I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: FOO FIGHTERS-Foo Fighters (1995).

Dave Grohl was like the anti-Kurt Cobain.  How many photos do you see of him with a big stupid grin on his face.  He seems to be silly and fun all the time (despite some apparent angst in his life).  And how surprising was it to find out that not only could he bang the hell out of the drums, he could also write songs (and play guitar).  Of course we all looked for songs “about” Kurt, on this record, but I realize that Dave only knew Kurt for a couple of years, he likely didn’t even really know him that well.  Dave has other things on his mind.

And somehow, despite the really aggressive often heavy metal feel  of Foo Fighters albums, they are always popular.  Foo Fighters have gotten so big, it’s easy to forget that Grohl was even in Nirvana, which is saying something.

The Foo Fighters debut album was written and performed entirely by Dave Grohl.  I remember when it came out (well, after it was revealed to be Grohls’ album–it was a secret for a little while) listening to it in an apartment in Boston.  I must have listened to it a lot because I know the whole thing so well.

Grohl uses some of the loud/quite format of Nirvana, but mostly he just writes songs with simple lyrics (easy to sing along to even if you don’t know what he’s saying (bridge to “I’ll Stick Around” anyone?) and big catchy choruses.

If you like loud rocking songs, this album is fantastic.  “This is a Call” and “I’ll Stick Around” are super catchy heavy songs.  “Alone + Easy Target” is a bit less catchy, although the chorus has a very cool riff in it.  “Good Grief” is super heavy with an aggressive chorus.

But it’s also git some sweet songs.  “Big Me” is quite tender and it makes me laugh because the drums are so incredibly simple and gentle for a basher like Grohl.  “Floaty” is a really pretty song with some cool fuzzy guitars and a cool riff that goes from bridge to chorus.  The chorus has an aggressive punk riff which complements the rest of the song in an interesting way.

“Weenie Beenie” (I had no idea that’s what the song was called) is loud and aggressive with a massively distorted vocal. It’s kind of a throwaway but shows Grohl’s love of punk.  “Watershed” is a similarly fast punk track and is only 2 minutes.

“Oh, George” is a mid tempo song, with some very catchy moments and a classic rock style guitar solo.  “For All the Cows” opens with a kind of jazzy guitar and drum sound and then really rocks out.  It was released as a single but never did anything, which is a shame because it seems like a joke but is actually quite good.

Even though Grohl did everything on the album, he had a little help from Greg Dulli who played guitar on “X-Static.”  I would never have noticed it was Dulli, although knowing that it’s someone else playing, you can hear a different style in the guitar.  The disc ends with “Exhausted,” a song which sets a kind of trend of longish more meandering songs near the end of Foo Fighters albums.  I don’t love it but its a fine ending.

So many things could have been wrong with this album–a drummer writing songs, and an ex-famous drummer at that.  He even initially wanted to record it with Krist Novoselic, but was afraid that people would think it was a Nirvana band (and he’s very right about that).  Despite all of that, it turned out to be pretty great.  And it was the start of something of a phenomenon.

[READ: May 20, 2015] Montage of Heck

So I was a huge fan of Nirvana (like the rest of the world) when they came crashing forth on my speakers.  And yes, I knew that they saved rock.  But by the time Kurt killed himself, I was bummed but not distraught.  I was never going to have a poster of him on my wall or anything like that.

I was intrigued when I heard this documentary was coming out. But I didn’t have any plans to see it.  And then NPR played an audio excerpt from the movie in which a drugged up Kurt is getting yelled at by Courtney while their infant baby is lying next to them.  And I decided I didn’t need to see that film–it was brutal just to listen to.

Then I saw this book at work and thought it might be an easier dosage than the film.  (Although my friend Eugenie has seen it and says it’s excellent).

It turns out the book has a lot more stuff that the film does (although I can’t say what as I haven’t seen the film).  It consists entirely of interviews and illustrations (very cool ones by Hisko Hulsing and very creepy ones from Stefan Nadelman.   There’s lots of photos and a few excerpts from Kurt’ diaries and the like.

The interview subjects are listed on the page 18-19 spread of the book.  Each has a photo.  There’s Don Cobain and Jenny Cobain (Kurt’s father and stepmother).  Then there’s Wendy O’Connor, Kurt’s mom and she looks exactly like Courtney Love WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?  In her early younger photos she doesn’t.  It is creepy.

Then there’s Kim Cobain, Kurt’s sister and the nicest person in the book.

There’s Tracy Marander who has some of the least flattering photos in any book I have seen.  Then there’s Courtney (whose hard life has taken a bit of a toll).  And Krist Novoselic who is as enigmatic as ever.

The early pages show a young Kurt who is the cutest kid around.  His eyes are so blue and he has a great big smile in most pictures.  We learn that he was an artistic prodigy from a very early age (both visual and musical).   But we quickly see a disconnect in the house.

The intro to the book mentions the old saying that there are three sides to every story–yours, mine and the truth.  And here you can certainly see different sides to the story.  It’s pretty shocking though that Kurt’s dad isn’t more proud of his son.

Don comes across as a totally blase guy.  He seemed that he could care less about anyone but himself.  He and Wendy married young and they divorced young as well.  Wendy then dated a series of pretty crappy guys and Kurt was evidently very protective of her even at a young age.  It was not a good household to grow up in.

He moved in with Don for a time.  Don thought Kurt was lazy and when Don remarried it sent Kurt into a tailspin.  Then you get conflicting reports–Jenny saying that Kurt was a bully to her kids (from a previous marriage) and Kim saying that her brother could never have been a bully to anyone.

Kim is such a devotee of Kurt and yet she doesn’t seem to have rose-colored glasses on–she knows he was no angel, but she also knows that he was a feminist and a kind person.

Kurt was miserable in school.  There’s even a transcript from his diary of an early suicide attempt.

He never finished high school but when he was 17 he made friends with the guys from the Melvins and with Krist Novolselic.  Kurt and Krist were best buds and they were very serious about their music.  Kurt was living with his girlfriend and she was more or less supporting him while he continued his music–she comes across as not exactly naive about their situation, although perhaps a bit starry eyed.

And then Nirvana released Bleach and soon after Grohl joined and they released Nevermind and their world exploded.  Kurt evidently broke up with Tracy because he didn’t want her hurt by the European tour.

We move through his life–his debilitating stomach ailments that led him to drugs which eventually led him to heroin.  He was an addict for quite a number of years before anyone knew.

Courtney comes into the picture and, although it’s all from her point of view, she comes across as a much saner person than she was presented.  (He was doing heroin before he met her).  Although she’s clearly a freak herself (with a serious grudge against Dave Grohl–and maybe Krist, although she knows she has no right to that since he was with Kurt much longer than she was).

The end of the book, in which Kurt and Courtney are doing heroin and she is then pregnant are pretty harrowing.

Sarah asked me if he wasn’t a musical genius would we see him as just another junkie scum who left his family an I think the answer is yes.  He was a decent person with lowish self-esteem who got taken in my drugs and quit on people he loved.

But at the same time, he was also a decent human being who championed women’s rights and tried to make a difference with his art.

I came away from this book knowing a bit more about him than I did.  I learned that most of the stories about him were exaggerated (either by him or the papers).  That he and Courtney seem like they were actually (surprisingly) good for each other.  And that he was a lot more talented than anyone realized.

I also came away shocked that he was only in the spotlight for three years.  That’s pretty astounding given his legacy and impact.