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17th out of 276 books
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288 voters
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Journals
by
Kurt Cobain
Now in paperback, Journals includes never-before-seen material that will keep everyone talking.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
November 4th 2003
by Riverhead Trade
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Kurt was real. He was a flawed human being just like every other person on this earth. Massive success isolated him more and more. His love for music was noticed by millions of people and unfortunately his music's success became his worst enemy in the end. These journals prove that he was quite normal and that suicide, as selfish of an act that it is, can happen to anyone. Great artist with a gift for melody. I miss him. I miss musicians that weren't afraid to be human.
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Have you ever seen a 'serial killer' movie when they find the secret hideout of the bad guy, and inevitibly there are newspaper clippings tacked to the walls, drawings, quotes, pictures, etc...
Well, cross that with your High School Underground Notebook and you have Kurt Cobain's Journals. It's full of doodles, sketches, and lyric work on Nirvana songs. It also has drafts of concert fliers, notes to friends and some diary entries and rants. This was one of many journals made by K...more
Well, cross that with your High School Underground Notebook and you have Kurt Cobain's Journals. It's full of doodles, sketches, and lyric work on Nirvana songs. It also has drafts of concert fliers, notes to friends and some diary entries and rants. This was one of many journals made by K...more
My boyfriend lent me this book to read. It was kind or strange to be reading a dead man's journals. Kurt could really draw. This made me understand that my boyfriend and I really do have different taste in music.
It took me a long time to read this book. I would read a few pages and then put the book down. The reason being it man me think about what I read for days, then I would pick it up again and think some more etc.
I really enjoyed that then scanned the pages of this ...more
It took me a long time to read this book. I would read a few pages and then put the book down. The reason being it man me think about what I read for days, then I would pick it up again and think some more etc.
I really enjoyed that then scanned the pages of this ...more
Cameron
added it
Journals is all about Kurt Cobain and his life before and during Nirvana. Throughout the book are drawings and song lyrics and just simple journal entries by Kurt. There's everything from band drama to song titles and album art and t-shirt graphics. There are also some really deep things about Kurt and his past that showed good things and bad.
After reading "Journals" I got a really good look into Kurt's views and ideas. He had many views against racism and was pro equality. H...more
After reading "Journals" I got a really good look into Kurt's views and ideas. He had many views against racism and was pro equality. H...more
The low rating is NOT due to the journals content (how can you rate something like someone's journals anyhow?!) but more so to the fact that I didn't feel good about reading someones personal thoughts not meant to be shared. I also suspect I likely would have enjoyed this a lot more back in the 80's.
I finally decided to get this out at the library out of curiosity I guess but now wish that I hadn't...I mostly skimmed it, read a bit of it more in depth but it just seemed really so ver...more
I finally decided to get this out at the library out of curiosity I guess but now wish that I hadn't...I mostly skimmed it, read a bit of it more in depth but it just seemed really so ver...more
I've been a Nirvana fan since 1993, and after 1994 I collected all the unfortunate articles, magazines, books, and everything you could think of. I was sad, confused, and most of all lost. I still remember 1994 like it was yesterday and it has stayed with me... but life moved on and you either went on or as a few people I've sadly lost, didn't. It stayed with you though, no matter how much you had moved on. It was like a dark spot in the back of my mind that I kept to myself, or only thought abo...more
The fact that this book exists:
1) makes me never want to trust anyone ever ever EVER again.
2) leaves me with even less faith in love than I had before I flipped through it. (Don't worry. I watched Imagine afterward and felt much better.)
3) makes me want to throw up in my mouth a tiny bit. Okay, a lot. Rivers.
4) reminds me that the first time I saw it, it was on a display with a Kurt Cobain action figure. I believe this speaks for itself.
...more
1) makes me never want to trust anyone ever ever EVER again.
2) leaves me with even less faith in love than I had before I flipped through it. (Don't worry. I watched Imagine afterward and felt much better.)
3) makes me want to throw up in my mouth a tiny bit. Okay, a lot. Rivers.
4) reminds me that the first time I saw it, it was on a display with a Kurt Cobain action figure. I believe this speaks for itself.
