NIRVANA SLASH ARCHIVE

"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

"At that, Kurt jumped on James [Seenan] and started wrestling with him. Kurt did well for his size and height and had great wrestling technique. He was apparently on the school wrestling team. He did really well, had him on the floor, then Kurt kissed James. Krist picked up some food and started a food fight. Within 30 seconds chaos ensued, with food, beer, and red wine everywhere. Kurt then climbed up a stack of 12 function suite chairs and dived off, bringing them all down. [...] Suddenly the three of them stopped and ran through the door and went on stage. I couldn't believe it."

-Andy Bollen, drummer for Captain America, describing Nirvana-style backstage chaos on the '91 tour (Nirvana: A Tour Diary, 2013, pg. 176, written from Andy's contemporary notes of the '91 tour)

"[...] 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

"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)

"Chris? I love you."

-Kurt, at the No On 9 benefit gig, 10 Sept 1992, before making out with Krist