Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain

by Charles R. Cross

Charles R. Cross, author of the highly regarded, bestselling Kurt Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven , examines the legacy of the Nirvana frontman and takes on the question: why does Kurt Cobain still matter so much, 20 years after his death?

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Cultural, Pop Culture, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 2014

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

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading about one of your favorite bands should not be boring but this book was. I found it difficult to finish and it wasn't even 200 pages. It was more a dissertation on 90's fashion, addiction and suicide than Kurt Cobain. The author wrote a biography of Kurt Cobain called Heavier Than Heaven and maybe that would of been more interesting. This book was just ok and not what I was expecting.

[Kurt Singer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have used less of the fashion part. Growing up in the Washington, I went to thrift stores for all my flannels. When I saw mall stores selling them I laughed my ass off. The best part was that Kurt didn't even know Teen Spirit was a deodorant.

More entertaining to me was the description of Aberdeen though I laughed when they called the riverfront park along the Wishkah one of Aberdeen's tourist attractions. One of? There are others? Maybe Hoquiam has one, but Aberdeen? The only reason to go there is because of Kurt Cobain.

The one thing I took away was that he only started heroin the last three years of his life. The last part of the book was the best part. If anything, just skip to the last two chapters.

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't start out a Nirvana fan. My sister was four years older than me, and she would blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and I would be annoyed.

To be fair, I still don't much care for that song. It wasn't until "All Apologies" that I covertly started paying attention to what she was listening to. I recall being in a car with her, and her best friend, singing along quietly. Her friend told my sister I was cool, and my sister grumbled.

I was 11 when he died. Which feels really, really young looking back, but it really did affect us. I was in Catholic school, and only a handful of my classmates were fans, but for just a minute, we were bonded with sadness that there would be no more Nirvana. We would never get to see them live.

I'm still unhappy about that one. It's on the list, when I finally meet The Doctor. We're going back.

This book is fantastic. Halfway through, I started texting my best friend (another huge Nirvana fan, but we didn't meet until three or four years after he was gone) facts. I also pointed out that this is a very short book, and she'll have plenty of time to read it between child wrangling before it has to be back to the library.

I love this book not just because I'm a Nirvana fan, but because of what it is. It's how the world was affected by one man, by one band. I live for this stuff. It's the butterfly flapping her wings in a rainforest.

I want more books like this. I want to know how other musicians, other pop culture icons, have affected the way the world is, long after they're gone.

Mind, I'm picky. I don't want to know how Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears changed the world. Only important people.

I do wish this book had pictures. I don't know if it's a licensing issue or not. But I spent an inordinate amount of time googling to find the pictures discussed, and I was intensely irritated that I couldn't find Nirvana on SNL in 1992 on Youtube.

[Stacee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just going into high school when Nevermind was released and still there when Kurt died. His music is some of the best, was the soundtrack to my teenage years and is something I still listen to quite often.

Overall, the success for Kurt and Nirvana is something that not many artists [if any] have accomplished. HWAN talks about the origin of the word "grunge" as well as the repercussions of it. Such as designers making $6k trench coats replicating Kurt's $5 thrift shop version. Or that Kurt's sister found out about his death on the radio. Or the fact that Kurt's hometown of Aberdeen didn't want to commemorate him in any way because he was a drug addict. And of course, there's talk of the ever popular conspiracy theory.

But it's much more than that. Charles talks about depression, drug use, addiction and recovery. Not just for celebrities and rock stars, but for teenagers and adults. Normal people out there who might need help.

It isn't just another author puking up biography facts about Kurt and listing the chronological successes of Nirvana. Instead, Charles takes a seemingly personal approach. He interjects his tale with things he saw or experienced himself as well as quotes from various sources. And while that may seem trite, it is executed very well and makes the story relatable.

