Nirvana

[wonkabar]

Sliver: Best of the Box....Dude, what a rip

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

No shit.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

suckers!

"Anneuryism" off Live From the Muddy Banks...

One of my fave songs ever. EVER!

Anyone check Last Days?

[burlivesleftnut]

No was it good?

[magicmonkey]

Yeah, its not bad. If you hated Elephant then stay away. Its the same hynotising mix of the mundane with the intriguing use of parallel action as seen in Elephant, as the camera follows somebody elses POV. Kinda like the ending in the mall of Jackie Brown, but done more subtly. Michael Pitt is convincing as Cobain as he wanders in around in a stupor. So this is how the rock stars live.

[Brocktune]

anyone remember how the original title of "Incesticide" was to be "Cash Cow", as that was cobain's preferred title? (thats why i loved him). well, i think that each and every posthumous nirvana release should be titled "Cash Cow vol. whatever". because lets face it, they are.

[wonkabar]

McGregor as Cobain?

[Brocktune]

color me unimpressed. i mean, i like ewan, and i knew it would only be a matter of time before this happened. but i cant help feeling that we can do without.

[wonkabar]

Well, he is almost ten years older than Cobain was when he died...I'm sure he could still pull it off though.

[Lord Voldemoo]

I really like Ewan, and as a 30 year old Seattleite i'm, of course, intrigued because Cobain is my jesus.

But the part of me that is a true Cobain fan doesn't want it to happen because Kurt would've fucking hated the idea. In an era in which all grunge rockers were trying to portray the musician disgruntled with the world, disinterested in success, Cobain was the real deal. Which of course made him all the more popular. That paradox is part of what makes him so compelling, even today.

I dunno, as you can tell I'm conflicted. I'm sure I'll end up watching it if it happens.

[darkjedijaina]

Yeah, I hear ya there, Voldy. Ewan would be great, I'm sure.

But, I feel it's a bit much. They've already raped him (Cobain) enough, don't you think? Let it rest.

[Iconoclastica]

But the part of me that is a true Cobain fan doesn't want it to happen because Kurt would've fucking hated the idea. In an era in which all grunge rockers were trying to portray the musician disgruntled with the world, disinterested in success, Cobain was the real deal. Which of course made him all the more popular. That paradox is part of what makes him so compelling, even today.

Exactly what I was thinking. I love Nirvana . . . they're one of my favorite bands, along with another sleu of grunge bands, leaving me perpetually stuck somewhere in the early 90s. We live with the box sets, and the books, and the money making . . . but for crying out loud, why are people continuing to feed Courtney Love's piggy bank? She treats Kurt Cobain's material like she treats her body- unrelentingly selling out (i.e. to the drug or STD flavor of the week). Cobain's coffin must be worn through for how fucking much he's been rolling in his grave . . .

[Retardo_Montalban]

I don't really want to see a Kurt Cobain movie. Mostly for reasons already stated. I would like to see a movie about how the Seattle scene changed the music industry and shook it up long enough to get some fresh music played on the radio. There was a brief moment in the early 90's when all them rich clueless music execs lost thier power over popular music. That's what I think about when I think Nirvana.

[Iconoclastica]

I don't really want to see a Kurt Cobain movie. Mostly for reasons already stated. I would like to see a movie about how the Seattle scene changed the music industry and shook it up long enough to get some fresh music played on the radio. There was a brief moment in the early 90's when all them rich clueless music execs lost thier power over popular music. That's what I think about when I think Nirvana.

Agreed. A documentary would be phenomenal, though even an Almost Famous-style look at the situation would be interesting . . . and not that crappy Nirvana rip off movie that came out last year

[havocSchultz]

I don't really want to see a Kurt Cobain movie. Mostly for reasons already stated. I would like to see a movie about how the Seattle scene changed the music industry and shook it up long enough to get some fresh music played on the radio. There was a brief moment in the early 90's when all them rich clueless music execs lost thier power over popular music. That's what I think about when I think Nirvana.

That's what I think of...

[Brocktune]

voldy, great minds, bro.

[Retardo_Montalban]

I don't really want to see a Kurt Cobain movie. Mostly for reasons already stated. I would like to see a movie about how the Seattle scene changed the music industry and shook it up long enough to get some fresh music played on the radio. There was a brief moment in the early 90's when all them rich clueless music execs lost thier power over popular music. That's what I think about when I think Nirvana.

That's what I think of...

