Melvins’ Buzz Osborne Slams Kurt Cobain Doc Montage of Heck, Says 90% Is “Total Bullshit”

Photo by Lyndsey Best

In a new op-ed for The Talkhouse, Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne declares 90% of Brett Morgen’s recent documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck to be “total bullshit”. A close friend, mentor, and former high school classmate of the late Nirvana frontman , Osborne refutes most of the movie – including scenes detailing Cobain’s stomach problems, his purported sexual encounter with a girl with a mental disability, and his relationship with Courtney Love – as fiction, rather than fact. “That’s the one thing no one gets about Cobain,” Osborne writes, “he was a master of jerking your chain.” Tearing into scenes portraying Cobain’s story of how “[he] tried to fuck a fat retard”, as well as an alleged suicide attempt, Osborne writes, 

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, especially if, as he suggests, the girl’s father freaked out about it at the high school. 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. 

He also takes serious issues with Courtney Love’s role in the film, noting that “a lot of what she says in this documentary doesn’t exactly jibe with things Kurt told [Osborne] himself”. He adds,

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.

Osborne goes on to criticize the filmmakers for simply taking Cobain and Love at their word, rather than fact-checking. “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.”

For what it’s worth, the Melvins frontman made sure to count his masochistic blessings:

I got to see Kurt in creepy home movies, and Courtney nude, which, for me, was akin to staring into the sun. I got to see behind the curtain and right up close — two malodorous, doped-up rock & roll miscreants deeply fouling an unsuspecting apartment. Jesus! There stands a half-naked Kurt shaving, and right behind his back, his wife is parading around, showing off her naked breasts and pouting to the cameraman, who I’m guessing was Eric Erlandson, ex-Hole guitarist and Courtney’s former boyfriend. Really? Kurt probably had to deal with horseshit like that on a daily basis. My god, what a super-colossal drag.

Read the entire review here, and check out our review of Montage of Heck from Sundance.

Watch a trailer for Montage of Heck:

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