The one and only time Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love performed live together
Despite being one of music’s biggest power couples during the early 1990s, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love largely kept out of each other’s business when it came to their day jobs.
There are unverified – and likely false – rumours that Cobain helped author a number of tracks on Hole’s breakthrough second album Live Through This, but it’s true that he did provide a few backing vocals throughout the album. Later, Love would play the Nirvana song ‘You Know You’re Right’ at Hole’s MTV Unplugged appearance in February of 1995. Other than those instances, Cobain and Love were two separate professional entities.
Well, except for a one-off acoustic performance at the Rock Against Rape benefit on September 8th, 1993. Cobain jokingly inquires to the crowd if anyone knows any José Feliciano songs, while Love jokes about Cobain leaving her to marry Winona Ryder. It’s a touching reminder of the love the two icons shared privately, even if it did play out publicly.
The duo then dive into a version of ‘Pennyroyal Tea’ with Love on lead vocals, a song that would be released a week later when Nirvana released their third LP In Utero. The track is often thought of as an extremely revealing one for Cobain’s psyche. Not only does it make reference to a “Leonard Cohen afterworld”, a hint to another icon who suffered with depression, but also makes reference to his drug addiction and his complete unwillingness to be a figurehead for any kind of movement.
Cobain then takes the lead for a rendition of Lead Belly’s ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’. Cobain would later play the exact same song on the exact same acoustic guitar ten days later when Nirvana performed for MTV Unplugged.
The tune sits among one of Cobain’s most personal releases, something summed up in the MTV Unplugged performance in which the band leave the stage and allows Cobain to sing the track solo. It makes it all the more reverent that he invited Love to share the tune with him on this occassion. The two harmonise perfectly, as both have strangled howls that complement each other.
The rendition is less harrowing here than it is during Unplugged, but Cobain still manages to hit the final scream with an intensity that only he could produce. Love’s harmony is haunting, and the two let the final notes hang in the air before Love goes in for one last joke, calling the couple ‘Sonny & Cher’.
You can watch the only moment Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love shared on the stage below.
