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Title: Journals by Kurt Cobain ISBN: 1-57322-359-X Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (136 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: It's OK to exploit him as long as his words aren't printed
Comment: All this crap about how Journals is an "invasion of privacy" is a load of bull. The same fans that complain about how Journals "violates" Kurt Cobain have rushed out to buy the distasteful "Greatest Hits" CD just for "You Know You're Right", which was posthumously released just to cash in on the dead musician. Apparently, these hypocrites think it's OK to profit off Kurt's personal feelings and words, but only if they are set to music instead of paper.
Even though I'm not a Nirvana fan anymore, I think this book gives readers an insightful look into Kurt Cobain and his life. In the earlier letters and notes before became famous, he clearly stresses (and obsesses) over minute details of unimportant everyday things, while at the same time seeming to neglect the general everyday things that people are supposed to keep up with (like having a steady job, cleaning house, going out during daylight hours, and even hygiene). Some people interpreted his focusing on minute, unimportant details as perfectionism, but he is no perfectionist, and he himself comments on how he regularly does certain things halfarsed to spite people he doesn't like (even if it ends up hurting him in the long run). It seems like he didn't see himself as being able to attain certain goals, so he just didn't try. I think he was more than capable, but his self-image was so poor that it hindered him from becoming anything more than he thought he could be-- which, in his eyes, was not much. One of his earlier letters to a friend that details one of his many suicide attempts-- one that involved a cinder block and train tracks. He wrote of it so casually that it was quite unnerving. More than anything though, Kurt seemed angry at himself rather than sad for himself. He didn't have much of a regard for his own well-being even in when he was in his late-teens, early-twenties, and that disregard for his body and his life became even more extreme as the years progressed. During his famous "rock star" years, Kurt Cobain sounded like a b*tch to be around. His writing from this period was so vengeful and angry (especially towards his fans and the media) that it verged on the hateful. His writings from this period also show the major shift in his behavior; he was no longer the simple stoner kid that could live off $2.00 a day and a little bit of pot. No, he was now a heroin-fiend who was spending up to $400 for his drug habit alone. No matter how much Kurt denied it (and he denied many, many things), money was obviously a very important part of his now-pathetic life. He began shutting everybody out, and then he ended everything. Other than the personal letters that Kurt wrote, there isn't much else that a Nirvana fan hasn't heard seen before. There are some handwritten lyric sheets, but many fans have seen them in CAYA. This is a pretty good read, even for non-Nirvana fans as well (Kurt's vitriol-filled later writings confirm the fact he wasn't as kind as Rolling Stone and MTV tried to make people believe). Anyway, I recommend this book, but it's not something so good you'll want to read twice. Most public libraries stock Journals, so I say go for it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Pisces-Jesus Man
Comment: Aside from the obvious questions of the intrusive nature of reading this book, as well as the obvious monitoring of Courtney Love over all of the book's contents, "Journals" is absolutely fascinating. I feel that reading alot of things from Kurt as opposed to a journalist's point of view is very satisfying when pertaining to his art. I believe that, for Kurt, his art was the focal point for the bulk of his life. And I also think that once you understand his art, you begin to understand him. In that respect, I give "Journals" beyond 5 stars.
Within the book, Kurt depicts himself as he was: a sensitive, artistic punk rocker. You read many letters to people such as Dale Crover from "The Melvins" and Mark Lannegan from "Screaming Trees". In a letter to Lannegan, he shamefully admits to copying their album onto a cassette tape. This only enforces the punk rock ethic that Kurt held for most of his life.
The term "punk" for Kurt Cobain didn't necessarily mean pierced nostrils or multi-colored hair. Punk rock meant "freedom". It was back to the roots of musical expression: syphoning yourself through an instrument. It wasn't an image, and it wasn't a trend. There were no blinders towards the audience. It was be-yourself-do-it-yourself. It spoke to many people in an inaudible, enticing scream, and it definitely spoke to Kurt Cobain. It basically offered Kurt his way out from the blantant faccade of machismo and the ignorance of homophobia and sexism that he witnessed constantly. It sparked a flow of creative abandon and artistic defiance in Kurt. That raw, unbridled human emotion is very poignant and refreshing even ten years after his death. And the fact that real emotion is so void in music today, only lures people in to experience it for themselves.
It's impossible to read this book and not get somewhat melancholy over what a sensitive, outspoken, brilliant artist we lost in Kurt Cobain. We have the music, we now have his journals, and we have the memories.
Rating: 5
Summary: excited....but as time passed....at a loss
Comment: i dont know...the thought that Kurt Cobains journals had been published had not clicked with me until i saw it printed in a magazine article i had a few years ago...and then it hits me..not only had i forgotton about the jounral, but i had neglected my Nirvana fan curiosity as to buy a copy and read it...and i thought to myself.."wow...a look into the mind of what i think is the greatest song writer of my time." and im filled with this unstoppable rush as to just go out and buy the book right now...but then i read a review...then more...and more...until finaly ive read enough...and im not 100% sure on what to do...buy the book and see what was going on in the mind of Kurt Cobain from the brillant begining to the devistating end, or respect privacy and be a true fan, and look over the book as if it didnt exist to pay full respect to a man who truly deserves only the highest form...
so here i am..torn between buying the book and escaping into the closely guarded mind of Kurt Cobain, or letting it be as it was probably intended, and let the book stay on the shelf..never to be seen by anyone...
i dont know what i want...or what i should do...it is a disrespect in the highest to Kurt Cobain...but im sure that its not all bad...
i could...just for the sake of having it...buy it..being a true fan and never read it...just have it on my shelf for the sake of owning the one thing that probably ment most to this amazing man...let it sit, and collect dust as he probably intended it to do...but...like ive said...im not 100% sure on what to do...
sure you can find a lot of his thoughts in his music...but you cant find it all....
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Title: Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles Cross ISBN: 0786865059 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Who Killed Kurt Cobain? The Mysterious Death of an Icon by Ian Halperin, Max Wallace ISBN: 0806520744 Publisher: Citadel Trade Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad ISBN: 0385471998 Publisher: Main Street Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Never Fade Away : The Kurt Cobain Story by Dave Thompson ISBN: 0312954638 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title:Kurt & Courtney ASIN: B00000JS6K Publisher: Fox Lorber Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.03 |
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