Kurt Cobain had a complicated relationship with being a rock star. One aspect that made the experience so complex for him was the fans. Though he did once admit that, even though “it sounds elitist,” he felt the band had done a good job of garnering the audience they wanted.
In a throwback interview clip, shared on YouTube by Rock ‘N Roll Breakdown, the grunge legend weighed in on how Nirvana perceived their fans. “I think we’ve done a really good job at weeding out the audiences,” Cobain said. “I’ve been really surprised and happy to see the types of people that come to our shows.
I know that sounds elitist,” he continued. “I was surprised to see that there are that many kids in every city that are just good, nice kids.”
“We were so afraid… really concerned,” Cobain went on to confess, “which translated into b****ing and wine for a couple of years, but we’re so afraid of having people come to our shows to cause trouble. You know, getting into fist fights.”
“I haven’t seen one fist fight in our show,” he went on to confess, “and that’s in a smaller type of Arena atmosphere. It’s great. It’s really nice and comforting to know that that’s our audience… and we’re really proud of that.”
Nirvana’s final album, ‘In Utero’, has been certified 6× Platinum by the RIAA
Kurt Cobain’s passion for music and cultivating a good environment for his fans seemed to stem from his own unstable childhood. In a 1993 L.A. Times article, the frontman opened up about how he suffered from a lot of depressive feelings as a child.
He spoke about finding solace in music, and also lamented that grunge might not make the difference he thought it would. “Sometimes you wonder if anything has changed,” he said. “Just because everyone starts wearing flannel shirts doesn’t mean they think about the world any differently. If we had changed things, you’d hear a lot better music on the radio, wouldn’t you?”
“I can’t deal with all that,” he later added. “The future of grunge in America, and all that. All I can do is worry about our band… and keep from becoming another rock ‘n’ roll cartoon.”
The post ‘I Know It Sounds Elitist’: Nirvana Frontman Kurt Cobain Reveals His True Thoughts About His Audience appeared first on VICE.
