The movie Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl both called the most beautiful ever made
Inspiration doesn’t stay in its lane, such that everything floats down one big mutual stream of influence where artists of any format can dip in, fishing out anything from a new film to an old painting to modify their perspectives, and Nirvana prove that point well.
Nirvana countibuted back to that stream greatly by not only being the frontrunners of grunge rock, opening up a whole new era that completely changed the sound of the 1990s, but even in 2024, the simple decision to use their ‘Come As You Are’ as a needledrop in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer was impactful, bringing the band’s music back and in a new cinematic context.
From books to films to fashion, Nirvana have touched everything, where in 2026, London’s Royal Opera and Ballet is putting on an opera based on Kurt Cobain’s life, proving better than anything that the band’s influence isn’t just long-running but can cross over into the least expected forms possible.
But for the group, their broad impact perfectly matches up with their own broad influences; it wasn’t that they were only ever inspired by other music; in fact, that was arguably the least of it as Cobain and Dave Grohl especially were busy watching movies, reading books and consuming all kinds of culture when the band was first kicking off.
In this case, the inspirations crossed over as the bandmates and friends surely must have had a movie night, both striking upon the same mutual inspiration in the form of one beloved film.
For Cobain, though, that was rare, as while he was a huge fan of poetry, especially the work of William Burroughs, he found he was a harsh critic when it came to cinema, saying, “I can’t think of very many movies that I like. I’m usually disappointed by them”.
But one film cut through, and that was Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders’ 1984 masterpiece, talking about which on a radio show with Kurt St Thomas, Cobain especially shared his love for the movie’s score, and the guitar work on there by Ry Cooder.
For Grohl, the same movie hit him hard, too, and for the same reason: “There is an instrumental record by an American legend named Ry Cooder. He scored a 1984 movie called Paris, Texas in the ’80s, and the soundtrack to that film is my favourite album of all time,” the drummer said, not only loving the movie but genuinely considering the score as one of his top records.
It’s easy to see why the film might have moved the bandmates so much, given that it was written by Sam Shepherd, a man who spent extensive time touring with musicians and was often in the company of their other idols like Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In Paris, Texas, we’re basically seeing the perfect coming together of the parts that Cobain and Grohl loved best, which is poignancy, and a guitar score to carry it.
