Trivia / Kurt Cobain

• Approval of God: Kurt said he didn't feel he "made it" until "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied one of his songs. He and his band rolled with laughter the first time they saw the video to "Smells Like Nirvana". On the other side of things, David Bowie loved the band's cover of "The Man Who Sold The World", though he also admitted he got tired of people thinking he was covering them when he'd perform the song live.
• Artist Disillusionment: Kurt was actually dissatisfied being with an indie label like Sub Pop, as he felt that they weren't promoting Nirvana enough to the point that they were really famous. So he went shopping the band around to major labels and got signed to Geffen Records. After Nevermind came out and turned Nirvana into one of the biggest bands in the world, he got the fame he wanted but soon realized that it wasn't all cracked up to be. The fact that all the Nirvana fans wanted him to play were hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and not songs he personally liked didn't help.
• Creator Backlash/Magnum Opus Dissonance: Kurt never liked "Smells Like Teen Spirit", widely regarded as both the quintessential Nirvana and grunge song.
• Follow the Leader: When Nirvana started becoming famous, theatrical guitar solos and jock jams were out and Three Chords and the Truth were in.
• No Hero to His Valet: Many people are fans of Nirvana or Hole. Kurt's daughter Frances Bean Cobain respects these people but she'd rather listen to Oasis. And that is saying something about her taste in music.
• The Red Stapler: Kurt, like many punk guitarists of the time, sought out then-discontinued Fender Mustangs and Jaguars because vintage examples could be bought for much less than the more popular Stratocasters and Les Pauls. As a result of this association the value of these instruments surged, and Fender began building the guitars again. The Mustang in particular is closely associated with Kurt, who called it his favorite guitar, especially the blue Competition model he used in the "Teen Spirit" video.
• Promoted Fanboy: Helped his favorite obscure Alternative Rock and Punk Rock bands (like The Vaselines) reach a larger audience. He also wrote down a Top 50 of his favorite music albums in his personal diaries. According to Charles R. Cross' biography Heavier Than Heaven Cobain was listening to Automatic for the People by R.E.M. at the time of his death. He also tried to be this with Melvins, as he auditioned for them on several occasions (and wound up being an occasional tour hand) and later wound up attempting to produce Houdini until he and King Buzzo mutually agreed that it wasn't working out (which both parties were apparently rather crestfallen about). In spite of this, however, he was very good friends with King Buzzo up until his death and credited him with introducing him to heavier music.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: He was just 27 when he died, but he helped define the image of rock music in the early-mid 90's, and set the stage for the rock scene in the next decade.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Near the end of Cobain's life, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. arranged to meet up with him and collaborate as a way to get him back on his feet; ultimately, this never got past the planning stage. Had the collaboration gone through, many believe it would've resulted in a Kurt Cobain solo album.
  • Cobain reportedly wrote a theme song for The Ren & Stimpy Show that was rejected in favor of "Dog Pound Hop".
  • A version of Hole's "Asking for it" with Cobain on clear backing vocals^note He can just about be heard mumbling along behind Courtney on the album version. Contrary to rumors that he wrote the whole album, he only seems vaguely familiar with the lyrics he is harmonizing was planned to be released as a single.
  • Cobain planned on covering Young Marble Giants' "Credit in the Straight World" before his death; Hole ended up covering it instead.
  • And of course, there's the ambiguously large backlog of unreleased songs recorded with Nirvana, some of which seem to indicate what direction a follow-up to In Utero might've taken. Overall, there's huge amount of debates to this day on what would have happened to Nirvana and Cobain had he not taken his life, however fans tend to believe Nirvana would have split up after their apparent follow up to In Utero (Foo Fighters would have continued regardless allegedly) and Cobain would have just retired from the music industry, like Noveselic had believed.
  • By complete coincidence, Duff MacKagan of Guns N' Roses ran into Kurt at the Seattle airport mere days before he committed suicide. Duff could tell something was wrong and wanted to ask Kurt if he wanted to hang out, but he left before Duff had the chance.
  • Cobain auditioned to join the Melvins before Nirvana formed but was so nervous he forgot their songs. Needless to say, rock music in the '90s could have been radically different if Cobain never formed his own band.
  • "Talk To Me" was a song that Nirvana played live a few times in 1991 and 1992, but it seems to have never been recorded by the band in a studio. In 1993, Hole attempted a version during early sessions for Live Through This but it was never completed or released. In 1995, Courtney Love claimed in an MTV interview that she was going to give the song to Iggy Pop to perform as he was one of Kurt's musical heroes - Iggy would later say he turned it down because while he liked Kurt's music he wanted to focus on recording his own songs.