Comments on: Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994 http://rulefortytwo.com/2009/04/08/kurt-cobain/ The Self-Aggrandizing Website of Gavin Edwards Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:12:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Gavin http://rulefortytwo.com/2009/04/08/kurt-cobain/#comment-797 Gavin Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:33:05 +0000 http://rulefortytwo.com/2009/04/08/kurt-cobain/#comment-797 I would say that the Kurt I knew wasn't especially "difficult," but that as the years have passed, I've become more aware that I wasn't necessarily privy to the whole package. I would say that the Kurt I knew wasn’t especially “difficult,” but that as the years have passed, I’ve become more aware that I wasn’t necessarily privy to the whole package.

]]> By: Chris M. http://rulefortytwo.com/2009/04/08/kurt-cobain/#comment-796 Chris M. Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:05:00 +0000 http://rulefortytwo.com/2009/04/08/kurt-cobain/#comment-796 Thanks for sharing that piece -- I probably read it back in ’94 but didn't recall it, so it felt new to me. I'm curious, yet assenting, about your "complicated" memories of Kurt. When I read <i>Heavier Than Heaven</i>, for example, I got the distinct impression that Kurt was gifted and brilliant but, even to those who loved him, a royal pain -- that he willfully alienated people almost without meaning to. From your encomium, on the other hand, I get the feeling that he could be truly warm and sweet, the kind of person with whom you could imagine genuine friendship. (I imagine this is how Michael Stipe felt about him toward the end.) That said, I don't suppose the Charles Cross impression and yours are mutually exclusive. Was Kurt "difficult" in your eyes? Was he hard to love? Having read a lot -- and written a lot -- about Kurt, I have formed impressions; but having never witnessed him in the flesh (not even live, which embarrasses me) I am at the mercy of others in forming these ideas. And it's so easy to feel like you know Kurt, even just from the records alone. I could see Kurt being complicated the way only people we really care about frustrate, anger and confuse us. That would make total sense to me. Thanks for sharing that piece — I probably read it back in ’94 but didn’t recall it, so it felt new to me.

I’m curious, yet assenting, about your “complicated” memories of Kurt. When I read Heavier Than Heaven, for example, I got the distinct impression that Kurt was gifted and brilliant but, even to those who loved him, a royal pain — that he willfully alienated people almost without meaning to.

From your encomium, on the other hand, I get the feeling that he could be truly warm and sweet, the kind of person with whom you could imagine genuine friendship. (I imagine this is how Michael Stipe felt about him toward the end.) That said, I don’t suppose the Charles Cross impression and yours are mutually exclusive.

Was Kurt “difficult” in your eyes? Was he hard to love? Having read a lot — and written a lot — about Kurt, I have formed impressions; but having never witnessed him in the flesh (not even live, which embarrasses me) I am at the mercy of others in forming these ideas. And it’s so easy to feel like you know Kurt, even just from the records alone.

I could see Kurt being complicated the way only people we really care about frustrate, anger and confuse us. That would make total sense to me.

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