15 years later: Kurt Cobain and William S. Burroughs
| April 8th, 2009
On this day in 1994 Kurt Cobain’s body was found. Two years earlier, Cobain and William S. Burroughs had produced the “Priest” they called him, an audio collaboration with words by Burroughs and guitar by Cobain.
I’ve been sitting on this for a while, and now it’s time to show you RealityStudio’s “Dossier”, a page of unofficially collected excerpts of information relative to Burroughs and Cobain, and culled from various sources like books, documentaries and various interviews.
When the tour hit Rotterdam on the first of September [1991], it was almost with a nostalgic wistfulness that Kurt approached the last show. He was wearing the same T-shirt he’d had on two weeks earlier — it was a bootlegged Sonic Youth t-shirt — which had gone unwashed, as had his jeans, the only pair of pants he owned. His luggage consisted of a tiny bag containing only a copy of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which he had found in a London bookstall.
– Charles R. Cross, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
So, as we light our candles in memory, and as we give the “Priest” they called him another listen tonight, let our thoughts bend only toward the good that Kurt and Bill brought into our worlds and remember them, truly, as icons of American art.
I cannot believe kurts dead. He was amazing. A true icon. I love his music. And he was so hot too. R.i.p kurt. Love you xxx
This illustration, apart from being horrific and distasteful, is inaccurate. Despite the horrendous trauma that would have been caused by the shotgun wound, Kurt’s head had not been ‘blown off’. In many sources, including Charles R. Cross’s “Heavier than Heaven” the electrician who found his body rang the police only after noticing a trickle of blood from Kurt’s ear. Until that point he thought it was a dummy lying on the ground. Family and friends at his private funeral who viewed the body also were quoted as saying how considerably normal and ‘intact’ he looked, with the only noticeable alteration being his eyes sewn shut.
This is sick, and totally unneeded. Remember him by his brilliant music and words.
2.
This illustration, apart from being horrific and distasteful, is inaccurate. Despite the horrendous trauma that would have been caused by the shotgun wound, Kurt’s head had not been ‘blown off’. In many sources, including Charles R. Cross’s “Heavier than Heaven” the electrician who found his body rang the police only after noticing a trickle of blood from Kurt’s ear. Until that point he thought it was a dummy lying on the ground. Family and friends at his private funeral who viewed the body also were quoted as saying how considerably normal and ‘intact’ he looked, with the only noticeable alteration being his eyes sewn shut.
This is sick, and totally unneeded. Remember him by his brilliant music and words.
This picture is the best picture i think i have ever seen. Kurt is such an icon. Im proud to say im a huge fan of Kurt and Nirvana. I even have the nirvana logo tattooed on me. I feel so bad for Kurt. Personally i don’t think he killed himself even though it really looks like he did. I have no idea what happened and who knows what really happened. Anyways i love you Kurt. God Bless.
Sincerely,
Cody Clark
Yeah this illustration is dramatized. A medical examiner who saw kurt’s body has said that she was surprised by how intact his skull was, and there was only a smaller hole in the left side of his skull. I must say though that i think you are full of shit “russ” when you said they family saw his body on display at his funeral and his eyes were sewn shut? Total bullshit, who told you that was full of it. Kurt was cremated and his body was not on display. So get your facts right.
I miss Kurt Cobain, he was an inspiration, and such an icon. I feel terrible for what he did, and I wish that it neer happened…To realize that if he hadnt done that, HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE TODAY. that really stings to think about. But Kurt had reseans, and we cannot take away the fact that he is gone. I think the best we can do is to remember him, not for a suicidal man, but for a legend, and an amazing musician.