Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana

Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana is the perfect rock and roll book. And in addition to telling the story of one of the most important rock bands in history, Come As You Are also looks into a moment of time for a generation now living in an indescribably different world. As such, Come As You Are is an important historical document that provides insights into today—Generation X, Slackers, Latchkey Kids, or however they were named—are living lives, looking back and ahead. Come As You Are serves well as a memory-clarifier and contexualizer, for the aforementioned generation, and the generations that bookended them. But first and foremost, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana is a great rock and roll read. As rock biography, all of the necessary elements are balanced and well written: there is just the right amount of early life biography on each band member, and the lines between their birthplaces, family life, and early interests are clearly connected to how the band ultimately formed and developed a style and vision. The result is a precision-paced book where the reader's interest is always kept high. The writing is clean, direct, and spare. If it's in there, it's important. Azerrad mainly lets the story tell itself by using the ample interview material he accumulated on the band members, and on Kurt Cobain in particular. Come As You Are is the only Nirvana biography written with the band's full participation and prior to Cobain's tragic passing. Its accuracy and objectivity are unrivalled. In addition to having extensive access to the band, Azerrad's book is not affected by the dark speculation that was retroactively attached to Nirvana's story by others who did not know them. He addresses Cobain’s passing with a final chapter, written later, and the chapter is personal and moving. Azerrad is a reporter—he gives us the facts, the places, the shows, who was where when, and exactly what they said. But the tone is not clinical despite Azerrad remaining in the background. He's not absent, but to the extent he's there, it's the subtle presence of a fair arbiter. You can imagine him saying, “No," when Kurt Cobain requested something be cut from the book. And he did exactly that—Cobain was only allowed to point out factual errors in the text. The result is solid—the facts are checked, and Azerrad avoids deep drilling issues that dogged Nirvana at the time, problems the press exploited with malicious glee. The result is a credible document. Its factual solidity and balance adds to the emotional punch of the story.  The prose has a quiet, reader-friendly feel—hard to specifically define the mechanics of that, but it's clear Azerrad cares deeply about both his subject and his readers. He doesn't teach or steer, but provides subtle help and empathy, a literary touch on the shoulder: barely discernible, but helpful and appreciated. His reportage allows the reader in enough where we can experience meeting Kurt for the first time as we might have, for instance, through well-chosen details and comparisons. This careful “guiding by the arm” style characterizes the book—always friendly and helpful, never intrusive. At no point does the reader feel like Azerrad is taking a side, and to the extent he defends Cobain and Courtney Love during their most difficult trials, it's putting these issues into a human framework, effectively evoking how you might feel under similar pressures most will never know. In short, it's fair. He points out Cobain-Love mistakes accurately, and the disproportionate punishment with equal accuracy. Come As You Are was first published in 1993. It is the distinct product of a time and place, yet very important today. At first glance, Nirvana's emergence along with other groups in the late '80s and early ‘90s seemed to mirror a by-then predictable pattern: something new would shake things up, and then after about five years, the charts would once again be dominated by ossified and unoriginal acts. "Unauthentic" acts.  And the next big shake-up would occur as the public demanded a return to something authentic, real, passionate—something from people rather than corporations. But the difference is the record industry was just a few years from meeting its greatest adversary: the internet. Youtube, TikTok, and modern, affordable home recording/video equipment has “democratized” art, and gives every band a chance without needing a record company's endorsements. Also, it changed what it meant to make money, threatening the royalty structure through file sharing and free videos. But while the "democratizing" of art has created many original bands and books, the big acts pushed/created by big companies still remain. Arguably, the new "big stars" feel more manufactured and externally hyped than ever before. Gen X grew up with greats already established: Zeppelin, Bowie, Stones, Beatles—and now almost universally live with the sense that such greatness is over. We have rock stars, but to many, they seem devoid of the inventiveness and organically iconic status of their predecessors. Rock occupies increasingly smaller bandwidth—music is dominated by other forms, and to many in Gen X, it sounds “fake” and auto-tuned and redundant far beyond the bands they rebelled against 30 years ago. Looking back at 1993 from today, the