“His music sucks”: the one band Kurt Cobain couldn’t stand
Rock and roll was never meant to be for everyone. Although certain fans get a kick out of listening to The Rolling Stones tear through their classic hits, there will always be listeners who either think it sounds too dangerous or that it’s way too dated these days. It’s the nature of the beast to have artists that aren’t for everyone, but one of the kings of the 1980s got more than his fair share of ridicule when Kurt Cobain started blowing up at the height of grunge.
Then again, it’s not really that shocking when Cobain talked about artists that he didn’t care for. He had always considered himself a bit of a snob when it came to certain kinds of music, and even though he had a point with what he liked and didn’t like, that didn’t stop him from getting into hot water with some people along the way.
Look no further than what happened between him and Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses once Nirvana hit it big. Cobain had absolutely no time hearing Rose whine on about how dangerous he was and how casually misogynistic he could be, and not to be outdone, Rose responded in kind by looking like the kind of hard-edged kid who beat up the mild-mannered because he looked at him funny during recess.
Compared to the rest of the hair metal movement, though, Rose was already a bit of a loose cannon. Most people had no idea what he would do whenever he got onstage, but looking at artists like Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe practically looked like punks with nothing better to do than to play music.
In Bon Jovi’s case, they had their sights set on something different. Even though they had all the trappings of a classic hair metal outfit, they wanted to go beyond the genre altogether, which meant having stronger songs and the kind of squeaky-clean image that would make many a mother proud had their daughter brought one of them home.
Still, a lot of that posturing was still smoke and mirrors, and while Cobain had learned to behave when it came to dishing out insults, he wasn’t going to say Bon Jovi was his favourite by a longshot, saying, “I don’t even find myself having many opinions on bands anymore, because I don’t know these people. Bon Jovi could be one of the nicest people in the world. His music sucks, but I don’t even want to bother with expressing those kinds of opinions anymore.”
At the same time, seeing Bon Jovi start to get that alternative money on albums like Keep the Faith was enough to get people looking at them funny. It’s one thing to try on the best spandex that will fit you, but seeing them suddenly grease up their hair a little bit and get dark for the first time made about as much sense as Bruce Springsteen trying to reimagine himself as an electronic artist.
While Cobain did admittedly cool on being so vicious towards Bon Jovi, both of them seemed to represent two opposing sides of what rock and roll meant. Whereas Jon Bon Jovi wanted to be a flashy star and sing relatable songs, Cobain focused on becoming something much bigger than a star. He wanted to write music that captured the times, and as soon as they crashlanded on the rock scene, the whole world felt slightly different.
