yuri getting adapted w nirvana is awesome but now theres this huge wave of misinformation abt kurt thats befalling us. this usually happens whenever Kurt's brought up in the mainstream so im not suprised but its so hard to hold my tounge when people say that DAVE was kurts best friend
sixth up to bat for the nirvana doc project is "nirvana: the untold stories", directed by simon bisset and released in 2003
quick summary; comprised predominantly of talking heads interviews with occasional supplemental photographs and voice over narration, bisset takes the viewer through a crash course of nirvana's history up until the subsequent end of the band.
thoughts; well ok, i think i found a contender with "nirvana: up close and personal" for documentaries that truly leave my head after i finish watching them. i did truly give this the old college in trying to retain information while watching this but in the end i'm just left with a shrug and some minor inaccuracies to take note of. i found the whole ordeal boring, which i guess is a breath of fresh air compared to previous entries in this project (i'm looking at you "soaked in bleach" and "kurt and courtney"). but really? this is the best we could do pertaining to a documentary about nirvana? a boring made for tv documentary that felt sluggish despite the short run time? christ. was this the best documentary in the whole world? not really. the presentation was grating, given the rip of this i watched had some blinking lights from age throughout and the random zoom ins with a black and white filter over interviews were incredibly distracting. this was made without permission from anyone involved with nirvana, which is why many of the interviews conducted were with people around the band or kurt instead of with direct members. this isn't new, but it really did feel like they were reaching a lot of the time. leland cobain was in this one (ugh) but not for long, so i'm forever grateful about that. if i have to hear that man talk one more time i'm blowing my brains out. i will say though, it does go deeper than the shallow "wants to be about nirvana but it's really about kurt" type that i continue to encounter throughout this project. a good chunk of this doc is dedicated to the formation of nirvana, their performances that eventually led to recording bleach, nevermind and in utero before kurt's tragic passing. though there still is a bunch of time dedicated to just kurt, of course, can't skip out on that for a second. overall, an inoffensive piece i wish had more time and effort put into. feels like something a college student would slap together in a week for a project. i need something meatier for this project one of these days i swear to god.
is the information in this doc accurate?; somewhat. much like "nirvana: up close and personal" there's a mix of inaccurate and accurate information. however, this one differs in that i'm unable to verify a lot of stories that were told throughout. friends of kurts and those who attended the first nirvana performance were interviewed, telling stories of the experience being near the members early on in their lives. it's hard to tell if a personal anecdote is true or not, so i won't touch on those. charles r. cross is in this doc and stinks up some of the run time by putting his personal opinion on whether they were a good live band or not early on into their later years in it for some reason. like ok we get it, you were a music journalist in the seattle music scene before you became The Kurt Biographer (tm), you heard them perform and didn't care for them until nevermind. shut up dude i'm tired. anyways. they discuss kurt's relationship w/ courtney starting in 1990 when that isn't true, he was w/ mary lou lord until 1991 when he dumped her during their european tour, then got with courtney sometime later. the most important thing i need to mention here is that WE FINALLY GOT A DOC THAT MENTIONED THE OTHER DRUMMERS!!!!!! FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!!! yes, this doc mentions that nirvana went through numerous other drummers before landing on chad for bleach and dave for the remainder of their run and i'm beyond excited about this information. you have no fucking idea how many of these i've watched at this point that just Don't mention aaron burckhard or dave foster or even fucking dale crover before chad and dave!!!! so i'm giving it points just for that alone (and also being accurate when they were in the band, but not for the reasons why they were kicked out lol). one of these days though we'll get a doc that mentions the brief period of time when they played the bleach tour with jason everman. one day. they also skimp over krist's life entirely, as well as dave's, but give particular attention to kurt's. this is absurd to me cause come as you are was already out by that point, so why not reference it at least? it has information about all their lives in it and their upbringings, why even mention them if you're going to skim/ignore them entirely? and with that, i really cannot recall much else tbh that needs to be addressed. like i mentioned above, there's a lot of information i didn't retain as this doc bored the life out of me despite my best efforts to pay attention. if you do watch this, just remain skeptical about what stories are being told and who they're being told by is all i'll say.
