The five bands Kurt Cobain hated most in the world: “It really offends me”
Nirvana were a pioneering force in the American alternative scene during the late 1980s, spearheading the grunge movement, which, inspired by the punk movement of the 1970s, attacked the ideals of classic, mainstream rock. It was a musical movement the likes of which has rarely been repeated—driven out of a raging subculture that threatened to change culture with every new release. Nirvana were at the forefront of this vicious vision of the future.
The band was helmed by Kurt Cobain, who made an indelible imprint on music despite his premature death aged 27 in 1994. Having grown up an isolated and lonely teenager, Cobain channelled his dissatisfaction with society into Nirvana’s music, and though he took inspiration from classic pop, the band’s sound was mainly driven by aggressive riffs and pummeling drums.
Soon, Cobain became the face of a generation. He was the voice of a disenfranchised youth, looking for a way forward out of the cultural mire of the previous decade. However, this was all much to the dismay of Cobain himself. The singer routinely rejected his position as a cultural leader and the voice of Generation X. However, it didn’t stop him from using those vocal chords both on and off stage to share his displeasure.
Never afraid to be outspoken, the musician used his platform to attack the bands he was vehemently against. Cobain was such a passionate music lover that he couldn’t hold his tongue when he disliked a band.
From grunge contemporaries Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains to classic rockers such as Guns N’ Roses, here are five bands that Kurt Cobain could never get behind.
Five bands that Kurt Cobain hated:
Pearl Jam
Despite Nirvana and Pearl Jam leading the grunge revolution that originated in Seattle during the late 1980s and early ’90s, Cobain was not fond of the band, believing them to lack originality and steadfast dedication to the grunge movement. It was the ultimate swipe Cobain could dish out as he believed authenticity to be the ultimate bastion of what made a band worthwhile.
In an interview with Flipside in 1992, Cobain referenced Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, sharing, “Those bands have been in the hairspray/cockrock scene for years, and all of a sudden they stop washing their hair and start wearing flannel shirts. It doesn’t make any sense to me. There are bands moving from L.A. and all over to Seattle and then claim they’ve lived there all their life so they can get record deals. It really offends me.”
Despite Cobain’s comments on the band, he asserted that frontman Eddie Vedder is “a really nice person” and “We’ve never had a fight ever, I’ve just always hated his band.”
Led Zeppelin
When writing lyrics for Nirvana, Cobain took a progressive approach, unafraid to tackle hefty topics such as sexism, which made the band’s music stand out against their contemporaries. It was a large part of why Cobain spoke for such a large swathe of the popularity. Therefore, Cobain was never too fussed over listening to classic rockers Led Zeppelin, as he struggled to ignore the blatant sexism and objectification of women in their lyrics.
He said: “I really did enjoy some of the melodies they’d written, it took me so many years to realise that a lot of it had to do with sexism. The way that they just wrote about their dicks and having sex. I was just starting to understand what really was pissing me off so much those last couple years of high school.”
Cobain’s take down of artists like Led Zeppelin would not only enrage the rock elders, something that is inescapably exciting for any young band, but would cement Cobain’s position as a truly forward-thinking creative.
AC/DC
For similar reasons, Cobain couldn’t get on board with rockers AC/DC. Nirvana’s manager Danny Goldberg once shared, “I think he was torn: I think he liked the music. He liked Led Zeppelin’s music—and AC/DC. But the lyrics were not something that he felt comfortable with.”
The feeling was mutual, with AC/DC’s Malcolm Young sharing in 2016 that he was never a fan of the band, “Naaaaah. Singer’s a blond feller. Bit of a poser.” Cobain wasn’t strictly against AC/DC’s music; after all, ‘Back in Black’ was the first song he learnt to play on guitar. He just couldn’t get on board with the band’s lyrical treatment of women.
Another reminder of just how far Cobain pushed the established music icons, he was willing to discount some of their songs in order to make his point painstakingly clear. The blonde fella knew what he was doing.
Guns N’ Roses
There are few bands on the planet who haven’t wanted to take a pop at Axl Rose over the years, even David Bowie found himself squaring up to the screeching singer. But Cobain’s issues were authentic to his deep moral distrust of the group and their fans.
Cobain famously feuded with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose during the ’90s, once stating, “We’re not your typical Guns’ N’ Roses type of band that has absolutely nothing to say.” This offended Rose, who made heinous comments towards Cobain and Courtney Love’s baby, Frances Bean, saying, “If the baby is born deformed, I think they both ought to go to prison.”
Speaking in 1993 to The Advocate, Cobain criticised Rose again. He said: “The guy is a fucking sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can’t be on his side and be on our side.”
Grateful Dead
Nirvana and Kurt Cobain were not just good talkers, they relied on action to make their point. Whether that is to challenge attitudes towards homosexuality with a famous SNL make-out session or simply call out sexists whenever they could. As such, inaction was a big no-no for the group.
Cobain was not a fan of hippie culture, seeing them as “giving up” rather than actively fighting for what they believed in, as did many punks. The musician frequently expressed an intense hatred for Grateful Dead. Cobain sported a T-shirt for one photo shoot that read “punk’s not dead” and “Kill The Grateful Dead.”
He was also quoted saying, “I wouldn’t wear a tie-dyed tee-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.” The beginning of ‘Territorial Pissings’, where Krist Novoselic seems to poke fun at the hippie anthem ‘Get Together’ by Chet Powers, further alludes to the fact that Cobain and Co were not fans of the music associated with much of the hippie movement.
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