"There's something wrong with that boy; he frowns for no good reason."

As far as biographies go, Charles Cross's Kurt Cobain bio, Heavier Than Heaven, is terrific. It's thorough, it's got great style, and it's the only bio I can think of that goes to such great lengths to stay objective. There are no traces of superfandom, and the only evidence of the author geeking out over Nirvana's music is his overview of "Heart-Shaped Box," which he does to emphasize how well it encompasses all of the main themes of Kurt's life ("birth, death, disease, sexuality, and addiction"), as well as the fact that it was co-written by Courtney Love. The ending (he dies) has all the intense pacing, foreboding imagery, and sense of dread to convey the suspense of a great horror story.
Outside of the Unplugged album, I was never a huge Nirvana fan. I wasn't aware of most of their story, and I was even a bit naive when it came to Kurt's drug use. So a lot of it was very eye opening. Here's some observations:

- As I got further into the book, it became more and more clear to me that Kurt Cobain was the worst human being who ever lived. He was an awful son, a "world-class whiner," and an unbelievable egomaniac. One would assume that he was born into terrible circumstances, and had suffered injustice after injustice. All of his troubles boiled down to one thing: his parents got a divorce when he was nine. That's it. He basically went through the same thing half the kids in the U.S. go through, and complained about it until the day he died. The divorce impacted every one of his relationships for the rest of his life. He was a terrible friend who manipulated everyone close to him. He left his wife to be a single mother, and his daughter fatherless.

- His heroin abuse is one of the worst and most relentless cases I've ever heard about. He complained of life-long stomach pains, and used it to justify his heroin use. But the stomach problems struck me as more of an attention-seeking thing than anything else. When given a choice between heroin, music, friends, family, even his daughter, he chose heroin every time. He lashed out during interventions, and never took rehab seriously.

- I know it was a Kurt bio so she wasn't really held under the microscope, but I was really impressed by Courtney, or at least the way she was portrayed. She is definitely the hero of the story, despite her own addictions and obnoxious outbursts.

- They were both pretty terrific lyricists. This might've surprised me more than anything.

- Despite the fact that he was an irredeemable asshole, Nirvana's music sounds better to me everyday (this is the first time I've really sat down and examined it). They have at least 5 stone classics that I can't get enough of ("About A Girl," "(New Wave) Polly," "On A Plain," "Dumb," and "Dive"). And it turns out that Nevermind is really good! I just listened to it for the first time last month. If you're one of the four people left in the world who hasn't heard it yet, you should check it out! Anyways, all of this is really weird because I generally don't like music by people that I don't respect. I think that at least for the time being, I'm spending all of my energy concentrating on the melodies and chord changes and production rather than trying to see a bigger picture.

For all the good that came from reading the book, Cross has really raised the bar for all biographies I read in the future. Creepy vibes, hopeless fuckup, tragic ending. Excellent.