Kurt Cobain and Nirvana - Updated Edition: The Complete Illustrated History by Charles Cross

by Charles R. Cross

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana unintentionally tore the music world asunder with their blockbuster second album Nevermind in 1991, seemingly coming out of nowhere with huge hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit." A quarter century later, the music of this storied band sets your eardrums a-vibrating, a documentary about the band and Kurt Cobain's solo album demand another look at this band that emphatically rejected mainstream popular music and created Grunge. The band represented a much-needed return to punk-inspired rock.Two and a half years after the release of Nevermind, lead singer Kurt Cobain, age 27, killed himself and the brief, stratospheric ride was over. But for fans, the music and the spirit live on.This second edition of the first-ever complete illustrated history of Nirvana features the writing of adroit Grunge writers Andrew Earles, Charles R. Cross, Gillian G. Gaar, Bob Gendron, Todd Martens, Mark Yarm, Jim DeRogatis, Alan di Perna, and Greg Kot, amongst a visual feast. Performance and backstage photography, handbills, singles, tickets, gig posters, and other memorabilia complement the narrative.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Cultural

Paperback

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

See also:

Charles R. Cross

This is Charles R. Cross, a rock music journalist and author based in Seattle. He is the founder of Backstreets magazine, a periodical for fans of Bruce Springsteen, editor of "Springsteen: the Man and His Music," a compilation of Backstreets articles, and is also author of a biography of Kurt Cobain, titled Heavier Than Heaven. His most recent release is entitled Room Full Of Mirrors - A Biography Of Jimi Hendrix.

In 2004, while conducting research for the Hendrix book, Cross rediscovered the gravesite of Jimi Hendrix's mother, Lucille Jeter Hendrix, in an abandoned section of Greenwood Memorial Park, where Jimi Hendrix himself is buried in an elaborate granite memorial. The gravesite of Lucille Hendrix was lost because the standard welfare marker of her day, an inscribed brick, became buried in decades of mud from the area's notorious heavy rains. Cross delivered a moving eulogy for Lucille when a proper headstone was dedicated at the site.

Courtney Love, the widow of Kurt Cobain, has acquired the rights to Heavier Than Heaven, which is now being made into a film by Universal Pictures. This is the first film to be made from Cross' work.

Reviews

[Ponder Woodcock]

The best part is how all the various authors don't waffle about contemplating Kurt Cobain's personal life or scandals or even his death. You want facts? Here are the facts. Here are some cool pictures. Here are some intelligent discussions about things no one is sure about. They do the band the courtesy of considering them as if they were ordinary people with ordinary thoughts and desires, which is a kind and accurate thing to do when considering ordinary people with ordinary thoughts and desires.

[Noreen Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana is an informative book about the history of on of the 90's greatest bands. filled with photos and facts will delight fans as well as music historians.

[Richard Capogrosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent chronology of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana's rise from to superstardom, subsequent tragic end, and the aftermath. The book is not filled with lots of extraneous information. Fact-filled and economically written, it's to the point at each stage of their career. I read the ebook version, which included lots of photos of Cobain's and the band's history. Interspersed throughout the book were brief descriptions of Kurt Cobain's favorite albums, which gave keen insight into his musical influences. Great read.

[Alexia Polasky · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5