final rating; 3 out of 5
where can this be watched?; currently "nirvana: the untold stories" is free to stream off tubi.
tell me more about that 93' passive agression between dave and kurt you mentioned 🤭 i know abt the thing with the royalties (kinda) but thats all i know
hello my dear friend, i'm so glad you asked <3 sorry it took forever to answer you btw ; ;
93 was a bad year in general for kurt's relationships, everything was crumbling as a result of his drug addiction and deteriorating mental health. close friends were estranged as he grew more and more closed off. this led to a lot of unnecessary fights and disputes, such as what happened with the royalties. i'm sure there was a lot more going on behind the scenes but i'm not gonna speculate on that further.
dave and kurt seemed to really butt heads toward the end. in addition to the royalties dispute, kurt also was threatening to remove dave as nirvana's drummer. michael azerrad, who had befriended kurt at that time through interviewing him for "come as you are", wrote in a new york times article in 2021 that, "Once, I stopped by Kurt’s hotel room when he started yelling that he wanted to fire Dave, unquestionably one of the great rock drummers, for being an unsubtle and unspontaneous musician." all while dave was in the next room, which azerrad tried to point out only for kurt to proclaim that he didn't care and continue on. azerrad also mentioned how dave had brought up to his biographer that, "on a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles he had overheard Kurt bad-mouthing his drumming two rows back." he wanted to quit after the last show they were scheduled for but was talked out of it last minute.
tensions were very high between them and it started showing up in little ways. i was able to spot two different instances of them being blatantly passive aggressive to each other. once during unplugged and the other during an interview in new york.
during unplugged, as they're leading into "man who sold the world" and kurt brings up how he'll be guaranteed to mess the song up, dave is clearly heard saying "yeah like he only screw's one up." it could just be jesting or playful banter about how kurt messes up songs during concerts but idk, something feels off about the way dave says it. like it's a jab more than anything. it's also notable that dave did not like being told to play the brushes during "about a girl", which is in part dave being dave but also feels significant given what i mentioned before so it's worth bringing up.
as for the interview. in 93 after the release of in utero, nirvana was interviewed in new york for mtv. it's an awkward interview that was recorded for the sake of jotting down answers later for an article that was being written, but there's a notable tension between everyone in that room the entire time. kurt brings up the MTV interview in 92 where dave talks about not being able to play "rape me" to MTV themselves and laughs about it, all while dave half heartedly jokes along. could just be typical dave being baby brothered but idk it just feels like something that would've gotten a little bit of a greater reaction in any other circumstance. it was a silly moment, why does it feel sullen? there's also a point where they talk about being passive aggressive people, bringing up the amount of bitching kurt had done in "come as you are" where dave subtly points to krist and himself with a smile. later on when discussing the royalties split, dave rubs his fingers together in reference to the money. a sore spot still seemingly. little things like that throughout. other than the boring droll of the interviewer, it's what makes me cringe the most throughout the whole thing.
then again, as i said, these things could be chalked up to sardonic humor popular at the time nirvana was popular and also something the band itself was known for. i could just be inventing things and seeing things that aren't there with this knowledge in mind creating a bias. so take these things with a grain of salt and form your own opinions by watching these instances yourself.
fifth up on the list for the nirvana doc project is "nirvana: up close and personal", directed by bob carruthers and released in 2007.
quick summary; conducting interviews with those who knew, worked with or knew of the band with supplemental archival footage provided alongside, director bob carruthers retells the history of nirvana, their rise, fall and subsequent legacy after kurt's passing.
