Kurt Cobain - About a Son; Tortured Soul or He Knew More About the Industry that He was Putting On?

Just saw the documentary about Kurt Cobain; About A Son last night. Very eye opening as most of us just dismissed Kurt Cobain as a loon and a drug addict who could not deal with fame. He was sort of like Dave Chappelle in that he just wanted to continue to do things on a small scale and never asked for the money or the fame. But this documentary shows us a human side to Kurt Cobain that individuals like myself that appreciated his music but were not genuinely interested in the "grunge" phenomenon or rock music may not have been willing to take into consideration.

For example I always wondered how Dave Grohl could experience such phenomenal success with Foo Fighters as though it were nothing and Kurt Cobain died the way that he did. There has to be more to that story. The documentary contains a homage of endless video clips that sets the tone for that era and brings the viewer into the Washington era. Kurt talks about everything; Courtney Love and their relationship, journalists, quitting the band, fame, how no one knew that he using heroin at first, mentors, thrift stores, Olympia and Seattle. I got the feeling that he did not want to be bothered with Seattle with first, but then again Kurt did not want to concern himself with much of anything during the early days.

What intrigued me was when he said that audiences wanted the band to rally against the machine, like take a political position against the music industry and their agenda. He felt that the responsibility was too great, but then he also had an issue with journalists that always wanted to know about his heroin issues. Journalists were inherently evil, and if he were not in the position that he was in with the band he would like fight someone or bash someone's head in. Journalists were interested in him, not in what the band was doing. He talks about quitting the band numerous times, and his relationship with a woman before they made it big that supported him in ways that he was never really comfortable with. She would buy him clothes at a thrift store and they would go out to dinner a lot.

Kurt Cobain never wanted to make pop music, but the industry wanted the band to be as big as possible. But he realized that the bands that were successful were making pop music and they were sick of being broke and not having any money. Of course with that success they left Olympia and went to Seattle and the rest was history. The documentary is fascinating because you can hear this straight from Kurt Cobain himself, it is not a True Hollywood Story where someone else is telling his story with dramatic effect. It also makes you want to move to Seattle and take in the culture; the city seems to have an energy that you do not find anywhere else. Good times, great music and a bohemian culture and it would be easy to see how one would never want to leave that town.

On the other hand, Nirvana was authentic in that they were never really about the money or the fame. However the movie contrasts that idea with the fact that while Kurt was intrigued by similar bands, he felt that the scene in Olympia lacked something because these bands were more interested in art than anything else. Perhaps it was art for what it was worth, or art outside of any context, because these bands did not care about making money, and that Kurt did not respect that at all. Was that contradictory or hypocritical, considering the success of Nirvana later on, or is it consistent with his own issues with fame? If ever wanted to know more about Kurt Cobain you may want to take a look at this movie.