**Thanks to It Books and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**

[Hannah Pence Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciated this dive into the cultural, economic & sociological impacts of Kurt on the world.
Most books about him tend to try to peer into his mind to dissect the nature of his demise, where this one is more about the importance of his time here with us & the cultural importance of his contributions.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely review on here but I couldn't put this book down.
Sure, a lot of it covers my often whiskey fuelled arguments to Nirvana nay-sayers about what Nirvana and Kurt meant even if you're not a fan and the way they drove a change in music culture that we won't see again, but it also deals with the legacy in other areas like the impact on Suicide.
If you are a fan of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana or just the history of music and the way it moves a population then you should read this book, it's well researched but also has a lot of heart and you can tell that Cross has a personal connection to what he's writing about and has learnt along the way.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh...Charles Cross with his fourth book about Nirvana. Will he ever stop beating a dead horse? This is a thin little volume that tells you nothing new, just the usual PC drivel that was concocted for the press. Apparently Mr Cross has a hard on for someone named Adele that I have never heard of...he mentions this person several times...did she pay for product placement?
Don't waste your time or money on this book. At least with his Cobain Unseen, there were some lovely pictures of Kurt. This just seems like a desperate attempt to once again cash in on the Cobain name.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this really stunk. I'm not sure what the author was thinking except for finding ways to pat himself on the shoulder for his link/connection to Cobain, but this was a letdown. I was hoping it would start to click, but it never did. It felt like a high-school essay where he threw a lot of fluff in the book to hit the minimum number of pages to qualify as a book.

[ana neptuni · Rating 5 out of 5]

eu não dava NADA pra esse livro quando comecei ele. era muito curto pra aprofundar verdadeiramente em uma história e personalidade tão complexas quanto a do kurt. mas me surpreendi muito! a premissa do livro é ótima, e a divisão de capítulos pelos aspectos que o kurt impactou durante a sua vida, como a moda, a cultura, e a própria seattle, é genial. além do mais, o autor traz dados científicos, quando necessário, de pessoas com autoridade no assunto (como o vício em drogas, suicídio, etc). diversas considerações GENIAIS são feitas, não somente sobre o kurt, sua vida e sua morte, como também da questão do suicídio e do vício em drogas como um todo.
a tradução também é impecável, parabéns, roberto muggiati, pelo trabalho incrível. o melhor de tudo foi o detalhe, no final dos agradecimentos: o autor menciona serviços que possam auxiliar pessoas que estão passando por problemas como os de kurt, como o vício em drogas, e o tradutor inseriu uma nota mencionando serviços equivalentes no brasil!
muito incrível tudo. amei

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

“We didn’t bring punk to the mainstream, we brought the mainstream to punk.”

Krist Novoselic

It’s scary to think that it’s now been thirty years since Cobain’s premature passing, like millions of others I have my own “remember where I was angle” when I found out and Like many in that so called “27 Club” Cobain has now been dead longer than he was alive. Even this book is a decade old and to be honest there isn’t a great deal in here to justify its appearance, we get some decent trivia here and there, like the amusing story of the Grunge Speak hoax which fooled those smug elites over at“The New York Times”, but nothing that really merits this book, beyond the author already having written about Cobain in “Heavier Than Heaven”.

Initially I wasn’t too convinced or impressed by this, but it seemed to grow stronger the longer it went on. Although far from essential reading but still interesting in enough places for diehards and others to enjoy.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read and written well enough that I read through it very quickly. But there's a lot of honestly quite bold, provocative claims that I'm surprised there isn't a reference list in the back to support some of those. I realize not every social phenomenon in the world gets peer reviewed literature about it but I'm surprised there isn't any. But I appreciate the book for introducing all these new perspectives to me.

[Ryan H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided a great background Cobain while featuring his lasting impact and legacy he left on music, culture, and society.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here We Are Now by Charles R. Cross is a 2014 Harper Collins publication. I was provided a copy of this book from the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

"When you wake up from your dream, that haunting red Line One button is still flashing, still waiting for you. And he's still gone"

It has been nearly twenty years since Kurt Cobain's death. With the group , Nirvana, about to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it is fitting that this book takes us back to the time when music changed forever and how Kurt Cobain's influence is still pertinent today.

