Journals - Review

Journals by Kurt Cobain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After years of listening to the best band in the world, i was finally able to see a little bit of what was going on in Kurt Cobain's head. For a fan this is the book to have. Kurt had very strong opinions about politics, the world and music, and it all kind of makes sense. If he did commit suicide, i can see why. A lot of people want to make music for a living because they are artists and it's their passion, but not all of them want to be famous. I think he wanted to put music out there, record it so people could listen to it, but he didn't want Nirvana to become as famous as they did. And they definitely got screwed over by their labels/record companies.
Also, i think the media had a lot to do with his attitude because they would misquote him on many occassions and blow things out of proportion.
I was surprised that there wasn't a lot of writing about Courtney, maybe they left those out of this compilation? But still overall a cool book for fans to check out. I loved it.


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A Kurt Cobain Journal Entry

"Hi, I played the snare drum in school band from grades five to nine. During this time I didn’t bother learning how to read sheet music, I just waited for the geek in first chair to learn each song, then I simply copied him, I managed to do well without ever having to read music.

It took me 5 years to realize how rhythmically retarded I was as a drummer, so I sold of my fathers guns then used the money to purchase my first six string electric guitar. I learned everything I needed to know from one week of lessons which resulted in the famous Louie Louie chords.

I noticed that I could use the finger positions from the B note anywhere on the guitar, this is known as the power chord. And so after figuring out songs like Louie Louie, Wild Thing and My Best Friends Girl, I decided that in order to become a big famous Rockstar I would need to write my very own songs instead of wasting my time learning other peoples because if you study other peoples music too much it may act as obstruction in developing your very own personal style.

Someone told me that there are guitar institutes of technology all across the world where they teach you how to be a lame unoriginal jukebox hero with stars in your eyes.

Uh, gee I guess what I’m trying to say is: theory is a waste of time. Dorian modes are for technically anal boys with bad values. Make up your own music. Eric Clapton plays second rate dusty blues licks. Too much practice is like too much sugar. Weird Al Yankovic is America’s modern pop-rock genius. If you copy too much you’ll find yourself in late night cocktail lounge cover band limbo.

The guitar has twelve notes. The guitar is based on mathematics. Guitar oriented rock n roll has been around for over 30 years. There are limitations within the structures of a 4/4 rock time signature rhythm. So consider this music book as something just to own like a bottle cap collection or baseball cards or a family photo album or an example of just exactly how not to brighten your musical capabilities.

Happy Motoring

Love Kurt"