Guy Mankowski's Blog - Posts Tagged "kurt-cobain"
How Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix influenced my new novel "Dead Rock Stars"
The actor River Phoenix was a huge influence on “Dead Rock Stars” but it is hard to easily explain why. People might know him best as the young Indiana Jones- with the floppy fringe- from ‘The Last Crusade’ and he was also very moving as a young troubled teen in the hit film ‘Stand By Me’. He had a very bohemian band whose songs were a unique rock / folk hybrid with very earnest lyrics about love and climate change, called ‘Aleka’s Attic’. I don’t just have a particularly wild character named after him in the novel, but my protagonist Jeff’s band is also called ‘Aleka’. (In River’s mythology Aleka was a philosopher who from his attic treehouse drew in a following by debating spiritual ideas). When River tragically died Michael Stipe of REM bought the back catalogue of Aleka’s Attic and Rain River, his sister, is slowly releasing it. The idea of an artist having a great lost record which is only just coming to light was a huge influence behind the other main character, Emma, and the scattered recordings she leaves behind, which in their own little way change the world too. I really enjoyed writing Emma’s angsty lyrics for her songs.
Kurt Cobain is probably the other biggest influence on the novel, because to me he took the artistic sensibility as far as it could go. From lyrics to interviews he used every means at his disposal to convey his 'message' (like Phoenix). He promoted a message of feminism through his interviews and lyrics, with songs like ‘Polly’, and he used his body and clothing to scream the messages that he wanted Nirvana to get across. At various points in my novel musicians play Nirvana songs. I was very much reminded of when I first learnt to play guitar that (like a lot of people) it was Nirvana’s songs I learnt first. It was so exciting to me that such catchy, emotional, raw songs could be picked up so easily and become a mouthpiece for your own emotions. It also became, in a punk way, possibly to express yourself knowing it requited so few chords.
In many ways my new novel book is a tribute to a lost era of mix tapes and cassettes on magazine covers. The book is heavily influenced by novels like Helen Cross' 'My Summer Of Love', Francoise Sagan's 'Bonjour Tristesse' and Emma Forrest's 'Namedropper'; as well as all those music weeklies from the nineties, like Melody Maker. As flippant as those music weeklies now seem and as dismissed as they are they denote a time when culture had more focus and weight, when there was still a distinct counter-culture, before the naivety of the nineties was exposed. I can't think of a story I've written where every word has felt as important to me.
I hope you like it x
"Dead Rock Stars" is published on the 14th September and it can be pre-ordered / bought here- https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Rock-Star...
Kurt Cobain is probably the other biggest influence on the novel, because to me he took the artistic sensibility as far as it could go. From lyrics to interviews he used every means at his disposal to convey his 'message' (like Phoenix). He promoted a message of feminism through his interviews and lyrics, with songs like ‘Polly’, and he used his body and clothing to scream the messages that he wanted Nirvana to get across. At various points in my novel musicians play Nirvana songs. I was very much reminded of when I first learnt to play guitar that (like a lot of people) it was Nirvana’s songs I learnt first. It was so exciting to me that such catchy, emotional, raw songs could be picked up so easily and become a mouthpiece for your own emotions. It also became, in a punk way, possibly to express yourself knowing it requited so few chords.
In many ways my new novel book is a tribute to a lost era of mix tapes and cassettes on magazine covers. The book is heavily influenced by novels like Helen Cross' 'My Summer Of Love', Francoise Sagan's 'Bonjour Tristesse' and Emma Forrest's 'Namedropper'; as well as all those music weeklies from the nineties, like Melody Maker. As flippant as those music weeklies now seem and as dismissed as they are they denote a time when culture had more focus and weight, when there was still a distinct counter-culture, before the naivety of the nineties was exposed. I can't think of a story I've written where every word has felt as important to me.
I hope you like it x
"Dead Rock Stars" is published on the 14th September and it can be pre-ordered / bought here- https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Rock-Star...
