Cobain And Love Deny Harassing Bio Writers

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and his wife Courtney Love of Hole have been accused of leaving threatening messages on the answering machine of two Seattle writers who are doing an unauthorized biography of Nirvana for the British publishing firm Hyperion. According to police reports, Victoria Clarke and Britt Collins received threatening calls from Cobain Oct. 22, and several from Love between Oct. 23 and 31, including a death threat. One report said the writers also received a hand-written message, stuck in their front apartment door frame, from Dave Grohl, Nirvana's drummer, asking to meet with them. Cobain and Grohl, in the studio recording Nirvana's next album, were unavailable for comment but Love denied the report. "We were in Argentina like that whole week," she said, referring to Oct. 23-31. Nirvana played Buenos Aires Halloween night. She said the two writers have been pursuing the band for some time, and badgering friends and family of band members, saying they are writing an official Nirvana book. Danny Goldberg, Nirvana's manager, speaking on behalf of the band, strongly denied the writers' harassment charges. "These women are writing a book and they want publicity," he said. "Either some friend of theirs is playing pranks on them or they're fabricating this stuff for the purposes of getting attention for their work." Hole said that if charges are made in court, it will be apparent that the voices on the tapes are not those of her or her husband. She added that to get the latest true stuff on Nirvana, pick up the next issue of Spin, which has an interview with Cobain and Hole conducted by Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop.

-- In a lighter vein, the Nirvana phenomenon has reached the arcane world of comic books. Just released by Personality Comics is an "unauthorized biography" of Nirvana. The band will probably not get too upset about it, mainly because the band pictured in the comic doesn't look at all like the real Nirvana (for one thing, 6-foot-4 bassman Chris Novoselic is drawn as being about the same height as medium-size Kurt Cobain). And Hard Rock Comics No. 8 is out with the cartoon version of the careers of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, which the comic seems to think are "inextricably entwined." Both bands may be from Seattle, but that's about their only connection.

-- A performance by Soundgarden and an acceptance speech by Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains are part of "Foundations Forum '91 - A Weekend in Hell," a new, 68-minute video released this week on A&M. The tape documents Concrete Marketing's fourth annual Freedoms Forum, a three-day convention in Los Angeles of hard-rock and heavy-metal bands, media, fans and music-industry types. The video, taped during last year's forum, also includes performances by Megadeth, Ugly Kid Joe, Bang Tango, Prong, Lillian Axe, XYZ, the Almighty, Screaming Jets and Asphalt Ballet. It also includes behind-the-scenes footage and the forum buzz on such metal concerns as tattoos, censorship and sexism.

-- Mudhoney headlines at the Arena Nov. 28, but you can catch a film of the band's performance at the Reading Festival in England this summer at 9 p.m. tomorrow on Channel 29 on most local cable systems. Also on the show is the Melvins' set at the fest. The Melvins, the band that was Kurt Cobain's inspiration in Aberdeen, has signed to Atlantic and Cobain is being talked about as producer for the band's Atlantic debut. Incidentally, Dale Crover, the Melvins' drummer, who played with Nirvana in its early years, can be seen in the new Neil Young video for "Harvest Moon." He plays the young Young.

-- When Billboard magazine gets around to listing the top-selling singles of the year next month, it's almost a sure bet the No 1. spot will go to Sir Mix-a-Lot and his ode to female body shapes, "Baby Got Back." According to his label, Def American, the raunchy single has sold more copies than Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven," Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" and even Billy Ray Cyrus' huge smash, "Achy Breaky Heart." Although Mix's rap song has an African-American theme, most of its sales were to young buyers in suburban areas, who were probably titillated by the song's naughty references to (tee-hee, giggle giggle) big butts.