Quotes by Kurt Cobain
Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Kurt Cobain. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the guitarist, primary songwriter and frontman of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock music. He was often heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in the history of alternative rock.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington, Cobain formed the band Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard in 1987 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene which later became known as grunge. After signing with major label DGC Records, Nirvana found global success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their critically acclaimed second album Nevermind (1991). Although Cobain was hailed as the voice of his generation following Nirvana's sudden success, he resented this, believing his message and artistic vision had been misinterpreted by the public. In addition to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Cobain wrote many notable songs for Nirvana, including "About a Girl", "In Bloom", "Come as You Are", "Lithium", "Polly", "Something in the Way", "All Apologies", and "Heart-Shaped Box".
During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction and chronic health problems such as depression. He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame, and had a tumultuous relationship with his wife, fellow musician Courtney Love. In March 1994, Cobain overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol, and subsequently entered an intervention and underwent a detox program. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle at the age of 27; police concluded he had died on April 5 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
Cobain was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, in their first year of eligibility in 2014. Rolling Stone included Cobain in its lists of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, 100 Greatest Guitarists, and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. He was ranked 7th by MTV in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music". In 2006, he was placed 20th by Hit Parader on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time".
With the lights out, It's less dangerous. Here we are now, Entertain us. I feel stupid, And contagious. Here we are now. Entertain us.
If you guys throw one more shoe or one more coin, I'm just going to leave my guitar next to my amp and there's going to be massive feed back for an hour.
I only remember a few things about Jimmy Carter. He had big lips and liked peanuts. I now know that Jimmy Carter was and is a good man.
I liked anything that was a little bit weird, a little bit different. I always went for the psychotic, weird, 'dingey' bands.
We're just musically and rhythmically retarded. We play so hard that we can't tune our guitars fast enough. People can relate to that.
People think of life as being so sacred and they feel like this is their only chance and they have to do something with their life and make an impact As far as I'm concerned, it's just a pitstop for the afterlife. It's just a little test to see how you can handle reality.
If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I've got.
I just can't believe that anyone would start a band just to make the scene and be cool and have chicks. I just can't believe it.
My mother always tried to keep a little bit of British culture in our family. We'd drink tea all the time!
My father is incapable of showing much affection, or even of carrying on a conversation. I didn't want to have a relationship with him just because he's my blood relative. It would bore me.
Do your own thing. Others own their own thing. If you copy too much, you'll find yourself in late night cocktail lounge cover band limbo.
That's what music is: entertainment. The more you put yourself into it, the more of you comes out in it.
I thought I would try to be gay for a while, but I'm just more sexually attracted to women. But I'm really glad that I found a few gay friends, because it totally saved me from becoming a monk or something.
I'd rather hang out with the losers that would sit and smoke a cigarette than the ones who wanted to throw a baseball.
I would like to get rid of the homophobes, sexists, and racists in our audience. I know they're out there and it really bothers me.
When I was younger I knew I could do anything -- I could be the president if I wanted to, but that was a stupid idea -- I'd rather be a rock star.
Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years.
I wouldn't wear a tie-dyed tee-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.
You know what I hate about rock? I hate tie-dyed tee shirts. I wouldn't wear a tie-dyed tee shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia.
Wearing a dress shows I can be as feminine as I want. I'm a heterosexual...big deal, but if I was a homosexual, it wouldn't matter, either.
If it was up to me, I'd get more oil tanker drivers drunk. I don't value music much. I like the Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney. I like Led Zeppelin, but I hate Robert Plant. I like the Who, but I hate Roger Daltrey.
All my life, I never believed most things I read in history books and a lot of things I learned in school. But now I've found I don't have the right to make a judgment on someone based on something I've read. I don't have the right to judge anything. That's the lesson I've learned.
I'm left-handed, and it's not very easy to find reasonably priced, high-quality left-handed guitars. But out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. I've only owned two of them.
Punk rock should mean freedom, liking and excepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want. As sloppy as you want. As long as it's good and it has passion.
Live music is the most primal form of energy release you can share with other people besides having sex or taking drugs.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
And I do, god, how I do love playing live, it's the most primal form of energy release you can share with other people besides having sex or taking drugs. So if you see a good live show on drugs and then later that evening have sex, you're basically covered all the bases of energy release, and we all need to let off steam. It's easier and safer than protesting abortion clinics or praising God or wanting to hurt your brother; so go to a show, dance around a bit and copulate.
When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band -- or at least in a Pixies cover band.
Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second rate Freudian evaluation on my lyrics when 90% of the time they've transcribed the lyrics incorrectly?
Frances and Courtney, I'll be at your altar
Please keep going Courtney, for Frances
For her life, which will be so much happier without me
I love you, I love you.
I just hope I don't become so blissful I become boring. I think I'll always be neurotic enough to do something weird.
I wasn't thriving socially, so I stayed in my room and played guitar all the time, at the time, I thought I was inventing a new sound that would change the whole outlook of music. I've discovered in the last few years that it was just the Seattle Sub Pop sound.
Out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. They're cheap and totally inefficient, and they sound like crap and are very small.
It must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone. I'm too sensitive. I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasms I once had as a child.
What people don't realize is that the so-called Seattle grunge scene grew out of several close-knit gourmet supper clubs -- we would only pick up guitars to pass the time while our dishes were simmering, baking, boiling, etc.
Kids don't care about rock and roll as much as they used to, as the other generations have. It's already turned into nothing but a fashion statement and an identity for kids to use as a tool for them to fuck and have a social life.
I would love to be erased from our association with Pearl Jam or the Nymphs and other first time offenders.
When I listen to 'Nevermind,' I hate the production, but there's something about it that almost makes me cry at times.
Ever since the beginning of rock and roll, there's been an Axl Rose. And it's just boring. It's totally boring to me.
I have to admit I've found myself doing the same things that a lot of other rock stars do or are forced to do. Which is not being able to respond to mail, not being able to keep up on current music, and I'm pretty much locked away a lot. The outside world is pretty foreign to me.
I've always wanted male friends that I could be real intimate with and talk about important things with and be as affectionate with that person as I would be with a girl.
Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.
I don't blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they'll realize there's more things to life than living out your rock and roll identity so righteously.
I'm a spokesman for myself. It just so happens that there's a bunch of people that are concerned with what I have to say. I find that frightening at times because I'm just as confused as most people. I don't have the answers for anything.
My songs have always been frustrating themes, relationships that I've had. And now that I'm in love, I expect it to be really happy, or at least there won't be half as much anger as there was.
I didn't know how to deal with success. If there was a Rock Star 101, I would have liked to take it. It might have helped me.
