The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, who grew up with Nirvana icon Kurt Cobain in Aberdeen, Washington, has branded the biopic Montage Of Heck as “90% bullshit.”
He’s poured scorn on some of the stories Cobain tells in video clips that appear in the movie, and adds that the result adds to the mountain of misinformation shared about the late star.
Osborne says via TheTalkhouse.com: “I went to high school with Kurt and was a big part of all the Nirvana guys’ lives before and after they became famous. We were good friends when they were all flat broke, long before they could buy big houses and cars with credit cards.
“My band played with Nirvana at their last show. I was there for the beginning and I was there for the end, for the very good and the very bad.”
He continues: “People need to understand that 90% of Montage of Heck is bullshit. Total bullshit. That’s the one thing no one gets about Cobain — he was a master of jerking your chain.”
He cites the examples of Cobain claiming he “tried to fuck a fat retard,” saying: “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? Wrong.
“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. It’s called ‘vomiting with a smile on your face.’”
Osborne slates the moviemakers for failing to fact-check the things Cobain and Courtney Love said on video. He continues: “Not a lot of what’s out there about Kurt is the truth anyway. But no one seems to care.
“I suppose this movie will be interesting for Nirvana completists, because it certainly reinforces their already twisted view of the man. I found it to be mostly misguided fiction.”
But he finishes: “They did a fantastic job of showing what a depressing shit-hole Aberdeen really was and still is. For that, I salute them!”
