Kurt Cobain discussing his favourite album by The Clash: “I fucking love that record”
It didn’t take long for Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to establish himself as one of the most distinctive figures in 1990s rock. Regarding the world of music, if a journalist asked him about a particular artist or genre, Cobain would answer them comprehensively, providing a fascinatingly authentic account in the process.
A writer for NME discovered this side of Cobain in 1991 when speaking to Nirvana just three days before their era-defining masterpiece Nevermind arrived on September 24th. Following the sludgy power of the band’s 1989 debut album, Bleach, a more punk-oriented, underground effort than its follow-up, it was put to the trio that the “punk fundamentalists are already sharpening the knives” for when Nevermind arrived, “regardless of what it’s like”.
Clearly, as Cobain was “something of a punk fundamentalist” himself, he was asked what he thought about during the early stage of the album’s cycle. He replied: “I think it’s a fine mixture of radio-friendly accessible crap and still reminding you of what our Bleach album sounds like and what we sound like live. It’s still heavy. The songwriting is a bit different, but it’s been two years since Bleach, so it’s an obvious progression. In every interview we’ve had over the last two years, we’ve been practically warning everyone that we’re writing more pop songs, so I don’t think it’ll be a surprise to anyone when they hear it”.
In a somewhat surprised tone, the interviewer suggested that Cobain must not regard a pop song as a “term of disgrace”. Definitely not, the Nirvana frontman maintained: “A disgrace? Oh, absolutely not. All my favourite songs are pop songs. The Butthole Surfers have pop songs. Pop just means simple, and that’s what punk rock has been forever until it turned into hardcore.”
Helping his friend out, bassist Krist Novoselic used more prominent examples of punk rock being pop music. He said: “Like the Sex Pistols record, those are all pop songs. It’s a great record. The Clash were a pop band.”
The conversation then took a somewhat unexpected turn when Cobain shared what he believes to be the best album by The Clash. Unsurprisingly, his choice was a controversial one. He opted for 1982’s Combat Rock, the record that gave the world ‘Rock the Casbah’ and ‘Straight to Hell’.
Famously, Combat Rock saw The Clash move heavily into a funk and reggae-oriented area with a more radio-friendly tone. Such a stark shift alienated longtime punk fans of the group for good. The Nirvana leader said: “I think the best Clash album is Combat Rock. I fucking love that record! It’s definitely better than Sandinista“.
This was interesting, as the following year, during a feature for Melody Maker, Cobain categorically asserted that he wasn’t a fan of The Clash at all because he thought their music was “terrible”. Cobain claimed at the time: “The Clash were always a bad imitation of The Rolling Stones, in love with America. But at least they took their girlfriends on tour with them [The Slits]. Their music was terrible, though.”
It was pointed out to Cobain that The Clash had “finally” secured a number-one hit with the Combat Rock classic ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go? topping the top of the charts. With both Cobain and Novoselic astonished at this fact, they asked how it happened, to which a prominent Levis commercial was explained as the answer.
Cobain expressed: “There you go! The Clash sold out ten years after they broke up! Well, The Ramones are on Budweiser commercials in the States, so…”
