LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Danny Goldberg, who managed Nirvana during its seminal period of 1990 to 1994, is releasing his perspective on the band, the book “Serving The Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain,” to hit the shelves April 2, the 25th anniversary of Cobain’s death.
Goldberg accepted the role of manager long before Nirvana became stratospheric superstars, watching Cobain go from an introverted Seattle musician to one of the living icons of rock ‘n’ roll in only a couple of years. Goldberg, in the book, tells the tale of not only the rise to fame but also Cobain’s marriage to Courtney Love, the birth of their child, and the subsequent drug-fueled downfall and ultimate passing of the mercurial rocker.
The book draws from files previously not made pubic and interviews of Cobain’s close family, including Love, and former bandmates, including Krist Novoselic.
“Serving The Servant,” including the audiobook version, is available here.
Some of the early reviews are below:
“Insightful, passionate and clear-eyed, Danny Goldberg’s account of his personal and professional relationship with Kurt Cobain is required reading for not only Nirvana enthusiasts, but anyone interested in how the corporate music industry engaged with the punk rock underground of the early 1990s. While providing an intimate view of the support system the band had from a world their scene was historically at odds with, Goldberg shares what is essentially the story of two men, a generation apart, who became unexpected friends through a mutual appreciation of feminism, LGBT rights, and a dedication to the activist power of music. It is a contemplative requiem to losing someone you love who immeasurably touched the entire planet with a singular magic.”
-Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth
“As soon as I started reading I got sucked in and I couldn’t put it down. As a huge Nirvana fan, it is petrifying to even attempt a description or enlightened comment about Kurt. I just want to say, any music fan should want this book. Any Nirvana fan must have this book.”
-Joan Jett
“There have been many portraits of Kurt Cobain, but none as warm and clear-eyed as this one. Danny Goldberg has always been one of my favorite observer/journalist/architects of popular culture. It’s no surprise that his deeply personal memoir does what Cobain’s best work does. It burrows in deep, and sticks around. Add this to the rich sonic legacy of Nirvana – Goldberg’s soulful account of Cobain as a close friend, gone way too soon, yet vividly alive on every page of this remarkable book. Bravo, Danny.”
-Cameron Crowe
“People always ask, ‘What was Kurt really like?’ That’s probably not a question that any one person can answer about anybody, but anyone who knew Kurt will tell you that this book sends you vividly back to that person, in that time, at those places. Serving the Servant contributes an invaluable piece to a complicated collage.”
-Michael Azerrad, author of Our Band Could Be Your Life and Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana
“As a lifelong rock fan and onetime rock journalist, Danny Goldberg treasures Kurt Cobain as an artist. As Nirvana’s manager, he’s intimate with the ambition and empathy that drove Cobain toward stardom. As an activist, he admires Cobain’s refusal to understate his own political ideals. And as Cobain’s shrewd advisor and fond friend, he misses him even more acutely than the rest of us.”
-Robert Christgau, author of Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017
“Amid all the darkness within and surrounding Kurt Cobain, Danny Goldberg, his manager and friend, always saw the light. His portrait of Cobain is loving, intimate and three-dimensional. We feel the pain of Cobain’s loss anew, palpably — as we do the indelible power of the great gift of his music.”
-Anthony DeCurtis, author of Lou Reed: A Life
“This memoir by Danny Goldberg, Kurt Cobain’s manager, friend and trusted advisor during Nirvana’s bright and culture-changing burst of fame, offers fascinating details about how the band changed and was changed by the music mainstream along with unsparing views of how those around Cobain – including Goldberg himself – could not prevent his slide into drugs and despair. A deeply honest book that provides crucial insight into a brilliant life and a death that broke all of our hearts.”
-Ann Powers, author of Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music
