To be punk inherently means to be against oppression. Thus, it makes for a very progressive genre and culture. However, what it means to be punk has also evolved over the years. There have been lots of social changes during that time, and groups have been adjusting accordingly. However, when Kurt Cobain was alive, there was a lot of misogyny running rampant. As he grew older, he said that his heart grew fonder of femininity.
In a 1992 interview with Melody Maker, Cobain told journalist Everett True that the older he got, the more he grew to understand himself. As a result, he realized he was more feminine than he let on. Ultimately, his relationship to music would inform this shift, and there was one key band that helped along the way.
“I was always more of a feminine person when I was young, I just didn’t know it,” Kurt Cobain said. “Then, when my hormones started swinging around, and I started getting facial hair, I had to let off my male steam somewhere, so I started smoking pot and listening to Black Sabbath and Black Flag. It took the Pixies to put me back on the right track and off the whole macho punk rock trip.”
Kurt Cobain Explains How The Pixies Opened Up His Softer, More Feminine Side
The punk tendency to put down women felt antithetical to the movement. The Nirvana singer noticed it later in life, looking back at 1970s bands. “That was something I realised later, cause I didn’t experience punk in the Seventies. There was this live record, Night Of The Living Dead Boys, where Stiv Bators was spewing off about how some girl was sucking his c**k while he was on stage. That was the common accepted thing,” Kurt Cobain said.
The interviewer eventually asked what he figured the differences were between a more masculine or more feminine outlook on life. At the end of the day, it’s self-awareness.
“Being aware of not offending women and of not supporting racist acts. But not so you become paranoid that you can’t feel comfortable in a woman’s presence,” Kurt Cobain stressed. “Sexist jokes are harmless as long as you’re aware of them, but I also know a lot of people who put on this pretend macho redneck act 24 hours a day. They use the redneck lingo and spew out sexist quotes. Then, they claim that they’re simply trying to remind you that’s how rednecks are. I’ve noticed that if someone does that for too long, they turn into a redneck.”
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