In the late 1980's the music industry was all about cheesy videos, hair metal, and synth pop music. When Nirvana broke through the underground music scene to take the music industry by storm, no one could have imagined what an incredible and long term influence the group, their music and their front man Kurt Cobain was have.
This book explores the beginning of "grunge" music , Kurt's sudden success and the impact it had on an already fragile personality. We study the impact on fashion- the flannel shirts and ripped up jeans, which Cobain never intended as a fashion statement, culminated with a six thousand dollar trench coat. The influence this style would have on Eddie Vedder ( Pearl Jam) and Layne Staley ( Alice in Chains) who mimicked Cobain's low key clothing choices.

Naturally, the drug addictions and the suicide had to be touched upon. Cobain was sensitive and had physical ailments and a predisposition to suicide. He had a hard time with fame . None of that is news, but you can't talk about Cobain and leave that out.

The main focus of this book is to remind us of the huge and long lasting effect that Cobain and Nirvana had on music, lifestyle, fashion and still holds a special place on the heart and minds of a generation. Fans, to this day, do not have a sense of humor about Cobain and do not like anyone using his image for something he never represented in any way. Take for example the Doc Martens ad that sparked such controversy. It's telling that people felt so very strongly about it.

The Last Rock Star?

The author speculates that Kurt Cobain was perhaps the last rock star. With you tube, MP3s, streaming, downloads all having an impact on the way people experience music, "Never Mind was one of the last albums that had such an enormous impact. Cobain was the last person that put a face and voice to a new generation. Since then, no one has come along that has made such ripple. I would have to agree with the author on this one.

I enjoyed reading the statistics the author pointed out about Never Mind, Nirvana, and Kurt Cobain. It was an eye opening observation for me. I didn't really jump into the grunge movement at the time it was so popular. I was married and raising two small children. Music in my house was tame and benign and it wasn't until my children started to listen to rock music that I really listened to Nirvana. Again, that is really telling. Kurt has been gone for some time by then and my son was really into this group and to this day is one of biggest Alice in Chains fans. It wasn't until I read this book that I really understood the impact Nirvana had on our culture.

I recommend this book to fans of Nirvana, and Kurt Cobain, but also to those that enjoy reading pop culture history, performance arts books and books about music in general.

[Paul Stolp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid. Cross, who wrote the definitive (so far, anyway) Kurt Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven acquits himself well here as he attempts to answer the question of why Kurt Cobain mattered and still matters today. While the book is both slight (177 pages) and lacks a bit of cohesion, it is clearly a personal work for Cross. If the book has a fault, it's that it really doesn't explore the depth of Cobain's musical impact. Maybe that makes sense; there are certainly plenty of other works out there that do. I read this over two days, during which I also watched Hit So Hard, the documentary of Patty Schemel, Hole's drummer during their heyday. The documentary (which I highly recommend) contains intimate home footage of Kurt, Courtney and Francis in the last year of his life. In it his sense of humor comes through, something that has gotten lost in the endless mythologizing of his life and art. As always, it comes down to the music. It may be true that more people know of Kurt Cobain because of his suicide, and that is an inevitable part of his cultural legacy. But it his music in which many still find inspiration and shelter (myself included). Here We Are Now makes a valiant attempt to contextualize this, and for that it should be applauded. I wouldn't call it essential reading for fans of Nirvana's music (Heavier Than Heaven most certainly is), but the book offers a refreshing alternative to the myth-making and is a solid read. Especially for those of us with a yellowing stack of Rockets on our bookshelves.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cross is an excellent writer, and I would direct anyone with interest in Kurt Cobain to read his wonderful and definitive biography Heavier Than Heaven. This book, however, is a mish-mash. It's kind of a semi-biographical survey of Cobain, with interspersed elements of modern music, fashion, etc. It's almost a memoir for Cross, even though it doesn't seem intended to be.

The more Cross stresses the lasting impact of Cobain, the more I think he is overplaying his hand. Clearly Cobain was and still is important to him, personally and professionally. It's also possible the Seattle scene or his personal coverage of music gives him a unique vantage point for judging Cobain's lasting impact. But I actually think that Cobain has almost no current impact whatsoever, and that Nirvana is put on countless Best Of lists not for the reasons Cross thinks (that it was some kind of magical, last rock star ever thing), but because people have nostalgia for it. I certainly do, and I never listen to it any more.

