Charles R. Cross

Charles R. Cross was a Seattle music journalist, editor, and biographer whose work grew from close observation of the Pacific Northwest scene. He edited the music magazine The Rocket during the years when Nirvana moved from local clubs to international attention. Here We Are Now, published by It Books and HarperCollins in 2014, examines Kurt Cobain’s continuing influence two decades after his death. The book considers changes in rock music, popular culture, fashion, the image of Seattle, and conversations about health and recovery. Its fuller title, Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain, states that retrospective purpose. Cross had already written Heavier Than Heaven, a major Cobain biography based on extensive interviews and access to private materials, as well as Room Full of Mirrors about Jimi Hendrix. That background gives the later book the perspective of a reporter revisiting a subject he had studied for years, while shifting attention from a single life toward a broader cultural legacy.