Kurt Cobain’s as a New Father with daughter Frances Bean
“Look at the little flippers. ‘Hiii, Frances.’ It’s a bit wet… I’m just teaching her how to cuss and how to flip people off. She’s almost got it – she’s just got to put all of the other fingers down. Almost sucking her thumb too. Come on, suck your thumb, suck your thumb. Kissing babies is always a good political move, isn’t it?”
The interview captures intimate moments with Kurt holding his infant daughter Frances Bean. Dave Grohl jokes, “Now we can re-negotiate our contract,” while Krist comments, “You might give my wife some ideas.”
Kurt Cobain Reveals How the Portland Music Scene Remained Authentic While Seattle Changed
“Portland’s kind of a sister city – northwest city – to Seattle and it just seems so much more unadulterated and real. It made me feel good. It made me feel kind of whimsical too of what was once in Seattle – now lost forever. I mean, 1987, 88, 89… I mean, 1982, you know. Soundgarden was really cool. Malfunkshun were really funny.”
Krist and Kurt reflect nostalgically on how the Seattle music scene transformed from its authentic roots to something more commercialized, contrasting it with Portland’s preserved underground feel.
Kurt Cobain’s Embarrassing Encounter with Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone
“One time I saw Malfunkshun in Olympia and there was about 50 people there and they were all standing in the back watching them and I pulled up a chair right in front of the stage and I sat there and I fell asleep. I fell asleep and Andrew Wood was, like, singing to me the whole night and making fun of me and dancing around me. I felt like a heel when I woke up. It was so rude.”
Kurt shares this candid story about his awkward encounter with the legendary Andrew “L’Andrew the Love God” Wood, who would later gain fame with Mother Love Bone before his tragic death.
Nirvana’s Bold Stand Against MTV: Refusing to Play “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
“When we were asked to play on the award ceremony, they just assumed that we would come on and play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – the big hit – open up the show – the first band to play – set the mood for the night. And, uh, we didn’t want to play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. So we came into the rehearsals and we were gonna play 2 new songs that fit into the 4 minute 20 second slot. So we practiced those and the stage manager, you know, said: ‘Oh. Okay. As long as it fits.’ Then we get a call the next day that MTV says we cannot play unless we play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and we said ‘well, we’re not gonna play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and they said ‘Okay, well then you’re not going to play on our show’ and we say ‘Okay. Bye.'”
Dave Grohl details their battle with MTV executives over song choice, revealing how the band was temporarily removed from the show before a compromise was reached.
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana Forced to “Sell Out” or Risk Music Industry Retaliation
“We were kicked off the show for about 5 hours. They took away our awards. We come back on the show. We agree to play ‘Lithium’. Basically what we were going to do was say ‘Okay, we’ll play ‘Lithium’. Rehearse ‘Lithium’ and then do these 2 new songs. Because they’re two brand new songs – they haven’t been recorded and for some reason MTV or Pepsi or whoever’s the big wig corporate butt head at the top just wanted ‘Teen Spirit’… And it all came down to industry versus music.”
The band explains how they were ultimately pressured into performing “Lithium” instead of new material, with Krist bluntly admitting, “We were whores and sold out.”
Kurt Cobain Makes Peace with Eddie Vedder While Feuding with Axl Rose
“Hey, I bonded with Eddie from Pearl Jam. We broke our little feud and we kissed and made up and danced during Eric Clapton’s… We slow danced to ‘Tears In Heaven.’ It was blown out of proportion but I’ve said a few nasty things about him, I mean I’ll admit that, it’s in print, it’s proof but, um, I just didn’t like him and now that I’ve seen them perform I think Eddie’s a pretty passionate guy – still don’t really like their music that much but oh well, ya know.”
Kurt candidly discusses ending his rivalry with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder at the VMAs, demonstrating his willingness to change his mind about people, while maintaining his musical opinions.