[Jes Hancock · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars*

Let me start off by saying that I really wanted to love this book as much as I love Kurt Cobain. However, this book was more of a history of "Grunge"/Seattle in the '90s, more than a study on the impact of Kurt Cobain. The entire first half of the book was nothing but a timeline of the Grunge movement and it's impact on culture through the decades.

Also, I hate the writer's style. He plugs himself/his "personal relationship with Kurt" and his former magazine way too often and it gets annoying quickly. He seems arrogant and a braggart.

The last two chapters were the most interesting in the book. My suggestion is just to read them.

I do like that he presented both the good and bad about Kurt, when he talked about him. He mostly just analyzed Seattle culture and grunge culture by using slight connections to Kurt, and some of them were tenuous at best.

[Dan Solomon]

Quick read, with some interesting details and some insight. I think I expected more from a book by Cross, with the decades of reflection he had to think about Cobain, but still a worthwhile way to spend a few hours.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read that is well researched with lots of great points and facts that kurt left with fans and the culture he left behind.

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was exactly what I needed right now. I've been researching Cobain like crazy for the past two years or maybe twenty years, depending on how you want to look at it. This was such a nice epilogue for a subject that never stops being of interest, though Cobain himself burned out almost thirty years ago. That's a very depressing thought, by the way. I kinda still feel he is around, the late 80's and early nineties still seem vivid to me. I'm still wondering how this super normal guy from Aberdeen managed to shake the world so much and how fucking special he was, despite everything.
Yes, to the book: it's an afterword, an epilogue, a light study on the impact of Kurt Cobain on the world, some interesting thoughts on suicide and drug use and the whole legacy. Yes, this is St. Kurt, this is the lore and the myth and everything he didn't want but still kinda wanted. Didn't know there was even a shoe model done after Kurt Cobain by Converse. Poor dude shot himself while wearing Converse One Stars.
This was definitely interesting and soothing in many ways. It's good to think about the legacy once in a while and to get used to the idea he really is gone.

[Peter O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Charles R Cross gave us the excellent Heavier than Heaven bio of Kurt Cobain in 2001, he presented an exhaustive and tragic portrait of the artist that could have been the final word on the subject. With Here We Are Now, Cross revisits the subject with the benefit of hindsight to explore Cobain's legacy all these years later. Given the length of the book and despite the change in context, it may have served better as part of an updated or expanded version of the original bio. That is certainly not to say that this one is without merit - it is still an interesting subject and it offers observations that could not be offered without the benefit of hindsight. It is also a more personal account than the previous bio which paints the tragedy in richer tones and helps to highlight the artist's influence on Seattle and the music industry at large as it still tries to come to grips with Cobain's passing. Still, while Here We Are Now makes for a good companion piece, if you only want to read one book on Kurt Cobain, better to make it the first one.

[Demios · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at a dark time. I wanted to buy the converse he wore. I wanted to sue Doc Martins for appropriating his countenance. I wanted to curse Marc Jacobs for stealing his real struggle and trying to sell it for hundreds of dollars. To this day, I'm not okay with how grunge in fashion is associated with Perry Ellis (who was not without his own set of struggles of course) and how little Gen Z might know about Kurt (case in point their introduction to him through Batman). How people like me stopped and tried to live instead of emulating him. It just hurts to know that we all failed him and commodified him and even his MTV Unplugged guitar became an artifact that caused chaos in Bean's life. It is painful to know that the world will just get worse and worse and that maybe his decision to take his own life was more sane than anything we have ever known. Maybe that is the answer and that there isn't much more to life.

Any way, Neil Diamond sucks.

