May be most people know better about this than me, but I had no idea that William S. Burroughs and Kurt Cobain and met and collaborated! The famous American Beat writer has been a fascination for rock/punk music culture in the 70s/80s and he collaborated with people as diverse as Laurie Anderson, Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy), Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Tom Waits but little is known about Kurt Cobain’s attempt to collaborate with him. According to Dangerous Mind, Cobain wrote this letter to Burroughs in August 1993, to ask him to be part of the first video from the album ‘In Utero’. Here is what Cobain wrote:
‘August 2, 1993
Mr. William Burroughs WILLIAM BURROUGHS COMMUNICATIONS
Dear William:
It’s a bit odd writing someone whom I’ve never met but with whom I’ve already recorded a record. I really enjoyed the opportunity to do the record—it’s a great honor to be pictured alongside you on the back cover. I am writing you now regarding the possibility of your appearing alongside my band (Nirvana) in the first video from our new album, “In Utero.”
While I know Michael Meisel from Gold Mountain Entertainment (my management company) has been speaking to James Grauerholz, I wanted the opportunity to personally let you know why I wanted you to appear in the video.
Most importantly, I wanted you to know that this request is not based on a desire to exploit you in any way. I realize that stories in the press regarding my drug use may make you think that this request comes from a desire to parallel our lives. Let me assure you that this is not the case. As a fan and student of your work, I would cherish the opportunity to work directly with you. To the extent that you may want to avoid any direct use of your image (thus avoiding the aforementioned link for the press to devour), I would be happy to have my director look into make-up techniques that could conceal your identity. While I would be proud to have William Burroughs appear as himself in my video, I am more concerned with getting the opportunity to work with you than I am with letting the public know (should that be your wish).
Having said that, let me reiterate how much I would like to make this happen. While I am comfortable letting Michael and James discuss this further. I am available to discuss this with you at your convenience.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Best regards,
Kurt Cobain’
It is funny he says he would even use make-up techniques to conceal his identity if Burroughs was not confortable with the idea to be in the video,… what is the point to use Burroughs if nobody recognizes him? At that time, they had never met but the two had already collaborated in 1992 on Burroughs’ spoken word, as Cobain plays during ‘The Priest They Called Him’, a short story about heroin, addiction, withdrawal and the ‘immaculate fix’, published in 1973 in his collection ‘The Exterminator’.
It is interesting to know that Cobain had a lot of admiration for Burroughs, who was in fact one of his idols, as Cobain claimed to have been greatly influenced by him. They finally met in October 1993, when Cobain visited Burroughs’ last home in Kansas, and the writer remembers the scene as it is reported in ‘Nirvana: The Day-By-Day Chronicle’:
‘I waited and Kurt got out with another man. Cobain was very shy, very polite, and obviously enjoyed the fact that I wasn’t awestruck at meeting him. There was something about him, fragile and engagingly lost. He smoked cigarettes but didn’t drink. There were no drugs. I never showed him my gun collection.’
Cobain’s shredding guitar on ‘The Priest’ is the only collaboration we have between these two men, in default of seeing Burroughs on a cross: Cobain wanted Burroughs to appear in the video for ‘Heart Shaped Box’ as the old man on a cross who is pecked by crows. The video won many awards such as MTV Video Music Awards for best alternative video and best art direction, it topped the music video category in the 1993 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critic’s poll and NME ranked it at number 22 at its 100 Greatest Music Videos in 2011. Who knows how it would have been perceived with Burroughs in it?