friction between "authentic" and corporate music is different. Seen in hindsight, Come As You Are presents an almost quaint friction between two different kinds of authentic relative to today’s digitized, auto-tuned, shrill, bullying, National Enquirer global culture. Fake everything, it sometimes seems. Against the modern backdrop, Come As You Are is an important snapshot of a world at the precipice, the last few years when rock and roll stars were nearly godlike, whether manufactured or not. And what “manufactured” meant and felt like is different now than in 1993, or so it appears to many in Gen X. If you play a once-disdained "hair band" anthem right now, you might find yourself saying, "those guys weren't so bad" and maybe even find something endearing in their pandering to the trends of their time. The TV and telephone alone in the opening shot of Poison's “Talk Dirty to Me” video can't help but warm a few Gen X hearts. If you are a Gen Xer, one of the original Nirvana fans who was a teen or in their early twenties when Nirvana hit, read Come As You Are now, today, in the shadow of the last 30 years. If you're of that generation, and what seems recent is far away, and you feel like you heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time, oh, a couple weeks ago...things will be reflected back at you when you read Come As You Are. You'll learn stuff. Back in the day, things were reflected back at you by Nirvana that other bands didn't capture. That's why you liked the band. That's why it made sense even if the lyrics didn't always. Maybe it's why you listened to In Utero even though you didn't like it as much in the traditional "fist in the air" way. But the record's mood felt like it knew you, so you played it again. Come as You Are crucially points out that the twenty somethings and teens that embraced Nirvana grew up in the late 60s and 70s when divorce rates skyrocketed. Azerrad repeatedly points out that Nirvana’s members were all from broken homes themselves. Regarding Cobain's own parents’ divorce, Azerrad reports that it was like a "light going out in him, a light he's been trying to recapture ever since." Cobain: "I just remember all of a sudden not being the same person, feeling like I wasn't worthy anymore."Divorce, the specter of nuclear war, worsening prospects. Plus the false promises of hedonism that were a corollary to the positive changes brought by the 1960s. Somehow the promise of a new world, of overturning the old, of righting wrongs, of individual expression and fulfillment...were inextricably linked to drug and alcohol abuse and giddy promiscuity that ended badly in the early 80s, glamorized across pop culture, whether "Bond...James Bond" or rock and roll.  Azerrad writes about the parents: "The onslaught of new ideas threw their old values into a tailspin and they reacted by drinking and doing drugs. And getting divorces.” Cobain: "Every parent made the same mistake…Why the *uck are my parents getting divorced? What's going on? Something's not right. Something about the way our parents were brought up isn't the way it's supposed to be. They *ucked up somewhere. They're living in a fantasy world. They must have done something wrong." Speedracer, the Beatles, family holidays. Divorce. Broken homes. Then the Stooges, Leadbelly, Sex Pistols, hatred of hypocrisy, for an old world that lied. “The bottomless well of anger and alienation." The most important promises broken. So if you're Gen X and you read Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana today, you might learn about your own life's trajectory, the challenges you were facing or thought you were. Where are you now? What are your views? Where is your generation, the quiet-ish one (in a relative way) watching Boomers arguing back and forth with "Hey Boomers!”Consider how expression was viewed by the band relative to heated free speech debates of today. Chris Novoselic from Come As You Are: “There's a lot of rap music and rock music for that matter, Andrew Dice Clay, that's just *uckin' bul*hit, it's just sexist crap," Chris says, “but you have to tolerate it. You have to tolerate hate groups too because that's the price of freedom of speech—you place your ideals above your feelings. I can't make the Ku Klux Klan illegal because I don't like it—I can't do that because they have the right to believe what they want.”When it was released, Nirvana's Nevermind was considered both a punk album and a slickly produced industry record, and how people felt about it reflected accordingly. But Nirvana was a unique band in that young fans innately understood and forgave perceptions of "too much production" or echoes of other songs in “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or any sense of record company guidance. The kids were a new generation: cynical, smart, tasteful, prematurely wise—and they got it. They let Nirvana in, and big. The kids knew what it meant to be tricked, corralled into situations and expectations that were all about someone else. They recognized victims of false promises, and they recognized ironic signals and coded nods. They got Nirvana, loved them, and didn't let the press or negative critics spoil their view. And no other book tells it as well as Michael Azerrad's Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. It's Nirvana's story, but you might find that in many ways, it is also yours.