[Austin Drysch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cross makes it clear from chapter one that this is an attempt to the answer the question, “Why does Kurt Cobain matter?” and not a biography of the life of Kurt Cobain (for that, he reminds you to read his other books). Unfortunately, the book takes on his personal opinions all too frequently, and has a tendency to read as a plug to continue to inflate his ego or self worth. Although Cross had some definite firsthand experience with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana as a Seattle-rock-journalist-in-the-90s, you get the sense that this is a man who needs to stop living in the past. Nevertheless, it is impossible to exactly measure the impact of an individual, and this remains the most admirable attempt I’ve come across.

As a lifelong diehard Nirvana fan myself, it was still an interesting read. 4 stars for that reason, and the fact that it only takes a few hours from front to back.

RIP Kurt

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book briefly looks at Cobain's life to discuss 90's fashion, drug addition and suicide. I grew up in the 90s and enjoyed the grunge scene. However, this book did not resonate with me. The book is brief and well-written. However, the discussion of trends and impact felt a bit superficial. A more in-depth biography of Cobain & Nirvana would have vastly improved this book. After further reading, I have found that the author also wrote a a full biography of Kurt Cobain called Heavier Than Heaven.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and delivered from a first-person front row seat to most of the proceedings, Cross's book will make you miss Kurt, make you re-frame your opinions of Courtney, and maybe take down this stupid conspiracy theory once and for all. Most importantly, though, it does what it says on the tin; evaluates the lasting effects of Cobain's short life on music, fashion, pop culture, drugs (and how we deal with them) and suicide (and how we goddamn well deal with that). Short tand to the point, a solid and punchy book not about Kurt's life per se, but about his legacy.

[Freddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“To understand Kurt you had to understand that there was also something wrong with him, something abnormal, and it was one of the keys to his artistry.”

This isn’t a biography although it presents a good deal of biographical information. Instead, it’s a study of Cobain’s lasting influence in relation to music, culture, fashion, the perception of both Aberdeen and Seattle, and our understanding of drug addiction and suicide. Having written perhaps the best Cobain biography, Heavier Than Heaven, Cross treats his subject with authority, sympathy, and grace.

[Robert Irish · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is really only for serious fans of Nirvana who are stuck in the 1990's thinking that Kurt Cobain is still somehow vitally important. It is written with too much earnestness, and too little perspective on the world. There are some interesting nuggets about Cobain's legacy, and particularly the discussion of how his suicide actually created a temporary drop in the suicide rate rather than the copycat effect. I think I'd have been better off just listening to Nirvana, rather than this audiobook, but Nevermind.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was worth reading for me but there was a little too much boasting (for lack of a better word) on the author’s behalf about his association with Kurt or the band. For whatever reason I found it off putting and unnecessary for the book.

As a child of the 90s myself, I think the author did a solid job portraying Kurt properly about the impact he had on our generation and how that impact has lasted, especially now that the 90s music and style are coming back into fashion.

This book is a quick read and I didn’t regret reading it. I doubt you will either. Read it.

[Heather Ashington · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to read this as a follow up to Heavier than Heaven. Some insightful thoughts about the lasting effect that Kurt Cobain had on the world. The most touching comment came from Dave Grohl, who is seldom mentioned much in either book: "I still dream about Kurt. Every time I see him in a dream, I'll be amazed and I get this feeling that everyone thinks he's dead. It always feels totally real, probably because I'm a very vivid dreamer. But, in my dreams, Kurt's usually been hiding - we'll get together and I'll end up asking him, 'God, where have you been?' "

[Brett buckner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a perfect analysis of the lasting importance and impact of Cobain by the man who wrote the definitive biography and the definitive documentary on the icon.

It seems Cobain is more ubiquitous now than at the height of his power and popularity, but what is it about Cobain that makes not only his music but his fashion and even his suicide continue to resonate across a generation that is too young to have known him when he was alive?

Cross knows.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, I guess if you're a Boomer, Millennial, or Zoomer, this might help you get a sense of what the mainstream was like in the early 90s. If you were there, this is nothing new: Nirvana wasn't grunge, Cobain was a tortured genius, Singles exploited the "movement".
The author makes absolutely SURE that the reader knows he Was There, he Knew Cobain, and he is Very Very Hip. Plus one star for reminding me of the NYT "grungespeak" hoax.
Otherwise, blissfully short.