Rolling Stone interview with Kurt Cobain

(Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of band Nirvana, has done an interview for the Rolling Stone in the past, the work that is about to be read is fictional  and for educational purposes but is based on what Kurt could have answered to the answers, a few of his interviews and extensive research about grunge music and Kurt's legacy)

Rolling stone: A lot of people say that Nirvana is one of the first grunge bands to be popularised. How do you define grunge music?

Kurt: Well the grunge era started in the 80's and the generation that listens and makes this kind of music is influenced by Heavy metal, Punk and Hardcore. It emerged out of the club scene in the Pacific Northwest and it was also affected by economic regression in the early 90’s in Seattle .That gives a final sound with distorted guitar tones that may sound unusual, heavy drums, sometimes screaming vocals an anti-authority attitude and a hell of a show. The music tends to have dynamic shifts that also shows the frustration of youth. Grunge is loud or sloppy

Rolling stone: What about lyrics, is there a specific way you write your lyrics?

Kurt: Honestly, when it comes to lyrics I don’t give a s***. But the problem is that people tend to want to look in more into the deep meaning of it. So like before I would just put pieces of poetry, basically garbage from my mind, whatever that comes out of my mind. Most of the time I am writing lyrics at the last minute because honestly I can’t be bothered and I’m just lazy. So then I always find myself having to find explanation to my songs. Grunge lyrics is mostly about how you feel or story telling, it’s not to be political but rather poetic to be able to escape the reality in which you are.

Rolling stone: What about the “grunge” way to dress up?

Kurt: The art of dressing up grunge is the art of not giving a damn. I don’t care about fashion or social norms. I buy most of clothes made from inexpensive materials like denim ,flannel and whatever else I have under my hand mix and layer. But grunge isn’t ripped jeans or a plaid shirt it is a state of mind, so you want to get dressed grunge? Don’t buy the things society deems as right. I wear a lot of layers because I want to mask my skinniness but I also sometimes wear women blouses to challenge gender roles. Fashion can’t capitalise on grunge, there are no rules to mixing and matching, get dressed and come as you are.

Rolling stone: What is your objective as a band?

Kurt: We just wanna make the best music we can. That is more important than anything else. We just wanna write good songs.

Rolling stone: How do you think grunge may have impacted the community?

Kurt: I don’t know man, I mean I can’t really assign a specific community that listens to grunge. Grunge has many inspirations, from rock music to blues, and by that it has a large group of people that listen and appreciate the music. I feel like the generation, and the ones to come did learn a lot about how to heal and express themselves and through my music I was able to do so and I hope anyone making grunge music or listening to it can either express themselves or enjoy it and relate to it. As music makers it makes us fight back against this messed up music system and have this “screw society attitude” people can look up to. You don’t need to conform, you don’t need to succeed to society’s expectations. Be yourself who cares? Grunge music is about being who you want to be and pushing the limitations that society puts on you. 

Rolling stone: You talk a lot about sensitive topics and distressing situations, have you ever actually wanted to kill yourself?

Kurt: For the years I had stomach problems yes I did want to kill myself almost everyday. That wasn't a way to live life but I love to play music so I decided to dedicate myself. I talk about these sensitive topics and sometimes songs can hit a nerve. A lot of kids out there for god knows what reasons do feel suicidal. I feel like our band is satirical and serious at the same time. Slowly talking about these subjects that are sensitive and making it acceptable to talk about these things that nobody talks about because well apparently they aren’t acceptable starts making them more normalised. I used to do drugs and that was pretty bad but now I’m clean and all those bad experiences I put into lyrics that may or not make sense. Yes I talk about feeling depressed, being gay, rape, suicide, feminism and a bunch of other stuff. But this is what I enjoy, making music, I don’t care if I have 10 fans or a million I just want to get music out there, challenge society norms and get my music out there. I used to be a school janitor, now I'm living the dream and it's all I could ever ask for.