Heavier than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain

Happy Birthday to Gladys!  A really difficult read for me with Heavier than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles Cross.  I’m not what you would consider a real heavy duty music guy.  I like music, don’t get me wrong, but just not immersed in the “life of the band members.”  I never got that…  This one tells the “tragic” life of a drug addict whose talent was destroyed by, yes like so many others, lack of self-worth/self-esteem, and an underlying mental health issue.  The book is a “the womb to the coffin” tell all of an artist who rose to glory from an almost unlikely childhood.  Being shuffled from mother to father (divorced couple), to grandparents, to uncle, to friend’s house, to teachers, to being alone on the streets, Cobain experiences it all.  The author interviewed over 400 people to provide this glimpse behind the rocker, a lonely and scared boy who never really grew up.  He died at the young age of 27.  It saddens me how many people really shouldn’t be parents, sorry Don and Wendy, but you just didn’t do it right.  While Kurt exhibited ADHD and other emotional related problems in his youth, no one really knew what to do.  What a messed up situation and then, like most of life, the cycle continues, and Kurt becomes a father and adds his skills (or lack of) to the fathering of his child.  For the groupies out there, you get the history/influences of the songs and what was happening while they were written.  For me, just not something that interested me whatsoever.  Maybe if I actually liked Nirvana’s music I would be more interested.  Just tired of how our society is so infatuated with “stars” that struggle and are unable to harness creative genius with the trials of living in this troubled world.  Take a major pass if you feel like me.  If you love the world of music and the stars who live in that world, maybe a go.  Looking forward to the next book I begin reading tonight!