Kurt Cobain
- Author: Christopher Sandford
- Publisher: Carrol & Graf Biography
- Classification: grunge, musician, rock
For those who don’t know (are there any?), Kurt Cobain was part of, and some say led, the ‘grunge’ music revolution which started in Seattle, USA. He died aged 27 on 5th May 1994, cause of death: self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. For many 15-30 year olds he was a hero, a spokesman for a generation and a drug addict.
Christopher Sandford starts the biography during Cobain’s early days in Aberdeen, before Nirvana are actually ‘Nirvana’. The novel then progresses through his life up-to and just after his untimely death.
But is it any good? Well, yes. The picture Sandford paints of Cobain is not always a pretty one but it is always backed up with evidence. The evidence is also used in conjunction with other sources and Sandfords own interpretations which ensures that the book is comprehensive, even if you don’t always agree with the conclusions.
The evidence and quotes used are also fully referenced, by chapter, at the end of the book. This is very useful if you need to cross-reference a point or if you’re carrying out your own research. ‘Kurt Cobain’ is also fairly well illustrated with photo’s of Cobain, Love and more. This added to my enjoyment of the biography immensely.
My only real critcism of the book is Sandfords tendency to unnecessarily repeat a point. I didn’t find this massively off-putting but it was irritating in places.
All in all, if you want to find out more about Cobain then you could do a lot worse than reading ‘Kurt Cobain’ by Christopher Sandford. However, you should note that the language used in some of the quotes is fairly strong, and some might find it offensive.
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