Journals

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Sad . . .
Review: I did not buy this book, as I didn't feel it was right to, but I flipped through a copy from the library. From what I read, he wouldn't have wanted it to be published at all. He felt like people were already "raping his thoughts". I don't think Courtney Love should have done it. It kind of made me feel embarrassed to even be looking at it like it wasn't my right or my business.

I can't say it was good or bad, because it was a person's thoughts and feelings. And while it is actual photocopies of journal pages, the public has no way of knowing if it was edited by Courtney over the past six years. There were a lot of scribbled out words and things. Plus it's only bits and pieces of journals, so who knows what was omitted from the book or purposely put in the book to make him look more . . . for lack of a better word, scattered. I felt like an unwelcomed observer even after I closed the book.

Rating:
Summary: fine book
Review: Fine book that gives us a fine insite into Kurt Cobain

Rating:
Summary: "Scrapbook" would have been a more accurate title
Review: JOURNALS, well, isn't. It is a collection of unsent letters, a few personal journal entries, lists, lyrics, drawings, messages to fans, business proposals, video concepts. This is not a case of Kurt sitting down and writing "Dear Diary: Today I played a great show. . . ." But it's still interesting.

The passages I found most interesting are the letters to friends concerning Kurt's attempt to get his band noticed. It reveals that, contrary to the popular perception of him as a meek poet who shunned fame, Kurt actually wanted some kind of success. Kurt wanted to be noticed. He wanted to get his thoughts and ideas out there. The passages toward the end of the book, the ones pertaining to his eventual demise and disillusionment with fame and the music industry (as well as his battles with the drug he misspells as "heroine"), I wouldn't quite say "invasion of privacy," but it's painful to read. It drives home the eternal question about Kurt: How could someone have arrived at such success, have had a platform to say what the wanted to say, and still not be happy?

So, rather than reveal any new answers, JOURNALS just restates the same questions we've always had about Kurt. The irony being that by revealing his humanity in this light (his humble early days as a struggling rock musician, his battles with drugs, etc.), Kurt only becomes even more larger-than-life.

Rating:
Summary: philosopher-king of the meek
Review: It doesn't take much to see how Kur(d)t's psyche evolve from reading Journals. Shy, sensitive and philosophical, he's the odd guy out growing up in blue-collar redneck Washington. His railings against jocks, hicks & cheerleaders, while nurturing his own personal code of fairness and peace, is the stuff of every coming-of-age movie made real.

Enough patterns crop up that you start to see how Kurt deals with this. He becomes cynical, an observer of humanity from the outside, hiding behind a smiling, if enigmatic face cultured to keep strangers from studying him (and his Journals) too closely.

Kurt's aware that his art and personality attract the curious, and if there's anything he can't stand it's being analyzed the way he analyzes others; this becomes a major source of stress near the end of Journals, as he becomes the target of every critic's airmchair analysis with the increase of his band's popularity.

Kurt doesn't seem to make the connection between the never-ending stomach pain that followed soon after (and is a common side effect of) his heroin use - even when the only prescription medicine that alleviates the condition turns out to be another opioid. Attacked psychologically on one hand and physically on the other, the most surprising thing is that he endured as long as he did.

"Journals" is wonderful reading. There are many like Kurt, and many like him who found their release through art or science. May we all live and learn from his life experience.

Rating:
Summary: A Riddle Wrapped In An Enigma Wrapped In A Vest
Review: When one considered it, there is a certain moral dilemma that goes hand-in-hand with the publishing of someone's journals. These journals are essentially a person's private thoughts, often time things that the author would not have said or done in public. The moral dilemma is increased tenfold when it comes to the release of the journals of... well, frankly, a guy who is dead. We can't tell for sure whether or not that person would have approved at all, and there's also an added element of profit.

Such is the case with Kurt Cobain, perhaps the most recognizable figure in music of the nineties. No image appeared more often on covers of rock and roll periodicals everywhere. And furthermore, no figure of pop culture has been dissected more before or since. He remains a mystery to many, a complex and often brooding man who had several different sides.

The more optimistic would say that the release of Kurt Cobain's journals are an opportunity for everyone to get a glimpse into the mind of a tortured soul. The more cynical, on the other hand, would have you believe that this is Courtney Love cashing in on the fame of her husband. And in all honesty, both viewpoints are pretty much right on. It's hard to imagine Cobain approving the release of his journals, as he was viewed as a man who valued his privacy and didn't want to be shoved into the spotlight when he was.

Throughout his life, Kurt Cobain made a note of writing his thoughts ideas and everything else down in notebooks. By the time his life was tragically ended by a self-inflicted shotgun wound, he had amassed dozens upon dozens of three-ring spiral notebooks, stationary, and loose pieces of paper, all containing his writings on this and that.

