Kurt Cobain’s definition of punk
For all of the articles coming out in the 1990s talking about the ‘Seattle sound’, no two bands tended to sound alike. Despite all hailing from the same area of America, Pearl Jam was always focused on straight-ahead rock and roll, whilst bands like Alice in Chains were into the towering sounds of heavy metal. As for Nirvana, they always had their seeds planted in the world of punk rock music.
When Kurt Cobain was first learning his chops on guitar, he was originally drawn to the sounds of hard rock on the radio. In the documentary Montage of Heck, Cobain talks about listening to some of the biggest bands of the time, like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, before trading in all those records for some of the biggest names in underground punk rock.
Some of his favourites included bands like Flipper and Sonic Youth, whose signature brand of no-wave music would become part of the core ethos of the Seattle scene. Considering their penchant for wanting to have punk in their DNA, it’s no surprise why Nirvana eventually went with Dave Grohl as their permanent drummer, having turned in time in the DC hardcore band Scream for years before.
When talking about what made punk appealing, Cobain would later offer his definition of what the genre meant to him, saying, “Punk rock should mean freedom, liking and excepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want. As sloppy as you want. As long as it’s good and it has passion.”
Cobain’s need for freedom in his music also informed the band’s naming. Having gone through other sure-to-be-iconic names like Fecal Matter and Pen Cap Chew, Cobain settled on Nirvana because of its meaning, explaining, “In Webster’s terms, ‘nirvana’ means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of punk rock.”
Grohl tended to agree with this statement, later telling Lars Ulrich of Metallica that all anyone needed to play punk rock music was a song and a big heart. Although Nirvana had the punk rock credentials to become an underground band, Cobain would always return to the signature hooks that had excited him as a kid.
When working on their breakout album Nevermind, Cobain made a point to cover up some of his key influences, being infatuated with John Lennon’s songwriting during the making of the record. Producer Butch Vig would also talk about Cobain’s need to hide his mainstream influences, telling Classic Albums, “I think that Kurt knew that the songs were really hooky. [There were] lots of pop melodies. And he didn’t want it to come off as sounding too poppy.”
While Cobain may not have wanted to compromise his vision of Nirvana, his brilliant songs resonated with way more people than he originally intended, bringing the ethos of punk rock to the masses once ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ hit the airwaves. Although it’s easy to describe Nirvana in terms of grunge or alternative music, that’s too much of a blanket term. By Cobain’s definition, Nirvana was just a punk band that happened to play pop songs.
