Product Description

An unparalleled look inside the brilliant mind of one of America's most revered rock legends, Cobain collects unseen artifacts and photographs from the estates archives to form a fascinating portrait of the creativity, madness, and genius of Kurt Cobain.

Never-before-seen personal items and photographs take readers deeper inside Cobain's life than theyve ever been, and interactive features, such as Kurt's handwritten sticker-sheet of Nirvana name tags, facsimiles of unseen journal pages, and gatefolds of his graffiti-embellished guitars make this an essential keepsake.

An audio CD possibly containing unreleased spoken-word material by Cobain, will be included. Accompanying the previously unpublished images and memorabilia is a compelling biographical narrative by Sunday Times bestselling author Charles R. Cross. (20081021)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16071 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Review
Praise for COBAIN UNSEEN: (. 20081107)

'Lavishly illustrated and beautifully and thoughtfully designed, this is as endlessly captivating as it is heartbreaking, and an essential companion volume to Heavier Than Heaven *****' (Q Magazine 20081107)

'Unbelievable... beautifully put together and completely intriguing... I've never seen a book like this... incredible' (BBC 6 Music - George Lamb Show 20081022)

'frightening, intrusive and engrossing...*****' (ZOO Magazine )

'the result is a fascinating hotchpotch of material' (Evening Standard )

'The inclusion of a CD of never-before-heard recordings is a masterstroke' (GQ )

'An unprecedented insight into the man who added angst 'n' alienation to rock 'n' roll' (MAXIM )

'A visual reminder of why Cobain had such an impact and why his legacy endures' (ELLE Magazine )

Praise for Heavier than Heaven (: )

‘Cross pieced together a remarkably revealing visual history of Cobain's private life - It's that intangible thing that made him a star.’ (Rolling Stone )

'I was very glad to read this biography, the result of four years' research and 400 interviews, not to mention the sainted Kurt's police and medical records AND his unpublished journals. I was in hog heaven all the way through - in a caring, wistful way, of course.' (Julie Burchill, Guardian )

'Cross's portrayal of a shy but prodigiously gifted child, in artistic as well as musical terms, is a joy to read' ( Observer )

'Superbly researched and harrowing...The squalor is ghastly but the sheer sadness of Cobain's brief life is beautifully conveyed here. Cross has painstakingly accumulated a wealth of telling detail.' (Robert Sandall, Sunday Times )

'A remarkable revealing visual history of Cobain’s private life.' (Rolling Stone )

About the Author
Charles R. Cross is the author of five books, including the award-winning bestseller Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Spin, and numerous other magazines. (20081212)

Customer Reviews

Fragments of Cobain

Personally I thought Charles R. Cross has wrung Kurt Cobain's musical and personal legacy dry.

But apparently he hasn't, as evidenced by the image-heavy brick that is "Cobain Unseen." It has some basic biographical information about Cobain and attempts to address his inner life, but doesn't really reveal much that we don't already know. The real draw is the seemingly endless slew of pictures, letters and scraps from his all-too-brief lifetime.

After briefly covering the major events of Kurt Cobain's childhood, Cross explores his ramshackle youth and growing musical abilities -- culminating in Nirvana (whose name he says stemmed from Cobain's love of Eastern beliefs), one of the most groundbreaking bands of the 1990s.

But Cobain's life remained pretty tumultuous, as Cross explores quite a few aspects of Cobain's life -- his dark outlook and weird fascinations, his rebellion against his own fame and the widespread adulation of him, his marriage to the crazy rocker Courtney Love, and the birth of their daughter. And, of course, the days leading up to his early death.

Cross's prose portions are serviceable, but it feels more like a longish magazine article instead of a biography. Some of the anecdotes are moderately interesting -- such as Kurt seeing a dying suicide as a schoolboy -- but most of this stuff is a glossy, rapid look over his life. Most of the time, Cross's written stuff simply form a framework for the rest of the book.

The really good stuff is the pictures. There's a brilliant array of personal photos -- a laughing Cobain posing with his baby daughter, in concert, standing beside Japanese Jizo statues, hanging out with Courtney Love or his bandmates, playing with a steering wheel as a baby. They show him from all emotional angles -- happy, miserable, rebellious, mournful, angry, sullen, quirky, and even with a faint, dark fire in his eyes.

Some are unstaged and mildly blurry, while others look like magazine photoshoots -- like a beautiful picture of a blank-faced Cobain posing amongst doll heads, with a blanket of roses over his head. And there are many fragments of Cobain's interests -- odd dolls, masks, heart-shaped boxes, monkeys with batteries, tiger suits, carved-up drawing figures and audio cassettes covered in fruit stickers.

But the most unusual stuff is the assorted fold-outs and removable items -- ads for Nirvana, a copy of Kurt's high school diploma, a CD of old songs, blurry letters, X-rays, handmade cards, and even an old handwritten draft of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It makes the book seem like less of a biography, and more like a collage of various fragments from Cobain's lifetime.

The prose content comes second in "Cobain Unseen," where beautiful pictures and rock'n'roll relics reveal a vibrant personality that still shines from the pages. Definitely worth checking out.

Something for the fans
A great book with some rare photos and excerpts from Kurt's diary. The best thing is the way some information is loose and can be taken out of the book and looked at more closely e.g the lyrics to smells like teen spirit. A must for fans or those curious about Kurt

You need to buy this!
This book is absolutely fantastic! Any Nirvana/Kurt fan will relish pouring over this book: unreleased photos, copies of his journals, his artwork, his life all told through images and his weird possessions. It is full of pictures you will not find anywhere else!
It paints a new image of Kurt that you won't necessarily see if you read his biography alone. This book does not revolve around his death either, it is all about his artistic skill as a writer and an artist.
This book is beautiful and shows another side to Kurt. You will not be able to put it down.