I read something that Tobi Vail said I thought was a good way of explaining his artistry.....if you didn't know, Tobi is the chick that dumped him while he was writing Nevermind so alot of those songs are about her.

She said that Kurt told her the most important thing about songwriting was finding a 'voice' or vocal tone for a specific song. In a way....he was kinda like a method actor in his songwriting. Like the outta-breath, heroin voice in 'dumb'. In an extreme form....you could consider Tom Waits in a similar kind of approach.....actually taking on the role of a character in each song. Kurt did this in albeit a much more subtle way. And the way he did it is one of the main things that sets him apart from other songwriters.