I just found this article when it came out, but Slate ran a pretty good piece about how to read Kurt Cobain’s journals.
#1. Don’t picture the author as a rock star. His peak journal-writing period was 1989-90, when he was unemployed, living off his maternal girlfriend Tracy Marander (who inspired “About a Girl”), and jotting lyrics and delusional plans that came true: “Nirvana No. 1 on billbored top 100 .. 2 times on the cover of Bowling Stoned.” Picture him as only a few years removed from an 8 Mile-like upbringing: He was an ambitious outsider musician with a blond kid sis and a gorgeous divorced mom who drank, dated a guy barely older than her son, and refused to press charges against a lover with money coming in who sent her to the hospital. (But unlike Eminem, Kurt only lived in a trailer when he stayed with his dad.) (full story)
I miss Kurt.