![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"It's really shocking and there's so many horrible aspects of what happened and what people have done to each other [in Bosnia-Herzegovina]. I think that's an aspect of it that a lot of people have ignored, like, rape wasn't even considered a war crime, like even in Nuremberg, nobody was tried for rape. You know, and I was hearing stories in refugee camps about how women rape victims were just kind of lumped in with everybody else and they weren't really having any special needs and I think that's just an indicator of people's perspective towards women.
"The band has an organization. It's kind of my pet thing, it's called the Balkan Women's Aid Fund and what we do is solicit foundations for grants and ask people for individual donations, too, and we did some work with the Italian Red Cross and we got some money to the Autonomous Women's House working out of Zagreb. And all of these organizations that we work with they have, like, a feminist perspective and we think that's important because you get those kind of values across, you change people's values overall."
-Krist, March 1994, MTV News
"Anybody know about whiteknot.org? You know what that's about? It's I believe in love and I believe in equality and I believe in marriage equality."
-Dave, 6 Feb 2009, MusiCares benefit (he was wearing a white knot)
Archivist's note: The domain has now been parked by porn, but at the time, it was an awareness campaign emphasising that everyone should have the right to "tie the knot." Here is a snapshot of the website in 2009.
"Kurt was a pro-feminist person. And he was anti-homophobic. He actually said if you're homophobic or don't respect women, and so forth, so forth, don't come to our gigs, don't buy our records. Saying something like that has a really big impact. And that's one of the legacies, I think, that he's left."
-Ana da Silva of the Raincoats (one of Kurt's favourite bands)
When Nirvana Came to Britain (BBC documentary 2021)
"I think it's one of grunge's greatest legacy, is actually the killing off of misogyny in rock for quite a while. You know? I mean, really, it was very passe to be a misogynist in rock there for a while. And that was helped by guys like the guys in Nirvana, and the guys in Pearl Jam, and bands like us [L7], and Babes In Toyland, and Lunachicks, and then Riot Grrrl later. So, yeah, I think that's a big deal."
-Donita Sparks, 21 Jul 2015, Women of Rock Oral History Project
Territorial Pissings
by Kurt Cobain
Intro sung by Krist:
"Come on people now
smile on your brother
everybody get together
try to love one another
right now"
When I was an alien
Cultures weren't opinions
[Chorus:]
Gotta find a way
to find a way
when I'm there
Gotta find a way
a better way
I had better wait
Never met a wise man
If so it's a woman
[chorus x2]
Just because you're paranoid
Don't mean they're not after you
[chorus x4]
Archivist's note: To read a feminist meaning Kurt gave to these lyrics, click here.
"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
tags:
- date of story:pre-band era,
- date:1992,
- date:band era,
- decade of story:1980s,
- decade:1990s,
- media:magazine,
- media:quote,
- pairing:krist/kurt,
- person:krist,
- person:kurt,
- person:other,
- topic:activism,
- topic:art & artists,
- topic:being a black sheep,
- topic:bullying,
- topic:emotions & self-expression,
- topic:homophobia,
- topic:homosexuality,
- topic:kissing,
- topic:school,
- topic:sexuality,
- type:factual
Interviewer: Some of the people who responded to the song, "Rape Me", said they were offended by it, in some way, or that they couldn't understand it. Could you explain the meaning of the song to perhaps clear up...
Kurt: Well, we're the cover boys of about ten different magazines this month and in every one of those magazines we explain it pretty good. It's an anti--let me repeat that--ANTI-rape song. I got tired of people trying to put too much meaning into my lyrics, you know, as being too...not making enough sense, so I decided to be really blunt and bold. I just thought, it's a kind of a funny, just reward for a person who rapes--like a guy, like a mean asshole who rapes a woman, violates her, then he goes into jail and get raped, you know. And I think it's a kind of justice, in a way.
Krist: Maybe being offended and not understanding it goes hand-in-hand.
Int: Yeah, well the only reason they were offended is that they obviously took it as a macho, you know--
Krist: They've been programmed by too many beer commercials, or something.