...more
Journals
Kurt Cobain
Pages: 304
ISBN:
Who isnt intersted in Kurt Cobain's death? This pages of this book is stripped from the notebooks that Kurt, himself wrote, with lyrics to songs, journal entries about thoughts about music, fame and his future.
Kurt Cobain started playing guitar when he was a teenager, and soon enough, he had been writing his own songs. Kurt had met Novoselic in school, and he'd try to convince him to start a band with him for the month...more
Kurt Cobain
Pages: 304
ISBN:
Who isnt intersted in Kurt Cobain's death? This pages of this book is stripped from the notebooks that Kurt, himself wrote, with lyrics to songs, journal entries about thoughts about music, fame and his future.
Kurt Cobain started playing guitar when he was a teenager, and soon enough, he had been writing his own songs. Kurt had met Novoselic in school, and he'd try to convince him to start a band with him for the month...more
Obviously,being Kurts journal a fan will get a lot of it, it's sad too, to see the truth about some things such as his heroine addiction and since i've always been a big fan it made me appreciate him a little more. A lot of the journal is about record deals and boring business stuff like that, so there isn't too much for a subscriber to the "cult of personality" to indulge in, but like I said, it's his journal. How do you critic that?
Edgar Barcenas
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nirvana Fans
Recommended to Edgar by:
Myself
This book was fantastic Kurt Cobain can write and draw. This book is about the diary or journals of Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain. It was filled with lyrics like Floyd The Barber, Mexican Seafood, Lithium, Smells Like Teen Spirit, On A Plain, Aero Zepelin, Paper Cuts and more. It had many drawings on his journals also like Iron Maiden mascot figure, Someone shooting the kkk picture of how his fan shirts going to look like and comic strips like a man gets killed by his own baby. It is filled ...more
Though the book is a capitalistic marketing of an icon I could not resist buying it. I wanted to know if he was the same person I had reckoned him to be through his songs. When I finished the book , I had realised how incredibly daft and supremely beautiful was his passion for music. The book is an excellent journey of affect through passion and how it burns you out if left on its own.
Ok when i first heard about this, I thought it was a cheap pandering to the fan-boys. But it is totally worth it. It's more than just scrawled song lyrics. It's really pretty intimate. The voice of a generation was just as confused as the rest of us. I guess we knew that already, but here are the details.
I first heard Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, when I was fourteen-years-old, and after I wore it out, I bought In Utero. This album blew me away with its rawness and experimental direction. After listening to Nirvana for most of my adolescence, I knew that I was probably hooked for the rest of my life.
After discovering that Kurt Cobain had a book of Journals that was released to the public, I felt conflicted between wanting to respect the man's privacy and getting a chance to see how one...more
After discovering that Kurt Cobain had a book of Journals that was released to the public, I felt conflicted between wanting to respect the man's privacy and getting a chance to see how one...more
Any musical icon who suffered mentally and from drugs that wrote great music and died a mysterious death has my attention. This book allowed one to read Kurt's spooky and off the wall journals and even his suicidal ones. It was sad, and a part of me felt like maybe Kurt wouldn't have wanted his shit made public, but the better part of me thinks that because he was so disgusted by society he felt proud to show this off. I think anyone who gets as famous as he got and becomes an icon, whether or n...more
As someone else put so very well, Kurt was real. He was a flawed human being just like every other person on this earth. Massive success isolated him more and more. His love for music was noticed by millions of people and unfortunately his music's success became his worst enemy in the end. These journals prove that he was quite normal and that suicide, as selfish of an act that it is, can happen to anyone. Great artist with a gift for melody. I miss him. I miss musicians that weren't afraid to b...more
I remember when this book came out I couldn't afford it, and I stood in the Olympia mall reading it from cover to cover. I felt bad--I was pretty sure Kurt probably wouldn't have wanted these published, but at the same time there was the voyeur's thrill of snooping through someone else's private thoughts. I always feels sorry for people when their private journals are published posthumously; I tend to write in my journals and notebooks when I'm feeling down and I can only imagine what a distorte...more
