Charles Cross Joins Curt Cobain in Heaven

Much online love went out this week for publisher and rock biographer Charles Cross, who died unexpectedly on August 9. Cross created a Bruce Springsteen fanzine, published Seattle music newspaper The Rocket, and penned well-regarded best-selling biographies of Curt Cobain (Heavier Than Heaven) and Jimi Hendrix (Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix).

The first issue of The Rocket.

The Rocket was late to the grunge scene, but they did put Nirvana on the cover to promote their first album, Bleach, so I’ll give them that. The band was unknown at the time other than to music hipsters in Seattle and a few savvy college radio DJs elsewhere.

Charles made my list of “Top Ten People Who Profited from Curt Cobain’s Death,” published in the Belltown Messenger. We all know who is number one on the list, and it’s not David Geffen.

Never met Cross, and my only interaction with The Rocket was a letter of mine that they published where I complained about rocker Joan Jett - a letter I now regret sending.

Cross didn’t disclose his financial relationship with Seattle billionaire and Hendrix family associate Paul Allen in his Jimi Hendrix book. Cross was on Allen’s payroll when Allen developed the Experience Music Project (EMP). Which is now known as the The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). It’s a story as old as history - artists on the doorstep of the rich, making compromises so that they can make money. Just ask Curt Cobain about David Geffen.

Seems like people that made Seattle a mecca for music and art and alternative culture in the 80s and early 90s are starting to die off. Makes the phrase “Seattle is not that kind of town anymore” more relevant than ever.

—Alex

Tributes to paid to famed music writer and Kurt Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross
New Music Express - August 13, 2024

Archives of The Rocket, influential Seattle music magazine, go digital
Seattle Times - December 29, 2023