Journals is essentially a collection of Kurt's diary. It includes everything from early song lyrics, to unsent letters to rants on the state of politics in America, and everything in between. However, don't expect everything. This collection is only a small amount of his writings, as it was compiled by Courtney Love who held back over 75% of Kurt's notes - the majority of which likely pertained to her. The name 'Courtney' only appears in the contents of the book five times, and in each instance, it's only a passing reference. One would expect there to be far more talk of someone who the author is married to, especially complaining. But there's absolutely none of that here. Maybe Courtney is trying to convince that their marriage was perfect and harmonious, which is total [bologna]. In addition, the majority of entries that were like a daily log, were also removed, another bummer. Sometimes, the monotonous can be the most interesting, and in some cases, the most revealing.

The selections here paint Kurt Cobain as a complex and brooding individual with many different sides. He is a punk rocker at heart, but also maintained that Get The Knack was one of the great pop masterpieces in history. He loved the Sex Pistols, but he also loved the Beatles with all his heart. He was a pothead in high school, but also resented the other burnouts for their close-mindedness. He told anyone who would listen that he didn't want fame, but would call his record company and complain when he didn't feel that the band was being pushed enough. The list of seemingly endless contradictions go on, with the journals seemingly painting the picture of two different men.

But perhaps the most interesting and disturbing excerpts from his diaries reflect on his heroin use. Even in the throes of addiction, he writes that he only used it for three weeks to try and treat his ailing stomach before quitting it because "duh, it don't work." He repeats this so often that it seems like he even began to believe it. Only towards the end does Kurt begin to relent as his outlook becomes more bleak: "I remember someone saying that if you try heroin once you'll become hooked. Of course I laughed and scoffed at the idea but now I know this to be very true." Cobain even attached a disturbing moniker to his drug of choice by adding an 'e' - it was his heroine. These excerpts especially are chilling.

Rating:
Summary: A very tasteful glimpse into one man's life
Review: A great read but not a good introduction for those who don't know much about him beforehand. At first I had some issues about reading his journals but as I got further and further into it I realized it wasn't such a bad thing.

Those who were using the quote Kurt said about people reading his journals being a form of rape were taking that out of context and not including the entire quote. He was talking about people who stole things from him like guitars and scraps of papers with lyrics and such. He was mainly pissed about the journals being stolen because he'd lose little ideas and thoughts he'd scratch on a piece of paper. I'm not saying he might not have a problem with us reading his journals but that quote shouldn't be applied here.

Even though like most Nirvana fans I have some negative feelings against Courtney Love, I think this book was very tastefully done. It seems like the deep dark secrets that shouldn't have been printed weren't. A lot of the material is stories he related to people or letters or public statements he made in addition to his thoughts about music. These aren't really private things he would never tell anyone. These are more the type of thing that if you asked him about he would, in fact, tell you.

Don't let this discourage you from reading this book though. If you wanted to read this book to confirm all the juicy gossip then you really shouldn't be reading this book because you will likely be disappointed. When he does talk about his near anorexic body or heroin habit you get the feeling that the things he wrote are just like practice for what he would tell the music magazines and/or friends.

Anyways... a great book...

Rating:
Summary: worth it
Review: Absolutely worth the purchase if not only because no method of censorship has tainted his words.

Rating:
Summary: Don't look upon words that do not belong to you.
Review: I am as big a fan of Nirvana as you can become. Reading his journals is disrespedting his life. I wouln't want anyone reading mine, so why would I read his.

As for the guy who dosen't understand why Cobain was as big as he was, well then he can't understand. His sound is 70's and 80's. He can't possibly understand. Nirvana was a sound for the rock audience that had no star. His views are inconsistent. He reflects his own feelings rather than understanding Cobain's importance. If he dosen't like him why is he reading his personal journals? Nirvana stopped, but Cobain lives in his music.

Listen, make up your own decision on whether or not to read this book. However, the best way to understand Cobain is to hear his voice,and listen to his music!

Please ignore the first review. He simply is not a fan therefore can only give angst. All apologies sir.

Rating:
Summary: This Makes Me Sick
Review: It is incrediably sad that the corporate, capitalist monsters who took all pleasure out of the music business for Kurt Cobain is now takeing his most personal writeings and publishing them. It is a final, scathing betrayal. It is not your place to read his innermost scrawlings or to contemplate on his very personal suicide. The fact that Courtney Love allowed these journals to be published, that she even considered it, only demonstrates just how much of an enabler she was in her relationship with Kurt Cobain. How could any wife who loved her husband allow the very people he hated more than anything else publish his deepest and most private thoughts? The fact this exists makes me sick. Haveing not read it myself, I give it three stars for lack of a no star option.
-A Fan

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: I must say cobain was not the voice of my generation. He was a very talented musician who broke into the scene when the 80's blah was over! It was awesome learning how difficult is was for Nirvana to hit it big. Reading about the odd jobs and the people who turned them down. It cool the way they struggled and reading it in the wire journal format was another nice touch. If it had been transcribed into plan typed text would have made it horrible. Courtney Love is Real Trash but thank god she sold the journals and opened up this to the getting old X Genertation. If you graduated in 91' like me then read this!