Was Kurt Cobain listening to R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts when he killed himself?

Question

The above article on the A.V. Club website makes the following claim:

This might not be true, but the legend is that this is the song that Kurt Cobain had cued up in his CD player when he was found dead.

(Everybody Hurts is on the album Automatic For The People)

Are these claims true?

The Wikipedia article for Death of Kurt Cobain makes no mention of these claims, neither does the article for Everybody Hurts.

There were no witnesses to Cobain's death. It is impossible to verify claims about what he was listening to when he died. — user5582, Commented Jul 27, 2013 at 20:17
@Sancho: Unless he documented it, was listening to a radio station, listening to the TV, was listening to a CD on repeat. — Oddthinking, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 2:06
@Sancho: If you have references for that, you have an answer. — Oddthinking, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 5:37

user5582user5582 · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-28 14:15:13Z

Was Kurt Cobain listening to R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts when he killed himself?

Nobody can answer this question.

There are no known witnesses to Cobain's death. (Investigation summary)
Cobain did not document that he was listening to or intended to listen to this song when he died. (Suicide note)
The time of death estimate is broad: April 5, 1994. (Death certificate, Investigation summary: "Cobain had been dead for several days".) This prevents any attempt to determine what would have been playing on any radio or TV when he died.
The evidence log does not contain a CD or player. (Evidence log)
The incident report has no mention of a CD or player. (Incident report)
The follow-up report describing the room has no mention of a CD or player. (Follow-up report)

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