Restoring Cobain’s humanity isn’t really about Cobain anyway. It’s about catering to those of us who love Cobain’s music and desperately want to hear it again without automatically thinking of his suicide. If we can just find the right alternate take of “Breed,” captured on some broken-down tape recorder with nonexistent fidelity, maybe we’ll be able to get beyond the baggage and appreciate Nirvana as we once did, with fresh ears and an unself-conscious mind.

I’ve long felt similarly about all of the Nirvana myth-making—end of the day, he’s still dead. That being said, I’m still pretty excited for ‘Montage of Heck.’

Joe Stracci