Reading about the others in the band was interesting because the main focus of Nirvana was always seemed to be on Kurt ... without Chris and Dave it wouldn't have been the sameI guess it goes back to the whole " in the right place.. at the right time " sayingKurt was unique as a singer /songwriter... yet at the same time he was just like everyone else...To have all your dreams and wishes come true and find out it's not enough has to be devastating... the question is was there something or somebody that could have changed the results...It's a bit sad to read this.. knowing the final outcome..

Good all around intro book about the indie band Nirvana. Taking the book at face value, I believe the author has presented the facts truthfully. The author who also contributes to the Rolling Stone Magazine claims to have followed them on some tours and appears to have been on good terms with the band members. He shows evidence of cross checking stories and sources and notes discrepancies when they appear. I believe its one of the better and fair judgments of this band. Although the band�s career follows the usual, �struggle, hard times, brief honeymoon period, then indulgent self-destructive period", the book portrays the events that were going on in the life of Nirvana�s leader Kurt Cobain. I would say this book's strongest attribute is portraying the personal struggle of Kurt Cobain on a roller coaster ride of fame with Nirvana. A weak point may be that the songs origins and lyrics are not explained well. It may be because Kurt Cobain many times wrote the lyrics almost impromptu just before a recording session almost at a stream of consciousness rate. Maybe the origin of the songs has no deep meaning or origins. Besides being an interesting story, the other highlights are the bands relationship with corporate bands, boomer music, heavy metal bands, and other Northwest so called �Grunge� bands. I would definably recommend this book as an overview of Nirvana. I know some die-hard fans have blamed Courtney or the corporate record company feverish touring dates for Kurt�s eventual suicide, but as the book amply points out Kurt and the band had some problems all stages of notoriety, and Kurt as the Band's leader was a time bomb waiting to explode. I think the book portrays the bestnon judgemental view of Kurt Cobain's life. The particular edition I read include a final chapter added to include someinfo on Kurts farewell note and service.

Wow, what a well-written book. During Nirvana's heyday in the early 90s, I did not follow them. I wasn't into "grunge" music or the scene. In the early 90s, I was a teenage girl who wore Cross Colors and listened to R&B and hip hop. So, yeah, Nirvana's music was not my thing. Fast forward several years and I happened to marry a man who is a huge Nirvana fan. Over the years, I've listened to a lot of their music and learned more about the band. I had no idea! My husband referred me to this biography about Nirvana and here I am.This has to be one of the most complete biographies I've read about a band/musicians. Azerrad expertly tells the story of how this band came to be and put a keen focus on the like of Kurt Cobain through his own words. You could tell he did his research and benefited greatly from having a personal relationship with the guys in the band. Given the type of person Cobain was, I think it is crucial that anyone writing about this man would need to know him and gain his trust like Azerrad apparently did because he got a lot of juicy morsels of truth from that man and it helped in understanding meanings behind the songs he did and how he lived his life. Now, I can actually stay I finally understand what drew him to someone like Courtney Love. It all makes sense when you read this book. It's thorough and entertaining at the same time. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Nirvana and/or Kurt Cobain. It cleared up a lot of speculation that was put out there about Kurt, especially.

I have read several books on Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. This is the only book I have read that is from the source - Nirvana band members and not the author’s version of what happened. It was also written during Kurt’s lifetime, with his, Krist and Dave’s input, as well as input from their friends. For these reasons, this is the best book I have read on the subject.

Es un libro ameno que cualquier fan de Nirvana disfrutará. Desde el fan que sólo conoce Nevermind o In Utero, pasando por el que sólo se interesa en las leyendas urbanas que giran en torno a Cobain y terminando en el fan que colecciona bootlegs de conciertos de Nirvana. Como es una biografía autorizada, algunas veces la realidad parece un poco maquillada, pero, como repito, es un libro ameno. Está lleno de información de primera mano, y contiene testimonios de gente cercana a la banda antes y después de que se volvieran famosos. A lapsos, se ahonda en otras bandas de Seattle con las que Nirvana compartía escenario y el libro se convierte en una biografía de Cobain, pero no está nada mal. El hecho de "Come As You Are" haya sido escrita por un periodista de música, a veces hace algo impersonal la lectura. En comparación con otros libros semejantes -por ejemplo,"It's So Easy and Other Lies" de Duff Mckagan-, no se llega al mismo nivel de intimidad, pero sí está entretenido. Yo diría que este libro no es recomendable para posers que sólo conocen Smells Like Teen Spirit o que idolatran a Cobain por el estatus de estrella de rock en el que se encontraba al morir.

Nice description of the band achievements and the characters. As expected

The book is well written. It's a bit of a unique balance as it was the only authorized biography written and completed in Cobain's lifetime. The last couple chapters become a bit skimpy for info but might reflect the author already distanced from the subject. Author came across as pretty unbiased to the subject. I'd recommend to people who enjoy music bios as a guilty pleasure.

This is the only book on the band I own and probably will own. As it was written when they were all still alive and together and they contributed to it, I feel it's the most reliable as it's not biased at all. I found it really hard to put this book down. It is so very interesting. It tells the story of the band really well and gives a great understanding to the members and their lives too. If you're a fan of Nirvana, don't even question it. Just buy it. It's not expensive and regardless of what the cost is, it is completely worth it 100%!!