MELVINS' BUZZ OSBORNE Says KURT COBAIN Documentary 'Montage Of Heck' Is 'Mostly Misguided Fiction'

June 6, 2015

MELVINS singer Buzz Osborne has dismissed the Kurt Cobain documentary "Montage Of Heck" as "90% bullshit" and "mostly misguided fiction."

Osborne — whose band was commonly cited by the late frontman as one of the acts that shaped the sound of NIRVANA and overall grunge scene — took issue with the contents of the movie in an article posted to The Talkhouse.

"I went to high school with Kurt and was a big part of all the NIRVANA guys' lives before and after they became famous," Osborne writes. "I thought very highly of Kurt, Krist [Novoselic] and Dave [Grohl]. 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: "First off, 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."

Osborne questioned the accuracy of a story revealed in the movie that Cobain once had sexual intercourse with a mentally disabled girl that led Kurt to attempt suicide. "For instance, I know the whole 'I tried to fuck a fat retard' story is complete bullshit," he writes. "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."

Osborne also downplayed Cobain's alleged medical problems. "Kurt also told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with his stomach," he states. "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, they vomit. It's called 'vomiting with a smile on your face.'"

Osborne was especially critical of Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, who approached Brett Morgen with the original documentary idea in 2007 and subsequently gave the director access to her enormous personal archives.

"A lot of what [Courtney] says in this documentary doesn't exactly jibe with things Kurt told me himself, but I suppose that's not surprising when you consider history becomes elastic every time Courtney Love opens her mouth," Buzz writes. "For instance, she'd have us believe that Kurt tried to off himself when she'd only thought about cheating on him? Wow. That's a whole lot different from the stories he told me in regards to Courtney's behavior — and this was well before he ended up dead. And that's just one example."

He continues: "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 describe the film as "mostly misguided fiction", writing: "I find it amusing that the filmmakers never bothered to fact-check simple stuff like this, and just took Kurt and Courtney at their word. That's a bit risky when you're supposed to be making a behind-the-scenes documentary — but not surprising considering that not a lot of what's out there about Kurt is the truth anyway. But no one seems to care. 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. 'Montage Of Heck' does nothing to counter that. With that in mind, it's really hard to take any of this film seriously... I suppose this movie will be interesting for NIRVANA completists, because it certainly reinforces their already twisted view of the man."

During a 2013 interview with Consequence Of Sound, Osborne stated about Cobain: "People have said to me, which I think is crazy, 'Do you ever get jealous that Kurt Cobain got fame and money?' And I go, 'Kurt Cobain is fucking dead. Are you kidding? What are you talking about? You think I would trade places with a dead guy?' Yeah, I wish I had been more famous, and had more money, and was dead. No, no, no. I win. I win. He doesn't win. He loses. He's a major loser. His fucking loss. He left a baby at the mercy of that woman [Courtney Love]. And, it couldn't be worse. There's nothing good about any of that."

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