1992.MM.DD - Excerpts from various interviews with members of Nirvana

Les Inrockuptibles, January 1992:
 
With all the success, aren’t you afraid of becoming a puppet, a pure rock 'n' roll cliché?
 
Kurt: I honestly believe that none of us three can be considered an asshole. We don’t behave like Guns N’ 'Roses. I’m not on an anti-Guns N’ Roses crusade; I just don’t care about them and their music. They’re just a perfect example of machismo and rock 'n' roll cliché.
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9111nb/index.php
 
***
 
Kerrang, February 8, 1992:
 
[...]
 
"I've always been afraid of claiming that we're a band cursed in interviews..." [Cobain] trails off in dismay.
 
By 'curse' do you mean 'misinterpretation'?
 
"Especially misinterpreted, or misquoted. The last interview we had in - the NME, I think - if you could've heard... I'd actually like to ask that woman to give me a tape of what we said that night. We sat there for three hours talking about all sorts of things in-depth with her - and she chose to use an old quote form another interview attacking Guns N' Roses! We went out of our way to not say anything about Guns N' Roses."
 
I ask them about a quote which had Nirvana claiming they 'aren't like 99 per cent of other rock bands'. This looked incredibly pompous in print.
 
Cobain: "Well, that's fine, y'know. We don't feel we are part of that world, and to attack another band is pointless. It only happened once and this woman..."
 
 [...]
 
 
***
 
Seconds Magazine, Unknown date early 1992
 
[...]
 
SECONDS: While one wouldn’t exactly call Nirvana an intellectual rock band, there is a strong element of consciousness to your whole approach.
 
COBAIN: We’d like to think so. I mean, we're not your typical Guns N’ Roses type of band that has absolutely nothing to say. Whether we're proficient in saying what we wanna say doesn't matter, it’s just the fact that we're actually trying to communicate something different, something those cock rock bands don't.
 
[...]
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9109sb/index.php
 
*** 
 
BigO Magazine, March 1992:
 
[...]
 
As the group becomes more successful, there will be likely be poseurs who would jump onto the bandwagon and claim to be grungy, cool and rebellious like them.
 
"Yeah and it's happening already! There are some bands that I absolutely despise and I'm not afraid to name them. They are The Nymphs, Alice In Chains and especially Pearl Jam. They are just career-minded bands out to make big bucks and we've been unfairly lumped together with them. But ultimately it's the music and the kids will know what's crap."
 
[...]
 
In the press conference the day before, Cobain mentioned that Axl Rose not turning up for a gig or making the fans wait for two hours just because "he's got diarrhoea or something" is plain rock star attitude. How would he draw the line between responsibility and rebellion?
 
"When you're a popular figure, you owe a certain responsibility to your fans. I think Guns N' Roses are promoting wrong values like sexism and the way they do drugs. I mean, what are they rebelling against? I don't think this is rebellion. Rebellion is standing up to people like Guns N' Roses."
 
[...]
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9202pc/index.php
 
 
***
 
Flipside, May 1992:
 
[...]
 
Cake: What are your feelings on the whole Pearl Jam, Soundgarden thing? I hate to put Soundgarden in that class because when their first EP came out I thought they were like Robert Plant fronting the Butthole Surfers, I thought they were amazing.
 
Kurt: They used to be great, they were even better in like ‘85 when Chris Cornell had a Flock of Seagulls haircut! They were just like the Butthole Surfers, they were amazing.
 
Cake: Now they’re totally into this metal thing, they’re touring with Guns N’ Roses... That’s the tour you guys turned down?
 
Kurt: Right, we turned down Guns N’ Roses. That would be a big waste of time. I can’t comment on Soundgarden because I know them personally and I really like them a lot, but I have strong feelings towards Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains and bands like that. They’re obviously just corporate puppets that are just trying to jump on the alternative bandwagon - and we are being lumped into that category. Those bands have been in the hairspray / cockrock scene for years and all of a sudden they stop washing their hair and start wearing flannel shirts. It doesn’t make any sense to me. There are bands moving from L.A. and all over to Seattle and then claim they’ve lived there all their life so they can get record deals. It really offends me.
 
