Journals by Kurt Cobain
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Book Reviews of Journals
Book Review: Very nice
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is wonderfull, if you are a Nirvana's fan you can read. Very nice.Book Review: It's OK to exploit him as long as his words aren't printed
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Book Review: A must have for songwriters.
Summary: 4 Stars
Basically it's Kurt's scrapbook. As the box set of his demos finally sees the light of day, I'm sure people are going to look into getting this book as well. If you have bought the box set, get this book as well.
All songwriters have a journal with them at all times. You never know when an idea is going to hit you. Many Denny's napkins hang in the Rock Hall and Hard Rock Cafes around the world proving that... I think that if you're starting out in a rock band and want to see how a song can come together, Kurt does write out a decent road map on the lyrics end of it.
I don't think it's a "great" book or essential book (except for people who are songwriters, I feel this one is more useful for them) as much as it is an insight (although I'm sure edited for obvious reasons) of a young guy in a band who writes songs, scraps of poems, drawings (lots of fetuses) criticisms of the day about other bands, his favorite bands and songs, set lists, fliers, rough drafts of album covers, etc. But I would search out Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan's recently released bio, and Lou Reed's collected lyrics as well as this one. I don't feel any of them in particular will make you a great songwriter, but they all serve as tools to a craft.
I think most people bought the book to see if there were hints that he was going to kill himself, and I guess if you look hard enough you'll find it, but not as much as him growing bored with being in a successful band under the limelight. You do sense that he tries to hold on to what integrity he has left as he plays the big venues and does big budget videos.
The only other thing I can say about the "Journals" is to check out some of the bands he's mentioning... they're just as important as any of the songs he did with Nirvana...
Even if you don't like Nirvana, it'll serve as a guide what NOT to do in that case.
Book Review: These one-star reviewers haven't read Journals! Ignore them!
Summary: 4 Stars
Kurt documented his drug abuse, suicide attempts, and other problems in this Journals compilation so that the entries could be read after he killed himself. That's the ONLY reason somebody like him would do that. His entries aren't even numbered or marked with dates because he just wanted to keep track of his daily rants, whines, and problems for future reading. Who they were meant for exactly is obviously a mystery, but he kept them for SOMEONE. The "fans" who say that selling Kurt's Journals is "disgusting" need to actually read the journal entries before making judgments, because there's isn't anything in there that Kurt hasn't mentioned in interviews or Azzerad's CAYA. I hate preachy fans of any band, but that stands double for supposed "morally-upright" Nirvana fans. They practically worship Kurt Cobain when he was the most self-absorbed, self-indulgent druggie ever to grace he music world. They're such hypocrites. He deserved the "tragic" ending to his life that he gave himself. Wanna talk about somebody's greediness? Then talk about Kurt's daily $400 a day heroin binges... and how he killed himself and took hemself out of his daughter's life forever. Kurt allowed Courtney to get her hands on his journal entries by killing himself, so it's his fault if he didn't want them released. All in all, Journals was an interesting read. Ignore the born-again Christian Nirvana reviewers who gave this book one star, and see for yourself if you like it.Book Review: How about some notes, Courtney?
Summary: 4 Stars
You can read everything in print about Kurt but there's nothing like a look inside his head via his hand written journal entries.It's the actual hand writing that got to me. There's something about the act of putting pen to the page that seems more immediate. The crossed out words and phrases, the doodling, the side tracked thoughts--it's fascinating to see it all preserved on notebook paper. The quality of the reproductions is uncannily sharp.
Considering that Courtney exercises tremendous control over Kurt's estate, plus, given her own writing talent, I was surprised that she didn't annotate more of the journals. The drafts of the songs could've used some dating. I would've enjoyed some pointed commentary from her, even. Since the notes are printed very unobtrusively in the back, she could've added much more without destroying the immediacy of the journal entries.