Status
Available
Publication
New York : Riverhead Books, 2003.
Description
Kurt Cobain filled dozens of notebooks with lyrics, drawings and writings about his plans for Nirvana and his thoughts about fame, the state of music and the people who bought and sold him and his music. More than 20 of these notebooks survived his many moves and travels, and have been locked in a safe since his death. His journals reveal an artist who loved music, who knew the history of rock, and who was determined to define his place in that history.
User reviews
LibraryThing member worm
I'm a sucker for diaries. This was no exception, all handwritten too! Funny, distrubing and sad all in one.
LibraryThing member craigschonborn
The book showed me how Kurts mind worked, and showed me how an artist sees the world compared to the normal layman.
Obviously there is no story to speak of, just thughts from himself.
Obviously there is no story to speak of, just thughts from himself.
LibraryThing member Linus_Linus
Though the book is a capitalistic marketing of an icon I could not resist buying it. I wanted to know if he was the same person I had reckoned him to be through his songs. When I finished the book , I had realised how incredibly daft and supremely beautiful was his passion for music. The book is an
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excellent journey of affect through passion and how it burns you out if left on its own. Show Less
LibraryThing member engpunk77
Interesting, mildly. His personal journals; I could relate, as a teenager, but now it seems like nonsense (as do my own journals from that age).
LibraryThing member Lukerik
I notice the editor isn't named. You do get a sense of the author. Whether this is a true image is of course open to debate. I'm not convinced that a man's private and random jottings are a valid basis for judgement, nor even that these things should be made public.
The impression you get is of an
As I say, I don't know that these jottings can really reveal the man, but what we have here has been well arranged to tell a story.
The impression you get is of an
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uneducated, immature and confused man. He lets vent to such hatred against people for being what he himself is and does, banging on about his white guilt and how he's going to change things from within. He can be funny in a darkly ironic way but there's a truely dark and revisionist side here. You can see him degenerate as his drug use takes hold.As I say, I don't know that these jottings can really reveal the man, but what we have here has been well arranged to tell a story.
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LibraryThing member NaleagDeco
It turns out I'm not really all that into Kurt Cobain's thought process.
This is a reproduction of entries from his journal, in some kind of seemingly chronological order. There's no real commentary. I do enjoy the visualness of the book, how it also reproduces the covers of journals so that you can
The last set of musician diaries I read were those Robert Fripp included in his various box sets ... and I found those incredibly enticing because for whatever reason I really wanted to get into his anxieties as an artist and the praxis of what makes King Crimson tick, and how each influences the other.
For whatever reason I did not feel this about the Cobain diaries. They were someone expelling thoughts in any which way onto a page, or the inclusion of a poem or comic which says something of the colour of Kurt Cobain's mind but not necessarily a clear cohesive narrative.
And that's fine, I have a feeling for people who are super into Cobain as an musician or a person or for people who enjoy piecing together a person's mind from the ripped fragments put down on paper, this will be a fun puzzle or window.
For me, perhaps as someone who enjoyed Nirvana but wasn't _transformed_ by it, or at someone with a very linear mental narrative, I found it mostly incohesive and I didn't find the kind of weight I wanted out of what Cobain thought of putting down. By the end there's a lot of stuff dealing with Frances Bean and Courtney. It's more focused but again ... I did not find it more profound than my own relationship woes.
Which is nice, Kurt is human just like most of us. But I guess I'm saying this publication is probably meant for someone but it's not meant for me. If you love artist minds or feelings-driven journals, you'll possibly enjoy this. But I don't think this is particular enlightening in and of itself.
This is a reproduction of entries from his journal, in some kind of seemingly chronological order. There's no real commentary. I do enjoy the visualness of the book, how it also reproduces the covers of journals so that you can
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get a sense of what he would actually have been writing into.The last set of musician diaries I read were those Robert Fripp included in his various box sets ... and I found those incredibly enticing because for whatever reason I really wanted to get into his anxieties as an artist and the praxis of what makes King Crimson tick, and how each influences the other.
For whatever reason I did not feel this about the Cobain diaries. They were someone expelling thoughts in any which way onto a page, or the inclusion of a poem or comic which says something of the colour of Kurt Cobain's mind but not necessarily a clear cohesive narrative.
And that's fine, I have a feeling for people who are super into Cobain as an musician or a person or for people who enjoy piecing together a person's mind from the ripped fragments put down on paper, this will be a fun puzzle or window.
For me, perhaps as someone who enjoyed Nirvana but wasn't _transformed_ by it, or at someone with a very linear mental narrative, I found it mostly incohesive and I didn't find the kind of weight I wanted out of what Cobain thought of putting down. By the end there's a lot of stuff dealing with Frances Bean and Courtney. It's more focused but again ... I did not find it more profound than my own relationship woes.
Which is nice, Kurt is human just like most of us. But I guess I'm saying this publication is probably meant for someone but it's not meant for me. If you love artist minds or feelings-driven journals, you'll possibly enjoy this. But I don't think this is particular enlightening in and of itself.
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LibraryThing member Smokler
Probably means more to you if you love(d) Nirvana. I didn't care for them and therefore didn't care about versions of the lyrics of their songs so I mostly saw this as a look into Kurt Cobain's mind. And for that, its good to know he was more complicated than his packaging and yet still really a
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kid, with lots of ideas that develop and mature when you become an adult which he never really got to do. Show Less
Awards
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (Selection — 2003)