Book Report: Nirvana

Nirvana: The Biography by Everett True
Nearly 600 pages, and about half of them are about Nirvana, the rest are about Everett True. (Small) exaggerations aside, True really was there when all the shit went down: The NME journalist followed Kurt Cobain and co. from their early days in and around Olympia, through Sub Pop and Bleach, DGC and Nevermind, and lastly, through superstardom, Courtney Love, MTV, heroin addiction, In Utero and suicide. True was there, and he gives some excellent first-hand accounts of small club shows, backstage shenanigans, band in-fighting and similar tales of sex, drugs and rock n roll (well, not much sex really). But where was everybody else? For whatever reason, True wasn't able to interview drummer Dave Groehl (although he has some cool stories from Chad Channing, Nirvana's talented first dummer) or bassist Krist Novelselic, nor do we hear from producers Butch Vig and Steve Albini. And, although he loves to reminisce about wrestling with her on hotel lobby floors, True gets no input from Courtney Love either. Nirvana: A Biography really feels like a deseprate attempt from True to remain relevant in a rock world that has pretty much forgotten about the Seattle scene he so experty chronicled more than a decade ago.