Smells like another Nirvana controversy

Seattle journalist and producer of cable documentary "Kurt Cobain Was Murdered", Richard Lee, has spoken out regarding the authenticity of Kurt Cobain: The Journals, which hits bookstores within the fortnight.

The journals, a collection of 800 pages of personal diaries by the late Nirvana frontman, are to be published in full this November by Viking Books, who purchased the rights from Cobain's widow Courtney Love for a rumoured $4 million. Excerpts were first published by Charles R. Cross, who was granted unprecedented access to the documents by Love, in his 2001 Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven.

In a statement, Lee claims that the excerpts published in Heavier Than Heaven are "highly inauthentic in both handwriting examination and psychological aspects", adding that "this so-called diary is being explicitly marketed to what’s called the ‘recovery community,’ meaning people who are trying to kick their addictions."

He is also outspoken in his belief that Kurt Cobain was murdered, and that his suicide note was a forgery.

"From my perspective," he says, "this seems like a forgery - it contradicts the very specific critique I’ve been making since 1994, which is that in lengthy documents such as this, Cobain’s real handwriting is full of elaborate cursive movement, though the so-called suicide note is completely devoid of cursive movement. The 'Teen Spirit' draft (re-printed in 1993's Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana) is what I have used as the exemplar for years, because it is his most famous composition."

Kurt Cobain: The Journals will be available to buy from November 4th. Proceeds from the book will go to Cobain's estate, which is controlled by Love.