[...]
 
Al: How big a role does Geffen have in your plans? It’s everybody’s big phobia that the major label will take away your artistic freedom, or at least play a big part in forming it.
 
Kurt: We’ve never had a conflict with Geffen, not one. Our A&R man lets us do whatever we want - and legally we can do whatever we want because we have a really good contract. Our lawyer worked at getting us one of the best contracts I’ve ever heard of. The people that work at DGC are really good people, a lot of the employees are people that worked at independent labels like SST. They’re totally aware of what our band is like. Now that we sold a whole bunch of records we have even more control - even though we don’t need to stress anything. They let us do whatever we want.
 
Al: Do they try to treat you like traditional rock stars just because that is what they are geared towards - because of Guns N’ Roses or whomever?
 
Kurt:   Not at all. There’s been a few times where limousines shows up at the airport when we get there, but sometimes that’s not DGC’s fault, it’s just the promoters fault. There are some places where the representatives of DGC aren’t that hip to underground music, so there’s a lot of learning going on at the label. No, they don’t treat us like rock stars. Plus, DGC is a subsidiary of Geffen, Guns N’ Roses are on Geffen and DGC pretty much just has Teenage Fanclub, Sonic Youth and, us and, uh, Nelson. I forgot all about them!
 
[...]
 
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=info/articles&file=05.00.92-flipside.html
 
***
 
Melody Maker, July 25, 1992:
 
[...]
 
Chris stretches his legs, and sighs. This is gonna be a long interview. Kurt comes back, and we continue.
 
When I saw your static performance in Oslo two days ago, I kept thinking back to what Kurt told me last year: "We’re not going to be proud of the fact there are a bunch of Guns N’ Roses kids who are into our music. We don’t feel comfortable progressing, playing larger venues."
 
"We can't," Chris agrees. "We've always treated people with that mentality with a little bit of contempt and cynicism, and to have them screaming for us... Why are they screaming? What do they see in us? They're exactly the same kind of people who wanted to kick our arse in high school."
 
"It's just boring to play outdoors," explains his singer. "I've only just gotten used to playing large venues because the sound is at least tolerable. But, outside, the wind blows the music around so much that it doesn't feel like you're playing music, it feels like you're lip-synching to a boom box recording. Plus, these festivals are very mainstream - we're playing with Extreme and Pearl Jam, you know? Ninety per cent of the kids out there are probably just as much into Extreme as they are into us.
 
[...]
 
First night in Stockholm, I'm watching MTV with Kurt and Courtney in their hotel suite, waiting for the new Nirvana video to come on. Eddie Murphy flashes by, typically unfunny. "He used to be funny once, didn't he?" Kurt remarks. "Back before he became famous and complacent, back when he was still struggling to be heard, back when he had to try." There's no need for Kurt to elaborate. We know who he's talking about.
 
But Kurt still tries. Otherwise, why is he in so much pain? Not for the first time this year, I begin to realise why Bono and Axl and Bruce and all those would-be rock messiahs are so crap. The market forces, the record buyers, ARE that powerful - you either succumb or you go insane. Is there a third choice? Nirvana are struggling against it ... they’re struggling real hard and they’re struggling real strong ... but it’s impossible to make sense of much of this confusion.
 
In Oslo, Kurt simply stands immobile as 20,000 kids go beserk, uncaring as to what reactions his band may or may not be exciting. And the audience, with their ritualised clapping and banners and shoes tossed in the air and bare chests, couldn’t give a damn about how good or otherwise the band on stage are. Why should they? This is corporate entertainment, however much the band decry it. To most of these serenely beautiful sun-kissed Scandinavians, it doesn’t matter that it’s Nirvana up there. It could be anyone. It’s a festival, see. They couldn’t give a damn about Flipper or Shonen Knife or punk or Courtney Love or any of the things so close to Nirvana’s heart. Why should they? What matters is size.
 