Int: Yeah, I mean, I don't really know how you would misunderstand something like that--
Kurt: I thought we made our stance on rape clear within the last year-and-a-half. Plus, anyone who knows about us would probably know that we are pretty much anti-rape, at this point, you know?
Int: Yeah, you'd think that would be clear, but I guess these were people who didn't know that much about you and were just listening to a record. I mean, you had trouble with Saturday Night Live, right? I mean, trying to get that song played. Why is that if it's this straightforward anti-rape song? Why are they having a problem with it?
Krist: Maybe you shouldn't be talking about it. It's like, taboo, you know? Daddy's bonking the little stepchild, "We don't talk about that here! Nope!".
Int: What's controversial about an anti-rape song? I guess it's the nature of...
Krist: It's a taboo.
Int: Taboo subject.
Krist: Yeah.
-24 Sept 1993
Interviewer: So, I'm assuming they just approached you and asked you to contribute a song* and you said yeah...
Krist: Here's a song from the AIDies. You wrote that song in the AIDies, Kurt. What period were you in?
Kurt: [pauses, joke hits him] Shut up.
Dave: Third period after lunch...
All three: [snickering]
Interviewer: I'm supposed to ask some general AIDS questions. Do you think contributing to something like this, that music can be used as a way to educate people about AIDS?
Krist: You know, as long as it raises money for treatment and hospices and things, that's what really turned me on, that it helped people who were suffering. As far as information, I get so much information, to speak for myself, I don't even know what the heck's going on.
Kurt: The record isn't going to give you any information. The money will.
Krist: Yeah. There's so many theories out there, is HIV even--
Dave: --having anything to do with AIDS?
Krist: --does it lead to AIDS? It's really hard. So, I guess the best thing you can do is help the people who are suffering from it.
Interviewer: Krist, I guess in some recent interviews you've tried to steer away from political subjects, so as not to be pigeonholed as the political one.
Krist: Heavy-handed. Yeah, there's no reason to dwell on it, because I'm just a bass player in a rock'n'roll band. Just go on and on and on about things. And you can talk all you want, but the main thing is that you should be doing things, and that's not just for me, that's for everybody, you know? Why talk about things in the media and then just go home and drink beer...
Kurt: Yeah, it's much more effective to do a benefit for Bosnian rape victims and come up with--[turns to Krist] How much money did we make for that, you know?--
Krist: Fifty-five grand.
Kurt: Yeah, I mean, that makes way more of an impact than talking about it.
Krist: And we got this organization called Balkan Women's Aid Fund--and [to interviewer] maybe you can flash the address and you can send donations to them--and we're working with women's groups in Croatia and Austria and Hungary and Serbia, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina, so we don't have any nationalist ties whatsoever. A lot of these women are just caught in the middle of it all, women and children, and so I'm just pluggin' away at that, still. I haven't given up and I just take advantage of the media and just mention the address, and if people want information they can write and I'll send them information back. But to just harp away on things, over and over again, people lose interest, you know.
We could be like We Are The World, on stage celebrating famine in Africa. You know [sings] "We are the world!" and there's kids, while they're doing that, totally starving to death. It's gross.
Interviewer: You went over to Bosnia...
Krist: I went to Croatia, I didn't go to Bosnia, no way. I wouldn't do that for Bob Guccione, Jr! [founder of Spin magazine, who assigned Krist to report on the Bosnian war for Spin]
All three: [laugh]
-24 Sept 1993
*to the No Alternative compilation to fund AIDS relief
tags:
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
"If I remember correctly they also kissed and it was more graphic when they played on SNL with Barkley as host. Here's what I remember. Keep in mind, its been many years since. All three members were on the left side of Barkley, right side of screen. Krist and Kurt had big kool aid smiles like when you are about to do something naughty. Like cats that just swallowed the canary. Barkley says goodnight. Kurt and Krist turn their heads towards each other and full out make out, but they don't turn to face each other, chests still facing forward to the camera. Dave just smiles, but isn't kissed. Credits roll."