That's what I think of when I want to get an erection.

[Nordling]

All bio-pics have the same problem - we know how they end, most of the time. The only bio-pic that really, truly worked for me is ED WOOD, and that's because a) it ends before the real fall of Wood and b) it's told in the same film vernacular as Ed Wood's films.

I love Nirvana. But they deserve more than a routine telling of their story. LAST DAYS at least tried to attempt something new, and I admire that film a lot. My only idea for a Nirvana bio-pic is to tell the story backwards. Begin with the suicide and then go back until the film ends when Kurt meets Krist Novoselic and hangs out with the Melvins, days full of hope and modest happiness. Sure, it rips on MEMENTO and a few others, but I think it would accentuate the tragedy of what was lost more to end it with Kurt happy and living the simple life he craved at the end.

Other than that, I have no idea how to do it. I definitely think a non-linear mode of storytelling is the way to go, though.

[WinslowLeach]

I like the idea they're doing for that Bob Dylan non traditional biopic, a bunch of diff people are playing him.

I remember when they said Brad Arm Pitt was going to play Kurt way back in the 90s.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

My only idea for a Nirvana bio-pic is to tell the story backwards. Begin with the suicide and then go back until the film ends when Kurt meets Krist Novoselic and hangs out with the Melvins, days full of hope and modest happiness. Sure, it rips on MEMENTO and a few others, but I think it would accentuate the tragedy of what was lost more to end it with Kurt happy and living the simple life he craved at the end.

Other than that, I have no idea how to do it. I definitely think a non-linear mode of storytelling is the way to go, though.

you know, I didn't like the ploy of Irreversible 'cuz I thought the movie would have benefited if it had been distinctly non-linear, instead of simple end to beginning. For some reason tho', I think applying that same idea to a Nirvana biopic might work, but...

what about his childhood? By all accounts, it was rather...sad.

fact is, Kurt was, brief imagined (did any of us know him? Does anyone ever really know anybody?) periods of happiness excluded, he had a melancholy about him that was either/or grafted onto him from childhood or just hardwired into his very being.

It's a shitty thing to say, and it 'prolly never applied to anyone but KC, but celebrity really did kill him, or at least the crushing burden of said celebrity. Ending the film "full of hope and modest happiness" just would ring hollow for me... unless that ending signifies the musical legacy he left behind, in other words, the legacy of those touched by his music.

'Cuz to me, "his" legacy is one of disappointment and abandonment.

Poor Francis Bean...

[Nordling]

My only idea for a Nirvana bio-pic is to tell the story backwards. Begin with the suicide and then go back until the film ends when Kurt meets Krist Novoselic and hangs out with the Melvins, days full of hope and modest happiness. Sure, it rips on MEMENTO and a few others, but I think it would accentuate the tragedy of what was lost more to end it with Kurt happy and living the simple life he craved at the end.

Other than that, I have no idea how to do it. I definitely think a non-linear mode of storytelling is the way to go, though.

you know, I didn't like the ploy of Irreversible 'cuz I thought the movie would have benefited if it had been distinctly non-linear, instead of simple end to beginning. For some reason tho', I think applying that same idea to a Nirvana biopic might work, but...

what about his childhood? By all accounts, it was rather...sad.

fact is, Kurt was, brief imagined (did any of us know him? Does anyone ever really know anybody?) periods of happiness excluded, he had a melancholy about him that was either/or grafted onto him from childhood or just hardwired into his very being.

It's a shitty thing to say, and it 'prolly never applied to anyone but KC, but celebrity really did kill him, or at least the crushing burden of said celebrity. Ending the film "full of hope and modest happiness" just would ring hollow for me... unless that ending signifies the musical legacy he left behind, in other words, the legacy of those touched by his music.

'Cuz to me, "his" legacy is one of disappointment and abandonment.

Poor Francis Bean...

I agree with most of this. It'll be a tough movie to make, that's for sure. I think this story deserves something more than the conventional "boy makes good, can't handle it, takes life" sort of thing that we would see on an Afternoon School Special. But it would be interesting to see the outside forces that propelled them to stardom so fast. I'm not making it, thank God. I honestly don't know how to approach it.

[Nachokoolaid]

Yeah, I hear ya there, Voldy. Ewan would be great, I'm sure.

But, I feel it's a bit much. They've already raped him (Cobain) enough, don't you think? Let it rest.

