When Kurt Cobain rose to fame as the sensitive leader of the pioneering grunge band Nirvana, he was labelled the voice of his generation. Although Cobain argued against this claim, his lyrics, preoccupied with alienation and frustration, spoke to the disillusioned youth of the 1990s. As a result, flocks of teenagers and young people looked towards Cobain as a spokesperson, a God-like figure in which they found solace and understanding.
Cobain and his bandmates amassed a devoted following, leaving millions distraught when he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in 1994. The musician was celebrated for his ability to write poignant lyrics, which accompanied harsh riffs and anthemic choruses. Cobain’s writing skills indefinitely stemmed from a love of reading. He was a huge bookworm, with favourites ranging from classic epic poetry by the likes of Dante Alighieri to writers from the Beat Generation
Famously, Cobain was a massive fan of William S. Burroughs, citing Naked Lunch, Queer and Junky as some of his go-to picks from the controversial writer. Meanwhile, he was into classics like On The Road by Jack Kerouac, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. Cobain even expressed interest in the SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, the woman who attempted to kill Andy Warhol.
However, there was one book that Cobain returned to the most, claiming to have read it “about ten times” – Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. The book, written in 1985, follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a perfumer with an incredible sense of smell. Yet, the protagonist finds himself involved in a case of murder, all because of his desire for a specific scent.
For Cobain, Perfume was an unforgettable read. He explained: “I’ve read Perfume by Patrick Süskind about ten times in my life, and I can’t stop reading it. It’s like something that’s just stationary in my pocket all the time – it just doesn’t leave me. And every time I’m bored, like I’m on an airplane or something, I read it over and over again because I’m a hypochondriac, and it just affects me. It makes me want to cut my nose off.”
The musician joked about how he saw elements of himself in the book, describing how the protagonist “just tries to stay away from people,” he said. “I can relate to that”.
Then, Cobain revealed that the book inspired the Nirvana song ‘Scentless Apprentice’, which was “one of the first times I’ve ever used an actual story” within his lyrics. The track appeared on the band’s final album, In Utero, which was released the year before his tragic passing.
