The Melvins' Buzz Osborne says Kurt Cobain doc is "90% bullshit"

by Jeremy Mersereau

June 8, 2015

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More like Montage of Dreck?

King of heavy sludge riffs and hairstyle loyalist Buzz Osborne of The Melvins has some issues with the authenticity of the recently released Kurt Cobain documentary, Montage of Heck. In an essay posted on The Talkhouse, a site where musicians write about their thoughts on music and other musicians, King Buzzo says the doc is “90% bullshit” and that Cobain “was a master of jerking your chain.”

Among his issues with the documentary:

– Kurt’s stomach illness was made up.

Kurt also told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with his stomach. He made it up for sympathy and so he could use it as an excuse to stay loaded. Of course he was vomiting — that’s what people on heroin do, they vomit. It’s called “vomiting with a smile on your face.”

– Some tales Kurt tells in the documentary are tall.

“For instance, I know the whole ‘I tried to fuck a fat retard’ story is complete bullshit. Not even an inkling of truth. That’s too good a story to have gone this long without me hearing about it… In that small-town shit-hole, exciting news of that nature would have been common knowledge before the sun set. It never happened. And the trying-to-kill-himself-on-the-train-tracks story is bullshit as well. It never happened either. There it is, though, told in a recording of Kurt’s own voice so it must be true… right?

– Courtney Love is also adept at making things up.

A lot of what she says in this documentary doesn’t exactly jibe with things Kurt told me himself, but I suppose that’s not surprising when you consider history becomes elastic every time Courtney Love opens her mouth. For instance, she’d have us believe that Kurt tried to off himself when she’d only thought about cheating on him?

When Courtney speaks, the truth is certainly there, but God only knows where it begins and ends. In the 20 years since Kurt’s death, the undisputed facts of some of her stories seem to change almost hourly. I remain unconvinced in regards to her testimony, and I don’t think I’m alone.

Buzzo sums up how a lot of Montage of Heck is fiction:

Unfortunately, it matters very little what the facts are; what matters is what people believe. And when it comes to Cobain, most of what they believe is fabricated nonsense. Montage of Heck does nothing to counter that. With that in mind, it’s really hard to take any of this film seriously.

Well, I’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle, but I’d be more inclined to take the word of one of Cobain’s friends and music contemporaries than someone who acts like this. It isn’t all hate though: Osborne does say that Montage of Heck has some “really cool animation” and that it nailed the shittiness of Aberdeen, Washington. So, there’s that.

Tags: Music, News, Kurt Cobain, Melvins, Montage of Heck

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