Yeah. Wait 25 years or so, and if by then it still seems relevant, then try to make the film. Although I guess they'd have to recast because McGregor would be a little long in the tooth.

[godzillasushi]

With something like this, at the very least they should try to get support from Dave (people forget how good of a drummer he is) and Krist. Its just as bad as shoving Audrey Hepburn into a TV commercial and all the other crap they do. But with this, the other band members are still around. Many folks dont even know why there is a Foo Fighters and what the connection is (duh). You cant make a movie about Kurt Cobain and not have something in there about the band that made him as famous as he is now.

[Fievel]

Kurt Cobain was a mediocre songrwriter and an average guitar player. He made enough money to have access to any help he could have possibly needed to work out his problems. But instead he chose to blow his brains out - ending his life, and robbing his daughter of a father. What a role model.

I hope Uwe Boll directs.

[Maui]

I've only seen one movie, where I felt the actor truly captured/portrayed a musician and his life. That was Val Kilmer in "The Doors". Kilmer just became Morrison, it was exceptional.

I'm a huge Nirvana fan, living north of the Washington border, the Seattle grunge was very prominent up in Vancouver. I think I'd rather see a rockumentary on Cobain then a dark, depressing movie, that perhaps is overacted.

[Zarles]

I refuse to give Courtney 'Love' another cent, whether it be from a record, movie, poster, book, whatever. She gets nothing from my wallet ever again. Yes, I believe the conspiracy theories.

:: creepy music ::

[Chilli]

What a role model.

He's not a role model at all. I put him up there with the guy who did The Pianist in that I don't have a huge amount of respect for either of them as people, but I love the work they've done.

Nirvana always had that raw 'this is what it is, you don't like it then fuck off' feel to it. Its not music I can really enjoy listening to in terms of a pop style, but its stuff that has ingrained itself in me to such a degree that I can spend a good twenty minutes pondering what the verses and theme of the song is, and to me that's the sort of stuff that really resonates musically.

I doubt a film could pull that off. But a documentary on the early 90s grunge scene would be phenomenal.

[tapehead]

Kurt Cobain was a mediocre songrwriter and an average guitar player. He made enough money to have access to any help he could have possibly needed to work out his problems. But instead he chose to blow his brains out - ending his life, and robbing his daughter of a father. What a role model.

I hope Uwe Boll directs.

Kurt Cobain had one fine ear for melody and wrote some of the greatest pop songs of the late 2oth Century. I can only presume you are tone deaf... and very judgemental.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Kurt Cobain had one fine ear for melody and wrote some of the greatest pop songs of the late 2oth Century. I can only presume you are tone deaf... and very judgemental.

You, sir, are my hero.

Chilli, if you haven't seen them and are interested, you might want to check out 1991: the Year Punk Broke and hype! as interesting (if somewhat frustrating at times) documentary bookends to grunge's mainstream popularity.

[wonkabar]

Kurt Cobain was a mediocre songrwriter and an average guitar player.

No, I would say that he must have been a rather clever songwriter to have gotten so much out of such sub-average guitar-skills

[Flumm]

Personally, I really thought Last Days was about a perfect (and unexpected, when you consider what could/will be), an ode/exploration/interpretation of Kobain as could reasonably be imagined on film.

KC is correct, I'd say, anything approaching a traditional story-telling venture would not ring true, (or true-minor? drop-true'd? Ok maybe not..) and be ...insincere to the life of the man.

I can't quite see the traidtional verse-verse-chorus of most bio-pic film making really giving anything other than old patterns, where those patterns would simply emphasise themselves and resound hollow.

In every sense.

Even those with the best intentions, and I'm sure with this there as many of them as there are money-thirsty suits, would likely be bringing something just altogether too tried and tested. Too familiar.

That's partly why I think Van Sant succeeded, the slight skeweing of the perspective, the choices made, the originality and bareness (strange how the sparcity of Last Days would likely be more tender in it's coldness than anything more outspoken offered by the more traditional) aswell as whatever closeness, as the listener on the end of Kurt's songs, he brought with him to the material.

I'll be curious to see what happens along, of course, but I can't say I'm readily expecting it to succeed in the way Last Days did.

For me at least.

[Seppuku]

Personally, I really thought Last Days was about a perfect (and unexpected, when you consider what could/will be), an ode/exploration/interpretation of Kobain as could reasonably be imagined on film.

