When Kurt Cobain told a friend in 1985, "I'm going to make a record that's going to be bigger than U2 or R.E.M.," the claim seemed absurd. Cobain, then 18, was jobless and homeless an Aberdeen, Wash. Within two years, the likable but depressed kid formed Nirvana, which went on to sell more than 20 million albums and find itself carrying the flannel banner for an unwashed army, generation X-hausted.
How did this shy recluse become a rock icon? Why did he put a gun to his head in 1994? This tabloidy bio offers scant clues. Backed by Cobain's diaries (provided by his widow, Courtney Love) and access to family members, Cross, a former Seattle music-magazine editor, largely sidesteps Cobain's career to focus on a divorce-raged childhood and later drug abuse. Revelations include Cobain's adolescent flirtation with born-again Christianity and how he fabricated a story about his stepfather's guns to but his first guitar. Fans will gape at Cobain's extraordinary heroin intake during his band's most productive period- and his lies about it. This is a cautionary tale of a talented, lucky musician who became fatally confused about whether fame was a reward or a death sentence.
written by Charles R. Cross *taken from People magazine*
