Journals

by Kurt Cobain

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The actual notebook of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, reproduced for all to see. It’s a truly unique and expansive window into a musical mind gone too soon. You won’t get a better glimpse into the man behind the music.

The lyrics notebook and personal journals of Kurt Cobain, revealing new insight and meaning to the iconic signer of the band Nirvana.

Kurt Cobain filled dozens of notebooks with lyrics, drawings, and writings about his plans for Nirvana and his thoughts about fame, the state of music, and the people who bought and sold him and his music. His journals reveal an artist who loved music, who knew the history of rock, and who was determined to define his place in that history. Here is a mesmerizing, incomparable portrait of the most influential musician of his time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573223591
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/04/2003
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	37,020
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.58(h) x 0.92(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kurt Cobain was the leader of the groundbreaking Seattle rock band Nirvana.  He died in 1994.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The year's most fascinating, heart-breaking rock book."—Rolling Stone

"An engrossing collection of clues."—Entertainment Weekly

"His words kick and scream."—Chicago Daily Herald

“Compelling.”—Seattle Times

“No editing, no footnotes: The Nirvana singer’s Journals is the year’s most fascinating, heartbreaking rock book.”—Rolling Stone Magazine

“Especially riveting.”—The Observer Magazine

“Compelling reading...a look into the creative process of one of rock’s true artists.”—The Seattle Times

“The daily diary of an American dream—and nightmare...Beneath all the layers of irony and sarcasm and humor and stoner realism, Cobain had a gift for sincerity, which is everywhere evident in his journals...The book is swarming with life, and it’s irresistible to anyone who cares about the music.”—New York Magazine

“Illuminating...charming...we catch glimpses of Cobain’s wry, mischievous humor.”—Newsday

“Our most elaborate first-hand evidence of the inner life of one of rock’s most important figures.”—New York Daily News

“Laced with humor and horror...wrenchingly candid.”—LA Times

“Simple and plain, Kurt Cobain was a fuckin’ genius...Journals may become his most enduring body of work. If Cobain’s life was a movie, Journals is the director’s cut, the musings and contemplations of a mad genius. More than that, these passages are some of the most interesting reading I’ve come across in years, and I boldly predict they will stand the immeasurable test of time...Journals, better than any biography could hope to be, will make essential reading for anyone looking to understand the 1990s’ most important pop star.”—Salon.com

“It displays the formative stages of a man whose deeply felt empathy became something close to a curse...This remarkable document finally stands as one last message from the saddest teenager in the world, hiding his diary in a drawer near an easy-to-find key.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Fascinating and often charming.”—New York Post

“I heard Cobain’s voice in my head as I read his journals.”—Telegraph

“How could the intimate diaries of one of rock’s most memorable and credible icons be anything less than page-turningly compulsive?...The hype is deserved. You won’t be disappointed.”—The Zone

“These hand-written fragments from a life say more than any biography would or could...Cobain was a man who struggled so hard for definition, it seems fitting that, even after death, he should be allowed to speak for himself.”—Evening Standard

"Facsimile pages—complete with sketches, margin scribbles, and handwriting in various states of dishevelment—argue for never again typesetting a diary."—MOJO

Editorial Reviews

"His words kick and scream." —Chicago Daily Herald

“Compelling.” —Seattle Times

“No editing, no footnotes: The Nirvana singer’s Journals is the year’s most fascinating, heartbreaking rock book.” —Rolling Stone Magazine

“Especially riveting.” —The Observer Magazine

“Compelling reading...a look into the creative process of one of rock’s true artists.” —The Seattle Times

“The daily diary of an American dream—and nightmare...Beneath all the layers of irony and sarcasm and humor and stoner realism, Cobain had a gift for sincerity, which is everywhere evident in his journals...The book is swarming with life, and it’s irresistible to anyone who cares about the music.” —New York Magazine

“Illuminating...charming...we catch glimpses of Cobain’s wry, mischievous humor.” —Newsday

“Our most elaborate first-hand evidence of the inner life of one of rock’s most important figures.” —New York Daily News

“Laced with humor and horror...wrenchingly candid.” —LA Times

“Simple and plain, Kurt Cobain was a fuckin’ genius...Journals may become his most enduring body of work. If Cobain’s life was a movie, Journals is the director’s cut, the musings and contemplations of a mad genius. More than that, these passages are some of the most interesting reading I’ve come across in years, and I boldly predict they will stand the immeasurable test of time...Journals, better than any biography could hope to be, will make essential reading for anyone looking to understand the 1990s’ most important pop star.” —Salon.com

“It displays the formative stages of a man whose deeply felt empathy became something close to a curse...This remarkable document finally stands as one last message from the saddest teenager in the world, hiding his diary in a drawer near an easy-to-find key.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Fascinating and often charming.” —New York Post

“I heard Cobain’s voice in my head as I read his journals.” —Telegraph

“How could the intimate diaries of one of rock’s most memorable and credible icons be anything less than page-turningly compulsive?...The hype is deserved. You won’t be disappointed.” —The Zone

“These hand-written fragments from a life say more than any biography would or could...Cobain was a man who struggled so hard for definition, it seems fitting that, even after death, he should be allowed to speak for himself.” —Evening Standard

"Facsimile pages—complete with sketches, margin scribbles, and handwriting in various states of dishevelment—argue for never again typesetting a diary." —MOJO

From the Publisher

These journal entries by Nirvana front man Cobain record his thoughts from the late 1980s until his suicide in 1994. There are no real answers to his death to be found in this collection of scrawled notes, first drafts of letters, shopping lists, and ballpoint pen drawings, although the nature of Cobain's fame will make it hard for readers not to look for them. At best, a series of intimate portraits emerge: a kid from high school; a cousin and neighbor; a bright, sensitive, fun-loving and morbid punk rocker who became spokesman for a generation he largely detested. Cobain's journals remind fans of how unlikely was his rise to fame: here was a kid from Aberdeen, dreaming of being in the next Meat Puppets, not the next Doors, who signed on with an independent label named SupPop, and ended up changing the course of commercial radio. Cobain's early letters to fellow rockers in the grunge scene also remind readers of how small and close that community was, and of the fairly incendiary politics it had developed through the Reagan years. For a true punk believer like Cobain, the loss of that community was also the loss of himself. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The question of how to package Cobain's journals (originally contained in more than 20 notebooks) became as important as whether they should be published. Courtney Love, Cobain's widow, ultimately decided to go with Riverhead, and her choice appears to have been a good one. Reproduced here are actual notebook pages, filled with the musician's drawings, thoughts, desires, moods, lists, and declarations, showcasing his many talents, as much as his penchant for morbidity, in an amalgamation of handwritings. While this collection offers another level of intimacy for fans who have already experienced the musician's life via records, news clippings, album art, and several biographies, no one involved with the project provides any context, and this absence is keenly felt. Notes are scattered and applied to things that are of little interest, while other confusing pieces are left without the slightest comment. Given Love's vigilance in all matters Nirvana and Cobain, it is surprising that she was not more hands-on here. Still, Journals remains a good complement to Charles R. Cross's Heavier Than Heaven, which references the notebooks, and a unique addition to popular music collections.-Rachel Collins, "Library Journal"

Library Journal