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=info/articles&file=07.25.92-mm1.html
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=info/articles&file=07.25.92-mm2.html
 
***
 
NME, August 29, 1992:
 
[...]
 
Oh, yes Kurt, but the band wouldn't be the same if you didn't sing.
 
"No, I know that." He laughs. "Well maybe I could start another band. I'm thinking of doing that, actually, with Mark Arm and Eric from Hole. But then, I'm so lazy with this band I couldn't imagine being in two bands at once. Jesus!"
 
It sounds like you'd like to escape from the limelight. Does it get you down to read every week that you're a heroin addict?
 
"Yeah, it does get to me, it pisses me off. I had no idea that being in a commercial rock band would be like this, because I've never paid attention to other commercial rock bands. I've never read a U2 interview so I don't know if there are rumours about them doing insane things. I'm not really aware of any other rock band that have had so many rumours written about them. Guns N' Roses went into it admitting stuff, trying to create something, same with Jane's Addiction, who totally flaunted it, totally glamorised heroin use. I think that's ridiculous."
 
There then follows the weirdest episode of a pretty weird two days, I've just asked Kurt whether the heroin rumours are true - to which he's laughed, said "No!" and made me feel his arms for any tell-tale scars or holes, though obviously shooting up isn't the only way to take smack and to be honest I'm not sure I knew what I was meant to be looking for, but still, it's an impressive gesture at the very least - when Anton walks in with a woman I recognise as Susan Silver, manager of Soundgarden.
 
[...]
 
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=info/articles&file=08.29.92-nme.html
 
***

Vanity Fair, September 1992:

[Note: Apart from what Kurt and Courtney said about GN'R/Axl in this Vanity Fair profile (released in late August), there were quotes from people around Nirvana pointing out the couple's drug problems while they were expecting the birth of their child. It was this article that made that story widely public, and Axl would refer to it a few days later, on September 2,  from the stage in Orlando, Florida.]

[...]
 
After the San Francisco debacle, [Courtney] moved to Minneapolis and played briefly with Kat’s new band, Babes in Toyland. (Jennifer was back in LA, forming her band, L7.) She and Kat clashed, and she went to Alaska to strip. Then she moved to Portland briefly, and by 1989 she was back in Los Angeles. "I just couldn’t take it anywhere else," she explains. "Minneapolis was so fucking unpretentious. Everyone has a flannel collection and is in a band named after a welding instrument."
 
She put an ad in the Recycler ("I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Stooges, Sonic Youth and Fleetwood Mac") and stripped to pay the rent. "I Worked at Star Strip," she says. "The girls in that place are superconstructed. They’re a little classy. Three of them had fucked Axl [Rose]." Soon she put together Hole and started to rehearse in earnest.
 
[...]
 
Courtney is extremely possessive about this style statement...she is currently in a war with her erstwhile friend Kat Bjelland because of a borrowed velvet dress. Or, at least, that's what started it.
 
"Kat has stolen a lot front me," she says, hitting on one of her very favorite themes. "Dresses. Lyrics. Riffs. Guitars. Shoes. She even went after Kurt. That was the last straw. Because I put up with the lyric stealing. And I put up with her going to England first in a dress that I loaned her. Now I can’t wear those fucking dresses in England anymore."
 
Kat isn’t Courtney’s only target ... she’s convinced that nearly everyone in the music scene is either plundering her schtick or is just plain worthless. She hates Inger Lorre, the lead singer of the Nymphs; despises Pearl Jam, another terrific Seattle band ("They’re careerist and they go out with models"); is angry with Faith No More ("The new record is called Angel Dust - they stole that from me"); has quarreled with Jennifer Finch of L7 (more stolen lyrics); and is convinced Axl Rose is "an ass - and he also goes out with models."
 