KC is correct, I'd say, anything approaching a traditional story-telling venture would not ring true, (or true-minor? drop-true'd? Ok maybe not..) and be ...insincere to the life of the man.

I can't quite see the traidtional verse-verse-chorus of most bio-pic film making really giving anything other than old patterns, where those patterns would simply emphasise themselves and resound hollow.

In every sense.

Even those with the best intentions, and I'm sure with this there as many of them as there are money-thirsty suits, would likely be bringing something just altogether too tried and tested. Too familiar.

That's partly why I think Van Sant succeeded, the slight skeweing of the perspective, the choices made, the originality and bareness (strange how the sparcity of Last Days would likely be more tender in it's coldness than anything more outspoken offered by the more traditional) aswell as whatever closeness, as the listener on the end of Kurt's songs, he brought with him to the material.

I'll be curious to see what happens along, of course, but I can't say I'm readily expecting it to succeed in the way Last Days did.

For me at least.

I just went through the effort of typing pretty much the same thing, except not filtered through the inimitable Flummacular.

Last Days did a great job of Veritè'ing Cobain. Oh, wait, did I say Cobain? I meant to say Blake. Who has nothing to do with Cobain whatsoever, despite living in the same city and playing the same kind of music, and having the same hairdresser and stylist.

Cobain didn't live a three-act life, so I don't particularly want to see a three-act biopic about him. You just know it'd end up like Factory Girl or something: a couple of good performances laced around a by-rote script.

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing an officially-sanctioned movie about Kurdt. Alex Cox could do with some work, maybe he could make an unofficial sequel to Sid & Nancy out of a Kurt movie (ten years later; same deal). If memory serves, he even gave Courtney Love a role in Sid & Nancy as the chick in the limo near the end, so she'd probably sanction a movie by him for giving her a career.

All fanboy wankery, of course, but I'd watch it.

[Fievel]

Kurt Cobain was a mediocre songrwriter and an average guitar player.

No, I would say that he must have been a rather clever songwriter to have gotten so much out of such sub-average guitar-skills

Touche!

Kurt Cobain had one fine ear for melody and wrote some of the greatest pop songs of the late 2oth Century. I can only presume you are tone deaf... and very judgemental.

I'm moderately judgmental regarding music, but also empathetic to the fact that not everyone has the same background in music. I believe that Cobain's contemporaries in Soundgarden and Pearl Jam out-wrote him every step of the way. I would have included Alice In Chains in there, but Staley's death-by-heroin is a loss of Cool Points in my book. Be it use of major chords (eeeek!), mixed meter, or even melodic guitar solos, I believe those two outdid Nirvana. All the while, bands like Phish and Primus were writing music that the mere composition of would give Cobain an aneurysm.
Smells Like Teen Spirit was a lucky break for Nirvana that opened the doors for music as it is now. It was quite a shift. That song isn't a great song, but it is a legendary anthem - especially to those who were in high school/college and could feel the shift of music firsthand shift from electronic pop back to real rock between 1991-1993. What times those were, especially coming out of the saturated 80's sound.
But the persona Cobain allowed to be presented of himself was about as pathetic as Jim Morrison's. The "troubled artist" facade will get you a steaming hot cup of "Cry Me A Fucking River" from me. You're human. Just like the rest of us. Get help if you need it. Get help if you don't. Killing yourself? How much more egotistical can you get?
Some people like/love Nirvana, others don't. I don't (Even though I own two CDs and a cassette). I guess this rant explains my thoughts/opinions on it. I'm sure everyone has their own, and that's what makes this world kinda neat.
And incidentally, I'm really close to having perfect pitch. It's close enough that I can get away with saying I do, unless I'm in the company of a professional pianist or timpanist.

[Seppuku]

