Icon, drug addict, voice of a generation, self-loathing slacker: The late Kurt Cobain was all this and more during his too brief 27 years on earth. In between, the music he forged with Nirvana just happened to turn the world on its ear. The band’s legacy finally gets the lavish treatment it deserves on this four-disc box, rounding up everything from throat-shredding Zeppelin covers, radio sessions and rehearsal jams to never- released originals (“If You Must,” “Old Age,” “Anorexorcist”) and Cobain’s haunting solo demos (“Rape Me,” “You Know You’re Right,” “All Apologies”). The DVD boasts amusing early tour footage plus the live debuts of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Pennyroyal Tea,” potent proof of Nirvana’s onstage ferocity. A revelatory, emotional listen from start to finish, “With the Lights Out” crystallizes Cobain’s tortured genius. What a shame we’ll never know what could have been.—JC
