Courtney Love plays rare Hole and Nirvana sessions on 6 Music

Rarely heard BBC sessions by Hole and Nirvana will be broadcast on BBC 6 Music when Courtney Love takes over the network for the day next month.

Hole's Drown Soda - written and recorded especially for a John Peel session in 1991 - and Nirvana's Been A Son and Something In The Way - recorded for the Radio 1 Evening Sequence in the same year - will be included in the tracks chosen by Courtney Love when she becomes the 6 Music Selector on Monday 11 December 2006.
read more...

Nirvana's spirit still strong

If only - the most wistful couplet in the English language.

If only Elvis had stuck to vitamin pills. If only James Dean had caught the bus. If only Kurt Cobain had bought a water pistol.

Alas, fate decreed otherwise and we are left instead with a legacy which will serve as a blueprint for aspiring guitar bands in decades to come.

Rather than bringing down the final curtain on the Nirvana story, this greatest hits collection is more of an unfinished symphony - a poignant reminder of what might have been.

The only new song here is You Know You're Right - a track recorded just three months before Cobain's untimely death in 1994.

It's vintage Nirvana, flitting between soothing warble and rampant snarl - and even though you know it's eight years old, you have to convince yourself it wasn't finished yesterday.

You Know You're Right has finally been allowed into the public domain following lengthy legal wrangles involving Cobain's widow, Courtney Love.
read more...

Kurt Cobain ID fraud

Thieves reportedly stole £36m from his estate
08 Mar 2008 - Fraudsters have stolen around £36 million from Kurt Cobain's estate in a huge identity scam, according to The Sun.

Cobain's widow Courtney Love has confirmed the fraud has been going on for five years and she has called in forensic accountants. Details of the investigation have now been presented to police in LA.

The extraordinary scam included taking money from the trust fund of Cobain's daughter Frances Bean, setting up 188 credit cards in Love's name and using the late Nirvana singer's social security number to buy a $3.2 million house.

Love told The Sun: "I did a check on my deceased husband's social security number and he has a house in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He bought it last year.

"I would like to know how. He should probably get his ass back home if that is the case."
read more...

Love 'sells' 25% of Nirvana stake

Courtney Love has reportedly sold a quarter of her stake in Nirvana's work because she found managing late husband Kurt Cobain's estate "overwhelming".

Rolling Stone magazine said the deal with record industry veteran Larry Mestel was worth more than $50m (£29m).
read more...

Nirvana go in 'historic' archive

Recordings by Nirvana, The Beach Boys and Dizzy Gillespie have been added to the US Library of Congress' vault to be preserved for future generations.

The recordings are among 50 works deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

Nirvana's album Nevermind is included, as is The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and jazz legend Gillespie's song Manteca.

They will join works by Public Enemy, James Brown, Muddy Waters, George Gershwin and the Star Wars soundtrack.
read more...

Nirvana death inspires new film

A film inspired by the final days of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain gets its world premiere at Cannes on Friday.

Last Days, by former Palme d'Or winning director Gus Van Sant, portrays the inner turmoil that engulfs a troubled musician in the final days of his life.

While Van Sant has admitted the film is inspired by Cobain and the Seattle music scene of the time, he has pointed out that it is still a work of fiction.
read more...

Nirvana headline Reading Festival

At the beginning of Nirvana's headlining slot, journalist Everett True wheeled Kurt Cobain (wearing a blonde wig) in a wheelchair onto the stage. This gesture was a quip at the journalists who had accused Kurt of being a useless drug addict; the triumphant performance was Nirvana proving to the audience and themselves that they were much more than the hype and media coverage that surrounded them. The show was performed with an unflinching ferocity and became one of their most memorable performances. Dave Grohl remembers the 50,000 people in the audience chanting the lyrics to ÒLithiumÓ - he admitted later that it was one of their biggest moments.
read more...