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I know exactly where I was when I heard Kurt Cobain was dead -- eating breakfast in a greasy spoon cafe in Birmingham, UK. I was no angst-ridden teenager, but a music-mad 30-something who felt a connection to the songs, if not to the man. Cobain, lead singer with Nirvana, was found dead ten years ago. The assumption -- and official verdict -- was that he'd shot himself. That lyric in Come As You Are -- "I swear that I don't have a gun" -- had never looked so horribly prescient. Cobain, in constant agony from a stomach ailment, and also addicted to drugs, had seemingly tried to commit suicide in Italy not long before. The conspiracy theories have been around ever since, but investigative journalists Max Wallace and Ian Halperin have got their teeth into the story for the second time -- LOVE AND DEATH comes on the heels of their previous book WHO KILLED KURT COBAIN? This time, they claim they have a raft of new evidence that the star was murdered. Wallace and Halperin get their break in the form of tenacious PI Tom Grant, who has been yapping at the heels of Cobain's controversial widow Courtney Love for the past ten years. He's been bad-mouthed by all and sundry, and steadfastly refuses to make chunks of evidence public until the case is reopened. But he's equally steadfastly refused to make a penny out of the case. As well as presenting exclusive material from Grant's tapes, the authors have also got some significant people to speak on the record and to voice their doubts about the suicide verdict -- these include Kurt's grandfather and Courtney's father. And they also interview a range of friends and acquaintances who knew the celebrity couple well. Aside from Grant's evidence and some key discrepancies in who said what to whom and who was where when, Wallace and Halperin unearth what appears to be sloppy policing and a conflict of interest with the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Cobain. And they also discover more mysterious deaths connected to the case, and, with judicious use of lie detectors, come up with seemingly compelling results to suggest that the star was murdered. LOVE AND DEATH is a well-researched, conscientious but at times a plodding account of a dynamic story and its aftermath. It's not always easy to follow the pair's investigations, as there's a lot of doubling back and a certain amount of repetition. But we are left to draw own conclusions as to whether Courtney Love is the black widow, a fantasist or simply a self-publicist who lacks conscience and taste. Whatever, you may, as I was, be left with the lingering doubt that this case is one that should be re-opened.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, April 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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