NIRVANA SLASH ARCHIVE

(Found in Cobain Unseen by Charles R. Cross)

"So, about two days ago I got really sick. I got this really bad cold, you know, like a flu...like illness, whatever. And uh, the doctor gave me this stuff to drink and I think it's Chinese herbs, and it has cow sperm in it. And it's got, like, lizard penis scrapings, and I still feel really sick, but it just makes me feel good to know that I've been drinking cow semen."

-Dave telling a random batshit story mid-gig, 19 Feb 1992
(Kurt then updated School's lyrics to reflect Dave's charming tale)

"I'm not proud of the fact that we have tons of MTV junkies and Guns N' Roses lugheads at our shows now. These are the kinds of people who are screaming out 'Do Teen Spirit!' during Polly. How are these pinheads going to appreciate the subtleties of something like 'Territorial Pissings' when they're doing it themselves out in the hallways? It's about a violent female revolution based on Valerie Solanas's book, The Scum Manifesto. How are these typical, macho American males gonna appreciate that?"

-Kurt, Propaganda Magazine, Spring 1992

"Chris and Dave have had to pick up a lot of Kurt's slack. Chris and Dave were close before, but now they're inseparable."

-Nils Bernstein, Nirvana's fanmail organizer, 16 Apr 1992, Rolling Stone magazine

"Novoselic and Cobain come from rural Aberdeen, Washington. [...] One of the more popular bars in town is actually called the Pourhouse, which is where two young men about Cobain's age, Joe and James, sit down for a pitcher of beer--each. [...]

"Yeah, I know the Cobain kid," says James, "Faggot."
He's a faggot?" asks Joe, taken aback. Recovering quickly, he declares, "We deal with faggots here. We run 'em out of town."

This is where Cobain and Novoselic grew up. That's why they kissed each other full on the lips as the Saturday Night Live credits rolled. They knew it would piss off the folks back home--and everybody like them.

"I definitely have a problem with the average macho man--the strong-oxen, working-class type," Cobain says wearily, "because they have always been a threat to me. I've had to deal with them most of my life--being taunted and beaten up by them in school, just having to be around them and be expected to be that kind of person when you grow up.

"I definitely feel closer to the feminine side of the human being than I do the male--or the American idea of what a male is supposed to be," Cobain continues. "Just watch a beer commercial and you'll see what I mean."

Of course, Cobain was miserable in high school. [...] [He] was a sensitive sort, small for his age, and uninterested in sports. "He was terrified of jocks and moron dudes," recalls Cobain's old friend, Mudhoney bassist Matt Lukin.

"As I got older," says Cobain, a fan of Beckett, Burroughs, and Bukowski, "I felt more and more alienated--I couldn't find friends whom I felt compatible with at all. Everyone was going to become a logger, and I knew I wanted to do something different. I wanted to be some kind of artist.""

-16 Apr 1992, Rolling Stone magazine article by Michael Azerrad

Son Of A Gun
Written by The Vaselines

Up, up, up and down
Turn, turn, turn around
Round, round, round about
And over again

Gun, gun, son-of-a-gun
You are the only one
Who makes any difference
What I say

The sun shines in the bedroom
When we play
The rain it always starts
When you go away

Kurt: "Obviously it's a tragedy, something terrible. A lot of artists are sick and don't think the government cares a fuck. In twelve years, the Republicans have preferred to see people with AIDS, homosexuals, as people of a lower class and have preferred to see the genocide of these people. Imagine if we still put people in gas chambers; they still have that shit working. They ignore it and haven't contributed funds to stop the disease. It's very sad.
There was so much promotion that you would have to be an idiot not to know that today you've got to use condoms or not share a needle. That promotion had the effect of slowing AIDS. You attempted to lower the number of patients by means of promotion. After that, they talk about conspiracies and stuff. I don't know enough to just give an opinion." *

-31 Oct 1992, Argentina

Kurt: "I've already broke three guitars that I liked a lot, and I regretted it the minute I left the stage, but whatever, I can't do anything about it. It's out of my control."

Interviewer: "Where did you pick up this habit?"

Kurt: "I guess it's linked to a feeling of insecurity. In the beginning of Nirvana, we had a drummer that wasn't very good in my opinion. Out of rage and disgust, I sometimes left the stage throwing material. I realized that people liked it. And me, too, I loved doing it at the climax of the show. It compensated for not having a light show. I really don't know why I do that. I think it's the typical attitude of a frustrated little white guy. It also makes me feel alive."

-interview by Youri Lenquette, 23-25 Jan 1992 (from Cobain on Cobain by Nick Soulsby)

Interviewer: What do you guys think about this No On 9 thing?

Krist: The trend--fascism is just rising and rising, you know, I watch the news and I see skinheads firebombing refugee centers in Germany, and to have it materialise so close to home is outrageous. You gotta fight back. You know? If you don't care, you're worse than the conservative fanatics that are implementing this on everybody. And you gotta choose sides.

Interviewer: What do you say to people out in rural, outskirt part of Oregon, who may not be as politically aware of what's going on as the people in Portland?

Kurt: It's so surprising that it started in Springfield, I mean, just my first reaction was that Oregon's such a liberal state, I couldn't believe it, I mean, isn't Springfield really close to like, Eugene? It's amazing. It's just--it's perfect proof that it can happen anywhere and will keep spreading, and it will start in small, obscure towns like that.

Interviewer: Like Colorado.

Kurt: [nods]

Krist: Yeah.

Interviewer: [unintelligible due to loud background music]

Krist: I mean, homosexuality is a natural thing and to meddle with nature is going to cause a lot of friction, like in society. You just can't repress something like that, you can't repress a person's feelings.


-10 Sept 1992, No On 9 pre-gig interview

"I always wanted to think that I was an alien. I used to think when I was young that I was adopted, by my mother, because they found me in a spaceship, like maybe I was from a different planet, I always wanted to be from a different planet really bad. Every night I used to talk to my real parents or my real family in the skies. [laugh] I knew that there were thousands of other alien babies dropped off. And they're all over the place and I've met quite a few of 'em. It's just something that I've always like to toy with in my mind. It was really fun to pretend that, you know. There's some special reason for me to be here. I feel really homesick all the time, so do the other aliens, and I only have the chance to come across like a handful of other aliens throughout the rest of my life. Eventually, one day, we'll find out what we're supposed to do."

-Kurt, About A Son (interviews conducted 1992-3, film released 2006)