I'm moderately judgmental regarding music, but also empathetic to the fact that not everyone has the same background in music. I believe that Cobain's contemporaries in Soundgarden and Pearl Jam out-wrote him every step of the way. I would have included Alice In Chains in there, but Staley's death-by-heroin is a loss of Cool Points in my book. Be it use of major chords (eeeek!), mixed meter, or even melodic guitar solos, I believe those two outdid Nirvana. All the while, bands like Phish and Primus were writing music that the mere composition of would give Cobain an aneurysm.
Smells Like Teen Spirit was a lucky break for Nirvana that opened the doors for music as it is now. It was quite a shift. That song isn't a great song, but it is a legendary anthem - especially to those who were in high school/college and could feel the shift of music firsthand shift from electronic pop back to real rock between 1991-1993. What times those were, especially coming out of the saturated 80's sound.
But the persona Cobain allowed to be presented of himself was about as pathetic as Jim Morrison's. The "troubled artist" facade will get you a steaming hot cup of "Cry Me A Fucking River" from me. You're human. Just like the rest of us. Get help if you need it. Get help if you don't. Killing yourself? How much more egotistical can you get?
Some people like/love Nirvana, others don't. I don't (Even though I own two CDs and a cassette). I guess this rant explains my thoughts/opinions on it. I'm sure everyone has their own, and that's what makes this world kinda neat.
And incidentally, I'm really close to having perfect pitch. It's close enough that I can get away with saying I do, unless I'm in the company of a professional pianist or timpanist.

Nirvana songs make me hum.

[Zarles]

Persona, shmersona. Nirvana hitting it big was the equivalent of throwing a dart at your record collection and having the band whose record it was achieve unfathomable success. They came out of pretty much nowhere, and in my ears, it doesn't matter in the slightest if Kurt's playing nothing but power chords for an entire album or not.

That was OUR music. Remember what the charts were like before they broke? Whitney Houston? Michael Jackson? Some warmed-over Madonna template melody that she'd written and gotten a hit with four times in a row? I had literally JUST seen them opening for Dinosaur Jr. in some shitty little L.A. club no more than two weeks before Nevermind was released. The shit was just WEIRD.

Sorry to ramble, but there is more power and rawness in 'Scentless Apprentice' alone than there is in all the albums of the top 20 bands on the Billboard charts right now. Virtuoso he wasn't, but to a lot of us, it hardly mattered.

[tapehead]

Kurt Cobain was a mediocre songrwriter and an average guitar player.

No, I would say that he must have been a rather clever songwriter to have gotten so much out of such sub-average guitar-skills

Touche!

Kurt Cobain had one fine ear for melody and wrote some of the greatest pop songs of the late 2oth Century. I can only presume you are tone deaf... and very judgemental.

I'm moderately judgmental regarding music, but also empathetic to the fact that not everyone has the same background in music. I believe that Cobain's contemporaries in Soundgarden and Pearl Jam out-wrote him every step of the way. I would have included Alice In Chains in there, but Staley's death-by-heroin is a loss of Cool Points in my book. Be it use of major chords (eeeek!), mixed meter, or even melodic guitar solos, I believe those two outdid Nirvana. All the while, bands like Phish and Primus were writing music that the mere composition of would give Cobain an aneurysm.
Smells Like Teen Spirit was a lucky break for Nirvana that opened the doors for music as it is now. It was quite a shift. That song isn't a great song, but it is a legendary anthem - especially to those who were in high school/college and could feel the shift of music firsthand shift from electronic pop back to real rock between 1991-1993. What times those were, especially coming out of the saturated 80's sound.
But the persona Cobain allowed to be presented of himself was about as pathetic as Jim Morrison's. The "troubled artist" facade will get you a steaming hot cup of "Cry Me A Fucking River" from me. You're human. Just like the rest of us. Get help if you need it. Get help if you don't. Killing yourself? How much more egotistical can you get?
Some people like/love Nirvana, others don't. I don't (Even though I own two CDs and a cassette). I guess this rant explains my thoughts/opinions on it. I'm sure everyone has their own, and that's what makes this world kinda neat.
And incidentally, I'm really close to having perfect pitch. It's close enough that I can get away with saying I do, unless I'm in the company of a professional pianist or timpanist.

Massive music snobbery aside (snobbery and good taste - two very different things. I'm guessing an amateur guitarist, not a performer), keep Fievel away from the depressives - don't get me wrong, I used to think the same way, until someone I actually knew killed themselves, and I couldn't be so glib about it anymore.

[Fievel]

Massive music snobbery aside (snobbery and good taste - two very different things. I'm guessing an amateur guitarist, not a performer), keep Fievel away from the depressives - don't get me wrong, I used to think the same way, until someone I actually knew killed themselves, and I couldn't be so glib about it anymore.

Snobbery? Nah, just opinions... and that's the fun of it.
I guess I am an amateur guitarist. Anything other than chord-strumming and I'm lost, but I still love to pick one up every now and then. Percussion is my niche, and I was a professional for a bit (orchestra/concert band gigs) technically speaking, although I never made enough to write home about (mostly subbing jobs). Now I mostly teach/compose/arrange (professionally). I don't play much anymore... not since Macho Grande.