I read these journals because I am a huge fan of Kurt Cobain's music. This is on my bingo board under the category of "A diary, autobiography or biography" The reason I didn't give this a five star rating is because it is a collection of thoughts, but it has no structure. I liked some of the quotes in these journals (such as "Birds scream at the top of their lungs in horrified hellish rage every morning at daybreak to warn us all of the truth, but sadly we don't speak bird.")...more
well. it's a diary of one of the proclaimed (anti-) heroes of "generation x". and what do you get, oh he was a person like us regular people too, and that he had feelings and all that sort of things that you find in today's tumblblogs and wordpress diaries, too. it is somewhat interesting to read, since I enjoyed listenting to nirvana in my youth and get to know a personal side of kurt cobain, but I wouldn't recommend it because it is actually not particularly stunning, awestrucking or...more
One difference between this edition of Kurt Cobain’s Journals and other books making accessible the journals or diaries of some individual or other is apparent right away: while journals by writers like Sylvia Plath or Allen Ginsberg typically reflect the conventions of mass-market printing that have become familiar to us from reading almost anything, the publishers of Cobain’s journals appear to have foregone the transcription and typesetting processes associated with conventional printing alto...more
Any Nirvana fan has to see this book.
With an array of notes, doodles and hand written song lyrics contained within, this is a must read. It may not be your average book, but since then when can anyone call Kurt average?
The many pages filled with his works give the reader just a small insight into his thinking and the way he worked, the thoughts he had, the things he wanted and did. The Guardian called this book 'A treasure trove for fans' and it really is - this book may well be the cl...more
With an array of notes, doodles and hand written song lyrics contained within, this is a must read. It may not be your average book, but since then when can anyone call Kurt average?
The many pages filled with his works give the reader just a small insight into his thinking and the way he worked, the thoughts he had, the things he wanted and did. The Guardian called this book 'A treasure trove for fans' and it really is - this book may well be the cl...more
To anyone who is not a Nirvana fan - I don’t know why you are even bothering to look at this. Read no further.
For those who ARE Nirvana fans, tread forward with caution.
This book was an insightful look into one of the most beautiful minds that I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing as it unfolded. People talk about where they were, or what they were doing when great catastrophes happened in the world. Laugh if you want, but I still remember where and what I was doing wh...more
For those who ARE Nirvana fans, tread forward with caution.
This book was an insightful look into one of the most beautiful minds that I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing as it unfolded. People talk about where they were, or what they were doing when great catastrophes happened in the world. Laugh if you want, but I still remember where and what I was doing wh...more
4.5/5
It's incredibly fascinating to see what goes on in an artists mind... Especially someone as interesting, creative and conflicted as Cobain. Its so interesting I would give it 5... but I took away half a point because of guilt for reading them.
Still, his drawings, lyrics and poetry, rants, raves, rambling and ideas are all so engaging its hard not to read on. I wouldnt call Nirvana one of my top 5 bands anymore necessarily, but Cobain is a Top 5 musician for me and In Uter...more
It's incredibly fascinating to see what goes on in an artists mind... Especially someone as interesting, creative and conflicted as Cobain. Its so interesting I would give it 5... but I took away half a point because of guilt for reading them.
Still, his drawings, lyrics and poetry, rants, raves, rambling and ideas are all so engaging its hard not to read on. I wouldnt call Nirvana one of my top 5 bands anymore necessarily, but Cobain is a Top 5 musician for me and In Uter...more
smells like ambition
A weird and often twisted view into the mind of Kurt Cobain written by Kurt himself. I don't know if I exactly liked it, but it was definitely an interesting read.