Axl Rose’s Shocking Confrontation with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love
“Axl told Kurt ‘I’m gonna put you down’ – if he didn’t ‘watch his woman’. We were sitting there eating food and Axl walked by and Courtney and I just jokingly said ‘Axl will you be the godfather of our child?’ We were just joking around and he turned around and started pointing his finger at us really aggressive and mean like threatening to beat me up and stuff and I couldn’t help but laugh because I haven’t been in that kind of a situation since I was in 6th grade, you know. I couldn’t believe it.”
Kurt and Krist detail an explosive backstage encounter with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, showing the tension between alternative rock and traditional rock stars at that time.
Kurt Cobain Admits “Come As You Are” Accidentally Copied Killing Joke
“It is. Absolutely. It is a rip-off but we didn’t know. I remember I had that little guitar part and I went to at least 15 of my friends and said ‘where the fuck have I heard that?’ ‘where the HECK have I heard that before?’ and no one could come up with it and I couldn’t figure it out so we just kept writing the song and then obviously after the song was recorded and everything we figured it out, someone pointed it out to us. It sounds a lot like it.”
Kurt honestly addresses the similarities between “Come As You Are” and Killing Joke’s “Eighties,” explaining how he unintentionally copied a riff that was stored in his “subconscious” after seeing the video on MTV’s Cutting Edge program years earlier.
Kurt Cobain Exposes How the “Singles” Movie Exploited Nirvana’s Music Against Their Wishes
“They asked us to contribute a song to it about a year ago and we said no.. and so, you know what they did? Instead they hired some cover band and they did one of our songs. ‘Well, we’re gonna do it anyway.’ So we have no choice but to be part of the ‘Singles’ family. It’s in the movie, it’s like..they just play a few bars of ‘Come As You Are’, I think, or.. one of our songs. At least that’s what I heard through the rumor mill.”
The band discusses Cameron Crowe’s Seattle grunge film “Singles,” revealing how the production worked around their refusal to participate by using a cover band version of their music instead.
Kurt Cobain Slams Vanity Fair for “Crucifixion” of Courtney Love
“The woman in Vanity Fair came into our house with an agenda. She knew exactly what kind of article she was going to write before she even met us before. She knew that she hated Courtney because of the rumors she had heard and she believed them and decided to write a crucifixion piece. It’s as simple as that. I mean, we’ve challenged her with coming up with the tapes to prove those quotes and she can’t do it and all the quotes were by ‘inside sources’ and no names were made, ya know. It was obviously just a crucifixion piece but I understand that a lot of people have been really affected by that, you know. They believe it. I’m really surprised.”
Kurt passionately defends himself and Courtney Love against the controversial Vanity Fair article, showing his frustration with media misrepresentation and its impact on their lives.
Kurt Cobain’s Powerful Statement on Refusing to Discuss Personal Drug Use to Protect Young Fans
“I’ve done drugs in my time and I don’t think anyone should do drugs. I’m not going to promote it and that’s why I’ve never admitted that I did drugs because I didn’t want anyone to be influenced by it, I think it’s stupid and I think that articles that are written focusing on heroin use in the rock world – they’re ridiculous because heroin use is no more worse than it was 10 years ago, I swear. I know it isn’t, I’ve seen it for a long time. I think that when articles like that are written that they influence kids whether or not it’s negative it doesn’t really matter, you know. It’s still makes kids think ‘Oh, my rock star hero does heroin, you know. Maybe I will some day.’ I think it’s crap.”
Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic Mock Rolling Stone’s Fabricated “Invite-Only” Seattle Heroin Parties
“I read something in Rolling Stone how there’s ‘invite only’ heroin parties and people.. affluent, successful musicians attend them. I have parties all the time at my house and anybody can come over, have a few beers and I go to a lot of parties.. I don’t know who’s throwing these ‘invite only’ drug parties, I mean, it’s just some kind of hysteria, it’s like some speakeasy where, you know, you open the window ‘what band are YOU in?’ Uh, whatever, The Grunge Rocker Heroes, got any smack? Yeah. Well come on in. Everyone’s all green, there’s goo dripping from the ceilings and shit all over the floor.”
The band sarcastically dissects media exaggerations about Seattle’s drug culture, with Krist’s humorous description of fictional exclusive drug parties highlighting how ridiculous they found the coverage to be.