful as rape,” Cross says.

Nirvana were at the forefront of a boom in alternative rock, as mainstream audiences increasingly listened to Seattle grunge bands who also included Pearl Jam and Soundgarden – as well as hard-edged groups from elsewhere in the United States such as Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins.