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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Everett True Publisher: Da Capo Press |
music industry that it is difficult to ignore them, even after they have been gone for a long period of time. “Nirvana:
The Biography” offers readers an inside account written by Everett True, the British rock journalist who was able to
perform onstage with the band many times, introduced Cobain to Courtney Love and is uncle to Cobain’s daughter
Frances Bean Cobain.
True is given credit for coining the term “grunge” to describe the punk-rock tha came out of the Northwest in the late
‘80s and early ‘90s, but he admits that it was the late rock critic Lester Bangs that should get credit for it. Though
True moved to Seattle in 1989 after joining Melody Maker, it was in Olympia that True covers the true source of
grunge. Everything started to go wrong when grunge migrated to the big city of Seattle.
True’s book captures the era in which grunge music took place. For those who want to know what it was like to be in
the middle of the exciting grunge music movement when it was popular, True is by far one of the best guides. He
captures the sounds, heat, excitement and madness of the shows that took place. Throughout the book it seems as
though everyone, including True, was drunk at all times. True admits that he doesn’t’ remember a lot of that time
because he was inebriated and explained, “Half the time, doing interviews for this book feels like being at an AA
meeting.” It will quickly become evident that though True is passionate about what he likes, he is even more
passionate about what he hates.
Throughout this book a number of bands and artists made put down. Eddie Vedder is made fun of in the second
paragraph of the book and Pearl Jam is continually being ridiculed. True despises local author Charles R. Cross and
his acclaimed biography of Kurt Cobain, “Heavier than Heaven” and the music monthly publication that Cross edited
and published, The Rocket. True enjoys pointing out the constant errors in Cross’ book, like the first Nirvana show in
Seattle, which took place at the Central Tavern, not the Vogue; when Kurt met Courtney, a year before Cross claims
it to have happened; and that the heart shaped box that Cobain gave Love and immortalized in song never existed, a
story that Love made up. True criticizes The Rocket for not discovering grunge before he did.
True’s book goes on for 688 pages, offers readers with way too many tangents which include a large amount of
notes at the end of every chapter. He isn’t able to edit anybody in the book, including himself. There are a variety of
long interviews that don’t seem to have much worth in the book and will often become tedious for readers to work
their way through. At times readers will feel like True is trying to prove that he found grunge, and Nirvana, before
anyone else, to raise himself up a little bit in the music industry, rather than telling the story of Nirvana.
Though the book does seem to drag on, there is a lot of interesting information about the band and some great
pictures, some never published before. Nirvana proved that it was easy to be great in a world filled with bland
corporate rock, and many would agree that it is about time for another Nirvana to hit the scene.
The Biography” offers readers an inside account written by Everett True, the British rock journalist who was able to
perform onstage with the band many times, introduced Cobain to Courtney Love and is uncle to Cobain’s daughter
Frances Bean Cobain.
True is given credit for coining the term “grunge” to describe the punk-rock tha came out of the Northwest in the late
‘80s and early ‘90s, but he admits that it was the late rock critic Lester Bangs that should get credit for it. Though
True moved to Seattle in 1989 after joining Melody Maker, it was in Olympia that True covers the true source of
grunge. Everything started to go wrong when grunge migrated to the big city of Seattle.
True’s book captures the era in which grunge music took place. For those who want to know what it was like to be in
the middle of the exciting grunge music movement when it was popular, True is by far one of the best guides. He
captures the sounds, heat, excitement and madness of the shows that took place. Throughout the book it seems as
though everyone, including True, was drunk at all times. True admits that he doesn’t’ remember a lot of that time
because he was inebriated and explained, “Half the time, doing interviews for this book feels like being at an AA
meeting.” It will quickly become evident that though True is passionate about what he likes, he is even more
passionate about what he hates.
Throughout this book a number of bands and artists made put down. Eddie Vedder is made fun of in the second
paragraph of the book and Pearl Jam is continually being ridiculed. True despises local author Charles R. Cross and
his acclaimed biography of Kurt Cobain, “Heavier than Heaven” and the music monthly publication that Cross edited
and published, The Rocket. True enjoys pointing out the constant errors in Cross’ book, like the first Nirvana show in
Seattle, which took place at the Central Tavern, not the Vogue; when Kurt met Courtney, a year before Cross claims
it to have happened; and that the heart shaped box that Cobain gave Love and immortalized in song never existed, a
story that Love made up. True criticizes The Rocket for not discovering grunge before he did.
True’s book goes on for 688 pages, offers readers with way too many tangents which include a large amount of
notes at the end of every chapter. He isn’t able to edit anybody in the book, including himself. There are a variety of
long interviews that don’t seem to have much worth in the book and will often become tedious for readers to work
their way through. At times readers will feel like True is trying to prove that he found grunge, and Nirvana, before
anyone else, to raise himself up a little bit in the music industry, rather than telling the story of Nirvana.
Though the book does seem to drag on, there is a lot of interesting information about the band and some great
pictures, some never published before. Nirvana proved that it was easy to be great in a world filled with bland
corporate rock, and many would agree that it is about time for another Nirvana to hit the scene.