thoughts; this was...fine i guess? i think this is the first doc i'm truly, actually ambivalent about. i don't have strong feelings like with other entries we've covered such as "soaked in bleach" or "about a son". i think the best i can give this is a shrug. it feels like a made for tv documentary for those who want to get up to speed on the history of nirvana and also know maybe some more tidbits about kurt they weren't already aware of. they do bring up krist and dave briefly but don't delve further. it's very kurt centric like how nirvana docs usually are. how kurt ran the band, how it was his vision, how he felt, etc. when it would be really refreshing to hear about, yknow, the significance of the other two's contributions. yes i'm glad you brought up how krist was mistaken for the manager of the band because of how he kept track of finances and booked gigs and such in the beginning and also was the mouthpiece during interviews but can we talk about how important krist really was to the sound of the band? he's irreplaceable. there would be no nirvana without krist novoselic, point blank period. also dave's there i guess. he hits hard. when like--there's so much else we could delve into. they gave some nod to chad, which i'm happy about, but once again didn't bring up the other drummers they went through (which is kinda insane cause you'll bring up chad's contributions but not dale crover???? THE guy that was important in the beginning of the band??? alright). the interviews that were conducted were fine, they got the typical roster of people low budget documentaries get when they can't actually interview the main players (even though the letterboxd description claims they did interview them, false advertising?). beware, though, this doc features a charles r. cross jumpscare. really bogs down everything when he's shown but he's not being a shit so i guess that's something. not very keen on the interviews they conducted with kurt's paternal grandfather, leland cobain, either. he's part of the "kurt wasn't suicidal" crowd and i'm not particularly fond of that notion. just because he didn't appear visibly suicidal to you doesn't mean he wasn't suicidal. also worth mentioning that the scene transitions and editing were very early 2000s and obnoxious. there's also a cover band that they use to feature songs occasionally, both with blurred footage in a recording studio and audio, that they lie and say are actually the band. it isn't, that clearly isn't kurt's voice. you can't lie to me, carruthers. overall, i'd say this is a pretty forgettable doc. i'm probably gonna forget about it by tomorrow. i'm already losing information as we speak.
is the information in this doc accurate?; somewhat. i'd say the vast majority of it is accurate with some minor inconsistencies here and there. such as asserting kurt's parents, wendy and don, divorced when he was a teen when they divorced around the time he was 7/8 or calling their music pop adjacent when they're more in line with punk rock or straight rock with minor pop elements. also bringing up kurt being clean before 91 is kinda silly and spreads the lie kurt himself conjured of only really getting into heroin at the height of nevermind. he was a pothead as a teen, dabbled in prescription drug abuse and also occasionally injected heroin but his addiction didn't worsen until their meteoric rise. there's also some courtney hate and conspiracy sprinkled in for good measure, but not overly obnoxious about it as past entries have been prone to doing. they discuss briefly the potential of kurt losing custody of frances, the ever looming rumor of divorce and speculated he was rewriting his will to exclude her when there's no true evidence of this. it's word of mouth, as i've stated before, and we will never truly know if any of these claims are true. though to claim those are a few of the reasons why he might've become suicidal and taken his life is a bit extreme. there's also talk of kurt ghostwriting hole's breakthrough album live through this and how it's an open secret. i've never been able to find concrete proof of this and courtney has discussed often that he had no involvement in the writing of that album, which i'm inclined to believe. he's not secretly spreading a message through songs on his wife's album, that's absurd. they also bring up how grunge died when nirvana disbanded. i've not gotten into this really because it's unimportant to nirvana on the whole but the label of "grunge" was a joke term bruce pavitt, cofounder of sub-pop records, coined when he was in college to describe seattle bands sound at the time that spiraled out of his hands after nirvana skyrocketed to fame and put seattle on the map for the greater public. there's no such thing as actual grunge. other than that, i'd say it's pretty solid information wise (even if it features untrustworthy sources such as charles r. cross and leland cobain).
final rating; 3 out of 5
where can this be watched?; currently "nirvana: up close and personal" is free to stream off tubi and amazon prime.
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