From Graceland and the Chelsea Hotel to Depeche Mode’s Basildon, places hallowed by rock stars are the pilgrimage sites of our times

With today’s US release of the much-hyped documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, it has emerged that for $150 a night you can stay in the Nirvana frontman’s early 90s home – “You’ll be soaked in rock history,” claims the rental site ad. Cobain lived in this two-bedroom apartment in LA’s Fairfax district with wife Courtney Love when he was at both his commercial and creative peak – Smells Like Teen Spirit was getting constant airplay and he was writing songs that would later appear on In Utero (the lead single Heart-Shaped Box was allegedly written in the apartment’s bath). Yet the Cobain residence has been considerably smartened up since the chaotic Kurt and Courtney moved out (thankfully) and there’s nothing of the individual or his life to see. What would draw fans to shell out a not inconsiderable sum on a stay here is unclear and raises questions about fandom, the difference between religious and secular devotion and the rock pilgrimage…

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