Throughout the collection you can sense the almost constant "coming of age" struggles he continually seems to be going through, even in adulthood. There is an air of him never really quite knowing who he is or what kind of person he wants to be. Without really meaning to, Kurt often sounds like he is trying too hard to transform himse...more
Throughout the collection you can sense the almost constant "coming of age" struggles he continually seems to be going through, even in adulthood. There is an air of him never really quite knowing who he is or what kind of person he wants to be. Without really meaning to, Kurt often sounds like he is trying too hard to transform himse...more
I had very mixed feeling about this book. Yes they are Kurt Cobain's personal journals that shouldn't be read but he stated in his journal "Don't read my diary when I'm gone. OK, I'm going to work now, when you wake up this morning, please read my diary. Look through my things, and figure me out." So part of me says yes its okay to read them but the other part says stay back they are his personal thoughts. However anyone who keeps a diary knows one day when they are gone their dia...more
Reading this the second time felt a lot different from when I read it back in 2003 when it came out. I have always been a big Nirvana fan; I remember liking them while they were still together. Back in 2003 I was pretty obsessed, so I bought this book.
You might expect that it's cruel to do so, but it appears that Cobain was writing with the assumption that someone would read it. In places, he tells the reader what to feel, gives disclaimers, and even gets defensive.
...more
This book is a piece of art, not a work of art but a piece of art. I do not think that anyone should ever spend money on this book, just on the fact that Courtney Love edited it. I respect Kurt Cobain, I don't care about Nirvana, and the only way this idea could be legit is if he or his daughter edited it. Love is too much of a disaster and was too close to his death to be making artistic decisions for him. (I'm not implying anything, other than the fact that she didn't help him sober up)
Although I am on the fence on whether or not it's right to publish what is supposed to be private information to the author, my fascination with Kurt Cobain was enough for me to look past that and attempt to find out what made him tick with his various journal entries. This book offers pages from what I understand were many notebooks of scribblings, doodlings, and letters never sent. I enjoyed it, but it really didn't offer for what I thought it would... And that perhaps may be a good thing.
Everyone who keeps a journal has hopes of it being read eventually, period.
Yeah, at first I had issues with this book; anything that makes money off of tragedy is atrocious. But once I thumbed through it at my local B&N I realized it was more than some suit's idea of a moneymaker.
Cobain wanted this to be read. And it's fascinating.
A good journal reveals the diarist, but not too much. There's just enough emotion to make it vulnerable; just enough left hidden ...more
Yeah, at first I had issues with this book; anything that makes money off of tragedy is atrocious. But once I thumbed through it at my local B&N I realized it was more than some suit's idea of a moneymaker.
Cobain wanted this to be read. And it's fascinating.
A good journal reveals the diarist, but not too much. There's just enough emotion to make it vulnerable; just enough left hidden ...more
I bought this book years ago and never read it ashamed as I was for having bought it. Surely, Kurt Cobain is looking down on us and horrified at seeing his personal thoughts published. But fine, I finally read it. Sorry, Kurt.
It's a very good read. The book is half-finished letters, lyrics, lists, and a lot of ranting. It's hard to know what to take seriously. I think I know, because I'm part of that generation defined by Nirvana. Which I'm sure Kurt would be equally horrified to rea...more
It's a very good read. The book is half-finished letters, lyrics, lists, and a lot of ranting. It's hard to know what to take seriously. I think I know, because I'm part of that generation defined by Nirvana. Which I'm sure Kurt would be equally horrified to rea...more
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Kurt Donald Cobain, was an American musician who served as lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Seattle-based rock band Nirvana.
Cobain formed Nirvana in 1987 with Krist Novoselic. Within two years, the band became a fixture of the burgeoning Seattle grunge scene. In 1991, the arrival of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" marked the beginning of a dramatic shift of ...more
More about Kurt Cobain...
Cobain formed Nirvana in 1987 with Krist Novoselic. Within two years, the band became a fixture of the burgeoning Seattle grunge scene. In 1991, the arrival of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" marked the beginning of a dramatic shift of ...more
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“Birds are and always have been reincarnated old men with Tourette's syndrome having somehow managed to dupe the reproductive saga. They fuck each other and tend to their home repairs and children while never missing their true mission. To scream at the top of their lungs in horrified hellish rage every morning at daybreak to warn us all of the truth. They know the truth. Screaming bloody murder all over the world in our ears, but sadly we don't speak bird.”
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32 people liked it
“Life isn't nearly as sacred as the appreciation of passion.”
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