[...]

It’s later the same evening and Kurt is sitting in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven, waiting for Courtney to buy dinner, which consists of cookies, fruit juice, and cigarettes. As he stares out the window, a large van pulls up and a guy in full heavy-metal gear gets out. He is wearing a Nirvana T-shirt.
 
"That guy has on a Nirvana T-shirt," Kurt says rather sadly. The heavy-metal audience was not what he had in mind when he wrote "Smells Like Teen Spirit." "I’m used to it now. I guess," he says softly. "I’ve seen it a lot."
 
Commercial success in the alternative world ruins your credibility and Kurt is deeply concerned with staying true to his vision. He wouldn’t perform at Axl Rose’s thirtieth-birthday bash (Rose is a big Nirvana fan) and turned down a spot on this summer’s Metallica/Guns N’ Roses tour. Still and all, "the general consensus is that Nirvana should quit," says Bjelland. "They’ve reached... nirvana. What are you going to do after that?"
 
This is ridiculous logic, but it is the conventional wisdom within the community. "Courtney," Kurt says when she returns, "that heavy-metal guy was wearing a Nirvana T-shirt." "I know," she says, munching on a cookie. "I saw him." There is a long pause while they ponder this reality.
 
"I’m neurotic about credibility." Courtney says finally. "And Kurt is neurotic about it, too. He’s dealing with people who like his band who he despises. For instance, a girl was raped in Reno. When they were raping her, they were singing ‘Polly,’ a Nirvana song." Courtney pauses. "These are the people who listen to him."
 
[...]

All this would be perfect, except for the drugs. Twenty different sources throughout the record industry maintain that the Cobains have been heavily into heroin. Earlier this year, Kurt told Rolling Stone that he was not taking heroin, but Courtney presents another, extremely disturbing picture. “We went on a binge,” she says, referring to a period last January when Nirvana was in New York to appear on Saturday Night Live. “We did a lot of drugs. We got pills and then we went down to Alphabet City and Kurt wore a hat, I wore a hat, and we copped some dope. Then we got high and went to S.N.L. After that, I did heroin for a couple of months.”

“It was horrible,” recalls a business associate who was traveling with them at the time. “Courtney was pregnant and she was shooting up. Kurt was throwing up on people in the cab. They were both out of it.”

Courtney has a long history with drugs. She loves Percodans (“They make me vacuum”), and has dabbled with heroin off and on since she was eighteen, once even snorting it in Room 101 of the Chelsea Hotel, where Nancy Spungen died. Reportedly, Kurt didn’t do much more than drink until he met Courtney. “He tried to be an alcoholic for a long time,” she says. “But it didn’t sit right with him.”

After their New York binge, it was suggested to Courtney that she have an abortion. She refused and, reportedly, had a battery of tests that indicated the fetus was fine. “She wanted to get off drugs,” says Boyle. “I brought her herbs to ease the kick, so she wouldn’t freak out so badly. I was bringing stuff over to her house every day because it’s a whacked-out thing to do to a kid.”

According to several sources, Courtney and Kurt went to separate detox hospitals in March. “After a few days, she left and went and got him,” says one insider. “They never went back.”

Whether or not they are using now is not clear. “It’s a sick scene in that apartment,” says a close friend. “But, lately, Courtney’s been asking for help.”

[...]

Probably. But in the circles she travels in, Kurt Cobain is regarded as a holy man. Courtney, meanwhile, is viewed by many as a charismatic opportunist. There have been rampant reports about the couple’s drug problems, and many believe she introduced Cobain to heroin. They are expecting a baby this month, and even the most tolerant industry insiders fear for the health of the child. “It is appalling to think that she would be taking drugs when she knew she was pregnant,” says one close friend. “We’re all worried about that baby.”

[...]
 
