Word: cobainã
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...Heavier than Heaven (Hyperion, 381 pp., $24.95), by former Seattle music journalist Charles Cross, details the short and tumultuous life of a man who had always dreamed of being a Rock Star, drawing on evidence from over four years of research, 400 interviews and love letters and entries from Cobain??s private journals...
...book begins with a description of Cobain??s first brush with death—an accidentally-on-purpose heroin overdose less than seven hours after Nirvana’s first performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992—an honor previously unknown to grunge bands. Cross writes that
...upon the day of his performance Cobain “acted as if it were an inconvenience to get out of bed,” making the calculated decision to refuse the limo ride to NBC and wearing the same torn, unwashed outfit onstage from the previous two days. Cobain??s overdose followed an argument with NBC officials over what he considered to be a compromise of his plans—the band were required to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the hit single they were sick of playing. Each subsequent overdose/suicide...
Heavier Than Heaven sets forth the chronology of a troubled man with escapist fantasies of fame. Beginning with a description of Cobain??s childhood, interrupted by his parents’ traumatic divorce and his subsequent attempts to attract the attention of his self-absorbed mother and father, Cross provides a possible psychological explanation for Cobain??s dreams of stardom and desire for autonomy. As a teenager, this desire for attention manifested itself as brushes with the law and repeated claims to friends that “I’m going to be a superstar musician...
Cobain wrote in his journal that he “chose” to become a heroin addict—an assertion unheard of amongst most junkies. Cross recounts Cobain??s mentions to friends about wishing to regularly use—not just try—heroin. Wishing to have control over his body and the stomach troubles that plagued him, Cobain felt that the drug would curb his physical suffering. The central theme of Heavier—Cobain??s desire for control—is thus recapitulated by Cross’s harrowing anecdotes regarding...