RuPaul and Frances Bean Cobain open up about their iconic photo
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What Frances Bean Cobain really thinks of Nirvana’s music
It is safe to say that Frances Bean Cobain has had a life like no other. The daughter of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole mastermind Courtney Love, Frances was in the public eye as soon as she was born, which is unsurprising given that her parents are both pop culture icons and two of the biggest stars of the 1990s.
Since the tragic death of her father in 1994, she’s constantly been faced with questions about his life and career and has been clear in maintaining that she is her own person. Losing any parent young is something no child should have to go through, but to lose one in such a way when only a baby as she did is of such Shakespearean proportions that it is practically incomprehensible.
Back in 2015, Cobain gave an extensive interview with Rolling Stone and in it, she discussed her father’s work, and made a surprising revelation about it. Asked if she remembered the first time she heard a Nirvana record, Cobain admitted that she’s not much of a fan of them, and much prefers the likes of Mercury Rev and Oasis.
She said: “I don’t really like Nirvana that much [grins]. Sorry, promotional people, Universal. I’m more into Mercury Rev, Oasis, Brian Jonestown Massacre [laughs]. The grunge scene is not what I’m interested in. But ‘Territorial Pissings’ is a fucking great song. And ‘Dumb’ – I cry every time I hear that song. It’s a stripped-down version of Kurt’s perception of himself – of himself on drugs, off drugs, feeling inadequate to be titled the voice of a generation.”
The interviewer, David Fricke, proceeded to point out that it’s ironic that ‘Dumb’, which appeared on Nirvana’s third and final record In Utero, was actually written before their sophomore effort Nevermind dropped in 1991. Frances replied: “I know. It was projection, to something. There’s no way anyone can wrap their minds around that.”
Asked whether it made her feel awkward growing up but not being that interested in her father’s music, Bean offered up a sharp response elucidating how she feels about his suicide and how society makes idols of dead musicians. She even went as far as to say “he became even bigger after he died”.
Frances explained: “No. I would have felt more awkward if I’d been a fan. I was around 15 when I realized he was inescapable. Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there’s my dad. He’s larger than life and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians.”
She concluded: “We love to put them on a pedestal. If Kurt had just been another guy who abandoned his family in the most awful way possible . . . But he wasn’t. He inspired people to put him on a pedestal, to become St. Kurt. He became even bigger after he died than he was when he was alive. You don’t think it could have gotten any bigger. But it did.”