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/love-story-of-kurt-cobain-courtney-love

***
 
September 10, 1992, on stage at the “No On 9” Benefit concert, Portland, OR, US


 
Kurt Cobain: Yesterday, my wife and I were sitting in a tent at the MTV Video Music Awards, and Axl Rose walked by us. And we yelled at Axl, we said, “Axl! Will you be the godfather of our child?” And he said – he stopped, he turned around, he pointed his finger at my wife...
 
Krist Novoselic: With his bodyguard.
 
Kurt Cobain: Yeah, well, yeah, he had, like, 20 bodyguards with him. He’s doing a Madonna documentary, he’s got a little film camera crew with him.
 
Krist Novoselic: And you had a 3-week-old baby in your arms.
 
Kurt Cobain: And I had a little helpless child in my arms. And so he said to my wife, “You better shut up, bitch. Don’t pitch me to shit tonight.” Because tonight was obviously the highlight of his career, I mean last night.
 
Krist Novoselic: Axl beats niggers and faggots. He said so.
 
Kurt Cobain: And then he looked at me and he said, “You better keep your wife shut, or I’m gonna take you to the pavement.” I was shaking and I went, “What? What? What are you gonna do, you’re gonna beat me up?” And he said, “You better keep your wife’s mouth shut. You embarrass everybody, you embarrass your wife, you embarrass your old man, you embarrass me...” And I was shaking and I said - I told my wife to “Shut up, bitch!”
 
(Laughter)
 
Krist Novoselic: True story. You heard it here first. And then I ran into Duff McKagan that wanted to fight me. And he had three bodyguards who were, like, pushing around. But I stopped. That’s the establishment rock ‘n’ roll, you see. They want you to buy their package rebellion of sitting on a Harley Davidson while  playing piano with a 41 piece orchestra just like Emerson, Lake and Palmer did in 197... Say it brother!
 
Fan: Hey man, I’m not sticking up for Axl or anything...
 
Krist Novoselic: But?
 
Fan: I’m not gonna stick up for Kurt, man.
 
Krist Novoselic: But you gotta take sides, yes on 9 or no on 9.  You gotta take sides.
 
Fan: No on 9. But I’m talking about Axl here.
 
Krist Novoselic: You’re talking about an asshole?
 
Fan: I just – I think you guys should let music be music, man. Let everybody express what they want, man. Be it hard rock, be it Nirvana, anyone, man. Just let it rock the way they wanna rock, okay? Alright?
 
Krist Novoselic: Right on, man. But that’s a corporate establishment.
 
Kurt Cobain: But you can’t let a rock star who obviously likes to beat women, and who likes to control women, and who likes to tell women to shut up...
 
Krist Novoselic: And hates niggers and faggots.
 
Kurt Cobain: Who obviously is a racist and a homophobe... He doesn’t have the right to speak. Well, he has the right to speak his mind and so do we. And he should be shut up.
 
Fan: I’m not sticking up for it, man. That’s my girlfriend, Jennifer, okay? She just got a little excited.
 
Krist Novoselic: A prominent discussion here. This is a forum (?).
 
Kurt Cobain: It’s true, we should all just love one another. Krist, I love you!
 
***
 
MTV, September 11, 1992:
 
[...]
 
Kurt: Hey, I bonded with Eddie from Pearl Jam. We broke our little feud and we kissed and made up and danced during Eric Clapton's…
 
Dave: We slow danced to 'Tears In Heaven'
 
Krist: Yeah, 'Tears In Heaven'
 
Interviewer: What was that about…
 
Kurt: Oh sure, it was blown out of proportion but I've said a few nasty things about him, I mean I'll admit that, it's in print, it's proof but, um, I just didn't like him and now that I've seen them perform I think Eddie's a pretty passionate guy - still don't really like their music that much but oh well, ya know.
 
Krist: Why have an enemy like Pearl Jam when you can really have an enemy like Guns 'N Roses. The line's drawn.
 
