Danny Goldberg returns to the Mindrolling Podcast to share stories from his new biography that remembers the life of Kurt Cobain.
In this episode, record executive and artist manager Danny Goldberg speaks about his close relationship with Kurt Cobain and reflects on the addiction that Kurt struggled with so greatly. Raghu shares a letter written to Ram Dass that brings to question how we react to the darkness and suffering that exists in the world.
Inside Rock & Roll
Raghu and Danny talk about their early history and how they connected through a shared interest in music and spiritual practice. Danny speaks about his time working with Nirvana and his relationship with Kurt Cobain.
“When I was researching the book, I found these memos written to Kurt and Courtney Love on Atlantic Records stationary. We had meetings at Atlantic Records. Even though Nirvana was on a competing label on Geffen Records. It didn’t matter, it was all about personal connectivity.” – Danny Goldberg
Working Through Addiction (14:40)
How can we offer love and positive support to those who are working through the difficult stages of addiction and recovery? Substance abuse and addiction played a large part in Kurt Cobain’s image, success and his untimely death. Danny discusses Cobain’s struggle with addiction and how the people around Kurt tried to help.
“Four months or so after Nevermind came out, which was the album that made Nirvana almost overnight the biggest rock band in the world. There had been a couple of articles that had implied Kurt was doing heroin. I went to the set at Saturday Night Live and it was clear. That was the day we realized this was an extreamly serious problem. We did an intervention a couple of weeks later. We talked him and Courtney into going into rehab. He struggled for the rest of his life.” – Danny Goldberg
Karma and Connecting with the Other (28:10)
Raghu and Danny discuss ways we can bring light and lovingkindness into the dark times experienced by the world. They reflect on an interesting letter written to Ram Dass around working with our response to broken institutions and individuals who contribute to the suffering of those they serve. Can leaders like Donald Trump and his Brittish analog Borris Johnson serve a role, even in their destructivity?
How can we work with our response to everything that is going on and what role do we play in all of it?
