NIRVANA SLASH ARCHIVE

KEEP IT CLEAN
by Dave Grohl

Keep it clean
My momma said, keep it clean
Keep it clean
My momma said, keep it clean

Driving all night
Got a hankering for something
Think I'm in the mood
For some hot man muffins

Mmm, sounds so fine, yes indeed

Keep it clean
My daddy said, keep it clean
Keep it clean
My daddy said, keep it clean

Ain't looking for a fight
Ain't looking for trouble
Howdy Mr. Right
Have you met Mr. Bubble?

Hey, put 'er there, ain't she sweet

Rubbin' and a-lovin' and a-scrubbin' and a-truckin'
Maybe if we're lucky just a little bear hugging
Know what I mean?
Keep it clean!

[Spoken]
Ladies and gentlemen
God bless America
Land of the free
Home of the brave
It takes all kinds
I don't care if you're black or white or purple or green
Whether you're Pennsylvanian or Transylvanian
Lady Gaga or Lady Antebellum
It takes all kinds
Men loving women and
Women loving men and
Men loving men and
Women loving women
You know we all like to watch that
But what I'd like to say
God bless America, y'all

Rubbin' and a-lovin' and a-scrubbing and a-truckin'
Maybe if we're lucky just a little bear hugging
Know what I mean?
Keep it clean!

"All people are inherently bisexual."

-Kurt, exact date unknown (Nov 1991-Feb 1992)
from Kurt's handwritten list "TOP TEN REASONS KURT COBAIN IS GAY"

Interviewer: "Was there an incident that really pushed the button that got you and the town [Aberdeen] at loggerheads, as it were?"

Kurt: "Well, what started the witch hunt was I decided to take some acid one evening and spray paint "queer" on the side of four-by-four trucks, the local rednecks' trucks. And so one of them saw me from his window and started screaming, "There's the queer vandal!" I'd been doing it for a while. But that night I decided to really go for it and do a lot, a lot of vandalism. So they caught me and chased me around."

Int: "The cops caught you or just some of the local toughs?"

Kurt: "The locals. The local toughs, right. [he laughs]

Int: "And did they know who you were?"

Kurt: "No. Just that crazy skinny kid who never went to school. Who was probably gay."

Int: "Well, are you?"

Kurt: "If I wasn't attracted to Courtney, I'd be a bisexual."

Courtney: "Faggot!!" [laughter]

Int: "So they ran you out of town?"

Kurt: "Yeah."

Int: "Did you ever go back?"

Kurt: "Well, um, every time I've gone to Aberdeen lately I've felt a real big threat. Actually, Chris was beaten up at a Denny's one night. Some locals were giving him the eye and I don't think it was sexual. They started beating him up in the men's room saying, "Some local hero you are."

-11 Sept 1992, Monk Magazine

Interviewer: At what point did it seem to you that he was not--can you describe the men in Aberdeen? In general?

Wendy O'Connor (Kurt's mother): No. [laughs]

Int: Well, Kurt seems very, like, different. At what age was it clear that he was not going to be a logger?

Wendy: Ok, I was thinking the other day about how I guess he thought at one point he might be gay, which is fine, I mean, it runs in our family, but I kind of felt that he was kind of questioning himself. He would ask me questions about girls. And trying to figure out how to get one, I think. That's what I thought.

And I think he was really kind of like, wondering--because he was artistic... and so I started thinking about this the other day, and he was really--he and I were really best friends. I mean, when he died I lost one of my best friends. We had so much fun talking about the world and politics and life and music and just everything. We talked all the time.

And he was very aware, especially when I was with three not-suited men, how that made him feel. He didn't like the way his dad talked to me. He didn't like the way my boyfriend after Don treated me. [...]

He and I were so close, and he was very respectful, he was very courteous, good, really good manners. I made sure of that. Because Don had none. [...] We were just really close, and I think that is what makes the difference in these roughhouse boys, you know, jocks--they're more bonded to their dads, I think, than they are to their mothers. I prefer men that love their mothers. They're just gentler, they understand women a little bit better.

And then just being an artist, he--everywhere in school, except for English and art, he felt like the jocks were--you know, I don't know. He never came home and said he was being bullied. Or that he was being picked on. He never said that. I just assumed that because he wasn't into sports [...] that Kurt probably felt a little left out that way.

And as he got older he got a little more shy. Just maybe less confident. When he was young he didn't care what people thought. And then as he got older he became aware that he wasn't like the regular guys. But it didn't mean that he didn't have guy friends, he had a lot of guy friends, but they were very much similar to him.

-2015, Montage of Heck film outtakes

[A heckler has been shrieking at the band to play a song about "fucking girls". They respond sarcastically, at first, mocking his misogyny and homophobia, but then switch tactics:]

Krist: I'd like to tell you about this next song. It's about homosexual love. Cause we're all queers. We're all butt-pirates here. We're butthole surfers.

Kurt: By the way, Chris is a girl. This song is About A Queer. [starts playing About A Girl]

-22 Nov 1989 during a gig

"I've had the reputation of being a homosexual every since I was 14. It was really cool, because I found a couple of gay friends in Aberdeen-which is almost impossible. How I could ever come across a gay person in Aberdeen is amazing! But I had some really good friends that way. I got beat up a lot, of course, because of my association with them.

People just thought I was weird at first, just some fucked-up kid. But once I got the gay tag, it gave me the freedom to be able to be a freak and let people know that they should just stay away from me. Instead of having to explain to someone that they should just stay the fuck away from me-I'm gay, so I can't even be touched. It made for quite a few scary experiences in alleys walking home from school, though."

-Kurt, The Advocate, 9 Feb 1993