Interviewer: Talk about your backstage run-in with Guns 'N Roses
 
Krist: I don't know, those guys were belligerent and it wasn't talk because they were very aggressive and threatening - there was no talk at all - it was like "Come on, you said something about my band. Come on." Axl told Kurt "I'm gonna put you down" - if he didn't "watch his woman".
 
Kurt: Yeah, he told me to keep my woman in line. I couldn't believe it, we were sitting there eating food and Axl walked by and Courtney and I just jokingly said "Axl will you be the godfather of our child?" We were just joking around and he turned around and started pointing his finger at us really aggressive and mean like threatening to beat me up and stuff and I couldn't help but laugh because I haven't been in that kind of a situation since I was in 6th grade, you know. I couldn't believe it.
 
Krist: And Duff McKagan wanted to fight me too for something I said. He had about 3 bodyguards standing around there and I got close to him and the bodyguards warned me up a little bit, you know, to stay away and it's like… we could have talked about anything. I haven't been in a fight since about the 6th grade either and if those guys have a beef with us they shouldn't… first of all, nobody asked them about anything and they shouldn't go spouting their mouths off on stage in front of 50,000 people. I mean, they had no business doing that. So, maybe we gave them a little taste of their own medicine - and they just get aggressive. Ya know, which is really ugly and that's just some primitive human attribute that the world can really do without.
 
Interviewer: [inaudible]
 
Krist: Yeah, I mean, this isn't a school yard - these are supposed to be adults influencing a lot of people, a lot of kids listen to Guns 'N Roses - listen to Nirvana. You know, and then I think there's a lot of kids that act more mature than they do.
 
[...]
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9209unk/index.php
 
***
 

 
***
 
Interview in Argentina, October 1992:
 
[...]
 
Q: Guns N' Roses are also very popular in Argentina. What are your opinions about them?
 
Chris: I just like to say that I have no interest in their music whatsoever and never have. Axl Rose has a big mouth: nobody asked him what his opinion was and I wish he'd keep his opinions to himself. We had our opinions about Guns N' Roses: we just never really cared for them. But, we never lashed out against them and started putting them down publicly. Axl Rose started it all, not us. We don't like him or Duff at all, but Slash is cool.
 
Q: So, music isn’t the only difference between you and Axl?
 
Chris: Besides music? No, I think Axl comes from another planet. He's not in “my world.” He's an old style rock star: pompous, thinks he's royalty. And, we’re out to smash that. We come from the ethic of just a real band having an identity, just being true to ourselves.
 
Dave: I fucking hate it. It's shit, all of it: the whole heavy metal attitude, the macho shit. It's a circus! If you want to see people jumping around on stage, go to Ringling Bros. and check out the monkeys. Guns N' Roses needs a fucking horn section, and orchestra with back-up singers and explosions on stage. It's just stupid, it just leaves the music behind. Guns N' Roses couldn't play in a small club. They're boring, stale beer. They're about as exciting as Lawrence Welk.
 
Chris: Guns N' Roses is the Emerson Lake & Palmer of the early '80s.
 
Q: What are you then?
 
Chris: Oh, I don't know. Muendo, I guess…
 
[...]
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9211gl/index.php
 
***
 
Melody Maker, December 12, 1992:
 
 
[...]
 
MM: What do you feel about the suggestion that your fans are called "fags", for liking such a (presumably) effeminate hard rock band?
 
KURT: I love it. Knowing that gives me as much pleasure as when I used to dress up as a punk at high school and rednecks driving by in trucks would yell "Devo" at me. It’s good to have a nice, healthy battle going on in high school between the Guns N’ Roses jocks and the Nirvana fans. It vibes up the kids who are more intelligent, and at least it brings the whole subject of homosexuality into debate. It’s very flattering our fans are thought of as "fags".
 
Actually, I’ve heard a lot of stories about kids being beaten up for wearing Nirvana tee-shirts. It reminds me of when I used to support strange or weird or subversive bands at high school who were that little bit more dangerous because they weren’t accepted by the mainstream. Devo were a great example - a Top 10 act who were far more off-the-wall than us.
 