RE: suicide - A couple people I've known have killed themselves as well, but neither were high-profile people with multiple-year heroin addictions.

[thebostonlocksmith]

I don't think that suicide could ever be described as an ego-tistical act, usually i would suggest it is quite the opposite and due to a lack of self worth...

[Nordling]

I love Nirvana, but let me tell ya... if you're hankering for that 1993-feel rock music again, do yourself a huge favor and get the new Dinosaur Jr. album, BEYOND. Fucking terrific.

[Fievel]

I love Nirvana, but let me tell ya... if you're hankering for that 1993-feel rock music again, do yourself a huge favor and get the new Dinosaur Jr. album, BEYOND. Fucking terrific.

I've heard that from quite a few people already.
First in what, 10 years?

[Nordling]

Yep, and with the original players Murph and Lou Barlow (Sebadoh).

There's riffs as thick as a kickass porterhouse steak.

[Bob Samonkey]

Yep, and with the original players Murph and Lou Barlow (Sebadoh).

There's riffs as thick as a kickass porterhouse steak.

They were very loud when I saw them. Uncomfortably loud.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Happy b-day Kurt.

He woulda been 41 today.

It seems a little weird to think of Cobain at 41...

[St. Alphonzo]

D'you suppose he would have mellowed out? I'm trying to imagine Cobain releasing a covers disc of pop standards or something.

I wonder how long Nirvana would've lasted even if he had lived.

I still pull "Bleach" out for a spin fairly often. Certainly it's more "punk" than any of the "punks" out there right now!

[Retardo_Montalban]

Wasn't that MTV unplugged?


Nirvana was done long before Cobain was. I really wanted to see what he could do as a solo performer.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

If you really listen to In Utero you can tell they only had one or two more records left in them as a group. Cobain was in the planning stages of a collaboration with Michael Stipe on a soundtrack for a film. Stipe said nothing was recorded, but I sure as hell would have loved to hear that. After Unplugged I wouldn't have been surprised if he made an album with Bowie. That would have been something. I get the feeling he would have been quite content to stay at home, paint, and record the occasional album in his living room. I wish he would have allowed himself the opportunity.

[Nordling]

I would have rather Nirvana ended and Cobain become an eclectic artist, releasing an odd blues/punk hybrid album every 4 years then what ended up happening.

[bastard_robo]

I liked them, and thought that many of their songs were borderline brilliant, and COME AS YOU ARE is possibly their best song, but I was always and Alice in Chains fan.

[King Of Nowhere]

If you really listen to In Utero you can tell they only had one or two more records left in them as a group. Cobain was in the planning stages of a collaboration with Michael Stipe on a soundtrack for a film. Stipe said nothing was recorded, but I sure as hell would have loved to hear that. After Unplugged I wouldn't have been surprised if he made an album with Bowie. That would have been something. I get the feeling he would have been quite content to stay at home, paint, and record the occasional album in his living room. I wish he would have allowed himself the opportunity.

10 years after Nevemind came out, the local paper ran an article predicting where Cobain would be now.

They predicted that he'd be living in the countryside, away from the media.
They thought he'd be releasing albums with a more country feel to them (think Meat Puppets covers on Unplugged, not Kenny Rogers).
I't could've happened, he was a big Leadbelly fan & was trying to put out a covers album with Mark Lanegan at one point (songs from it can be heard on With The Lights Out, Disk 1).

[Worst Part's Almost Over]

In Utero is by far the best of Nirvana's albums in my opinion. Unplugged is a beautiful example of what a great songwriter Cobain was, giving the tunes chance to breathe and be seen in a different context, which some people who don't like the Nirvana sound actually like (my brother for one). With The Lights Out is an excellent buy and has some real gems on it, especially 'Do Re Mi' which still breaks my heart, such a beautiful song. Shows what Kurt may have gone on to do post-Nirvana. More acoustic based stuff. Sliver: Best Of The Box was simply put out for Courtney Love to make some money because she was going through financial difficulty at the time.

If you want a great movie about Cobain, watch About A Son - great music, beautiful images and the man himself narrates. If you want to see a great movie about isolation and its connection to rock music, watch Last Days as it is captivating (but not about Cobain really). If you want a great movie about the Seattle scene and bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, watch 1991: The Year Punk Broke.

Those are my recommendations, for what they're worth