-Youtube user TrOllinM4sTEr 2015
"[...] when "Teen Spirit" first came out, mainstream audiences were under the assumption that we were just like Guns N' Roses.
Then our opinions started showing up in interviews. And then things like Chris and I kissing on Saturday Night Live. We weren't trying to be subversive or punk rock; we were just doing something insane and stupid at the last minute. I think now that our opinions are out in the open, a lot of kids who bought our record regret knowing anything about us. [Laughs]"
-Kurt, The Advocate 1993
"Well, when we played that No on 9 benefit in Portland, I said something about Guns N' Roses. Nothing nasty-I think I said, "And now, for our next song, "Sweet Child o' Mine.'" But some kid jumped onstage and said, "Hey, man, Guns N' Roses plays awesome music, and Nirvana plays awesome music. Let's just get along and work things out, man!"
And I just couldn't help but say, "No, kid, you're really wrong. Those people are total sexist jerks, and the reason we're playing this show is to fight homophobia in a real small way. The guy is a fucking sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can't be on his side and be on our side. I'm sorry that I have to divide this up like this, but it's something you can't ignore. And besides they can't write good music." [Laughs]"
-Kurt, The Advocate 1993
Audience member: So, 22 years ago, you guys were on SNL--in dresses--and there was a man-on-man kiss. That was revolutionary.
Dave: You know, I'm glad that some people think that. [audience laughter] I'm not kidding! You know one of the things we wanted to represent--we were the antithesis of a lot of that, like, bullshit heavy metal, that homophobic jock rock, because we truly grew up in an underground community where everybody was different and everybody was cool and that's what was so great about it. I mean, you know, I used to get fucking chased around my neighborhood in Virginia, with people calling me a "fag!", because I listened to punk rock. So then I was like, 'I'm in the biggest fuckin' band in the world!' [flips the bird]
[audience cheers]
AM: Thank you, and how do you think things have changed in the 22 years since then? I mean, it's big-time changes.
Dave: Like, musically?
AM: Musically, sociologically, everything.
Dave: Well, that was such a great time in the 90s, in the early 90s, because there seemed to be like this rebirth of idealism, or something, people were--they didn't feel so restricted any more. They didn't feel so compartmentalized, it was more cool. It was ok to be weird, you know. And it was ok to sound like a band in a garage. And it still is! That was a really exciting time.
I mean, I have kids. I have two daughters. And they're great, they're super fun. And I look at them and I can't wait till they fucking dye their hair blue! I can't wait till they start doing all the stupid shit I did when I was young, because I feel like you have to really try to experience everything before you decide--before you really become, you know, the person that you are.
-Bottle Rock Napa Valley 2013
tags:
- date of story:1992,
- date of story:band era,
- date of story:pre-band era,
- date:post-band era,
- decade of story:1980s,
- decade of story:1990s,
- decade:2010s,
- event:snl 92,
- media:quote,
- media:tv & video,
- person:dave,
- topic:activism,
- topic:being a black sheep,
- topic:cross-dressing,
- topic:gender-nonconformity,
- topic:homophobia,
- topic:kissing,
- topic:music & bands,
- topic:nirvana,
- type:factual
"If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us-leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records."
-Kurt, 1992, in the liner notes for Incesticide
"I walked right up to him and grabbed him and stuck my tongue in his mouth, kissing him. I just wanted to make him feel better. At the end of it all, I told him, 'It's going to be ok. It's not so bad. Ok?'"
-Krist about his and Kurt's snog on their 1992 SNL appearance, on which Krist also kissed Dave (2001, Heavier Than Heaven, pgs 227-228)
"Did you know that I'm gay? Then I got married to a hermaphrodite [referring to rumors about Courtney]. But if somebody tried to take away my gay rights it would have been really bad, because I really like to buttfuck. It's fun. It feels good."
-Kurt at the No On 9 gay rights benefit gig, 10 Sept 1992
"HOMOSEXUAL SEX RULES"
-graffiti in Aberdeen by Kurt and Krist, 1985 (The Advocate, 9 Feb 1993)