[...]
 
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/get.php?section=info/articles&file=12.12.92.html
 
***
 
Melody Maker, December 19-26, 1992:
 
[...]
 
"I guess living in LA makes me more reclusive," [Cobain] says, "because I don't like LA at all. I can't find anything to do here. It's pointless going out and trying to make friends, because I don't have these tattoos and I don't like death rock."
 
"Axl wants to be your friend," Courtney reminds him, sitting back down again. "Axl thinks that if I wasn't around, you and him could be backstage at arena rock shows f***ing self-hating little girls."
 
"Well, that was always my goal," replies Kurt, sarcastically. "To come down to Hollywood and ride motorcycles with Axl on the Strip - and then you came along and ruined it all."
 
"That's what Axl says," Courtney explains. "Did you hear about that show where he got on stage and started saying something like, 'Nirvana's too good to play with us. Kurt would rather be home with his ugly bitch…'?"
 
Well, it's true, isn't it. (Not the "ugly" part.) Kurt would rather be home with you, bathing Frances Bean, wandering around in your nightie, than out bonding with Axl and the boys. Why should he act any differently? It's weird how some famous people seem to want to hang out with other famous people, just cos they're all famous.
 
[...]
 
"But not only has my marriage become more important than my f***ing band, but our relationship has been violated," she cries. "If we weren't doing this interview together, no male rock journalist would dare ask Kurt if he loved his wife. 'Do you love your wife? Do you guys f***? Who's on top? …I'm not saying you would, Everett.
 
"They wouldn't ask him to explain his relationship with me, because he's a man and men are men and they're not responsible for any emotional decisions they make."
 
She's shaking with emotion now.
 
"Men are men!" she exclaims. "They do the work of men! They do men's things! If they have bad taste in women. whatever! All of a sudden, Axl and Julian Cope and Madonna decide I'm bad taste in women and it's the curse of my life and tough shit. What can I say?
 
"I never experienced sexism before," she says, excitedly. "I really didn't experience it in any major way in connection with my band until this year, and now I have. The attitude is that Kurt's more important than me, because he sells more records. Well, f*** you. Suck my dick!"
 
There's a brief silence. Courtney's just taking a breather before going for the kill.
 
"You wouldn't look good in leather," Courtney says to Kurt, looking fondly at him. "Kurt and Julian Cope and Axl Rose and Danny Partridge riding around in a limousine, f***ing women that are idiotic and self-hating that want to f*** them to get some attention for themselves, instead of grabbing their guitars and going 'F*** you, I could do this better, with integrity and with more ethics than you, and with revolution and - f*** you!' I created this rock thing in the first place for my own amusement and I'm going to take it back.
 
[...]
 
"I just want to get back to the Kurt-complaining-about-his-success thing," says Kurt, interrupting his wife's flow of invective. "How many questions in every article are placed on my success? People are so obsessed with it, that's all I ever get a chance to talk about. Ten different variations on the some question every interview."
 
"'You funny little boy!'" Courtney squeals, mocking his tormenters. "'You didn't set out to be successful! What an angle! Cinderella!'"
 
"It's a fine scam, it's a fine image," he says, sarcastically. "I'm getting really f***ing bored with it."
 
"Why don't we switch?" Courtney says, bringing the interview full circle. "I'll be demure and sullen and you'll be loud and obnoxious."
 
Then you'd be Axl Rose.
 
"No, then I'd be his codpiece," she corrects me. F*** me Kurt, f*** me Julian, f*** me Julian's drum tech, make me feel my worth! It's ridiculous. And, for $50,000, I have to buy this image of a really pregnant woman with a garland in her hair smoking a cigarette, this whole fertility image with a cigarette. As if I did it deliberately, as if I did it to provoke!"
 
[...]
 
https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9210et/index.php[/b]