Charles R. Cross, editor of Seattle’s biweekly music newspaper The Rocket died on Friday, shut associates confirmed. He was 67 years outdated. In a press release to Selection, Cross’s household stated he died peacefully in his sleep of pure causes.
Cross edited The Rocket from 1986 till its finish in 2000. Underneath his watch, The Rocket chronicled a few of the Pacific Northwest’s most influential artists, together with cowl options of bands like R.E.M, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Modest Mouse, Sleater-Kinney, and Homicide Metropolis Devils, all earlier than they broke into the mainstream. Even the newspaper’s classifieds had a storied historical past: in 1988, Kurt Cobain, then simply an Aberdeen teen, posted a “DRUMMER WANTED” advert in its pages.
Cross devoted half a century to celebrating arts and music within the Pacific Northwest. He was a storyteller as a lot as a tradition critic, and shined a lightweight on the folks—and their tales—who might have in any other case gone unknown. In 1980 he based the quarterly Bruce Springsteen fan journal Backstreets, which printed for greater than 40 years. In 2001, he wrote the New York Instances bestselling biography of Kurt Cobain, Heavier Than Heaven, which is arguably essentially the most full biography of the artist. He additionally wrote definitive biographies of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Coronary heart (which he co-wrote with Ann and Nancy Wilson).
He was an enthusiastic supporter of native music and he had a heavy hand in guaranteeing Seattle’s music scene is endlessly etched in historical past, a reality made obvious by the droves of loving memorials being shared on social media from music critic Robert Hilburn to Black Tones frontwoman and KEXP DJ Eva Walker. “Individuals consider Charles as a biographer of Seattle legends, however each time he and I obtained collectively, all we talked about was all the brand new bands we beloved,” legendary native radio DJ Marco Collins advised The Stranger. “He was a tireless champion of our music scene, outdated and new.”
He impacted many people at The Stranger, too. I, for one, first began doing live performance pictures and music journalism as a teen as a result of I at some point hoped to be printed in The Rocket.
Tradition critic and creator Ann Powers met Cross when the 2 labored collectively at The Day by day UW within the 80s. Shortly after studying of his loss of life, she talked to The Stranger about his legacy. “I hope that as we’re celebrating Charlie’s stewardship of The Rocket, and his exceptional achievements with Backstreets, we additionally return and skim his books. As a result of his books are extraordinary. Each his biography of Kurt Cobain and his biography of Jimi Hendrix set a regular that I feel any music biographer would aspire to,” Powers stated. “He was simply such an intrepid researcher and would discover these corners of his topic’s lives that modified your view of an artist with such nice empathy and understanding. In his books that’s particularly evident.”
On the time of his loss of life, Powers advised The Stranger Cross was engaged on a brand new e-book, “form of a biography of Seattle,” she stated. “A cultural historical past of Seattle and Seattle music.” She stated she hopes the e-book “finds the sunshine of day. I do know he had finished a whole lot of interviews for that e-book already. The man left no stone unturned, so far as actually wanting to inform the complete story. No person was extra certified than Charlie. I’m actually hopeful that that work will discover its means into our lives.”
“We talked for a very long time about what he was making an attempt to seize on this closing venture about Seattle music and Seattle tradition and the way issues had modified,” stated Powers. “What I walked away with was … his dedication to Seattle as a wellspring of creativity. His perception that the Pacific Northwest had distinctive traits that produced music and musicians and music tradition and humanities tradition that basically mattered.”
Earlier this 12 months, Cross’s stamp on Seattle’s tradition was immortalized. He and John Vallier, curator of UW Ethnomusicology Archives, accomplished digitizing all 333 problems with The Rocket and made the archive obtainable to the general public at no cost. “Having The Rocket digitized and obtainable lets us return and discover the tales, not simply of the beginnings of [Seattle rock], however these artists who had been actually difficult the definitions of rock or widespread music generally. It’s so essential, as we flesh out our historical past and fill in what has been suppressed, that we’ve got this materials obtainable,” Powers advised the Seattle Instances when the venture was introduced.
In 2014, when he was interviewed by Stranger contributor Trent Moorman, Cross stated, “What I am sure of although is that the Seattle music scene of the late eighties and early nineties, which included many proficient musicians, not simply Kurt, modified historical past. I’m proud to have been some a part of that.”
