Talk:Kurt Cobain

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Kurt Cobain page.


Hey, thanks for adding more stuff here, I was gonna do it but havent had time yet. Also cant remember much, used to be a right "nirvana-file" but

Guns N' Roses quote[edit]

  • And they told me
    The times have changed
    Cause' our parents had Hendrix, Janis and Jim
    But what about River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain.

Where's the source for that? Cause Kurt and Axl Rose (singer GN'R) hated each other. Source for that: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/kurt-cobain-and-axl-rose-hated-each-other-170562 And that isn't a secret. You can find more sources by using google. Only Axl Rose hated him...

I think if there can't be found any source somebody should remove that quote.

This song isn't from Guns And Roses... it's from the band called Laughing Colors.

Removed quotes[edit]

Removed two quotes that Kurt has actually never said (misinterpreted).

"I hate myself and I want to die."

Actually the working title of the album In Utero for some time, and is also a song that was featured on an MTV cd. Kurt also stated he used that sentence just for fun and he didn't actually hate life or something. He just said that to tease people and look for their reactions, or, as I said before, just for making fun (like "Here we are now, entertain us").

"I can't live this life, I don't have the passion anymore. (5th of April, 1994)"

This was not in the so-called suicide note, the phrase actually went: "I'm too much of an erratic, moody baby and I don't have the passion anymore". In fact, nothing in the whole note was about his own feelings towards life, but towards music and the music industry. Please research quotes for correctness before posting them.

"Forever in debt to your priceless advice"

This was from heart shaped box, and not an actual quote.

Kurt Cobain didn't quote Neil Young he quoted Queen when he wrote on his suicide note "its better to burn out than to fade away" from Gimme the Prize, Queens. In which Brian May wrote that song in 1985. Kurt was a big fan of Queen... (and a even bigger fan of Neil Young, obviously who ever wrote this doesn't know what they're talking about)

That was a Neil Young song he quoted... He referenced Freddie Mercury early on in the note but actual line "It's better to burn out than to fade away." was from Neil young.

"It's better to burn out than to fade away" is part of a lyric from the song "My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)", (an acoustic version of Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)) by Neil Young, from his album Rust Never Sleeps (1979). Queen (band) has the same lyric in one of their songs "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)", from the album A Kind of Magic (1986). Kurt Cobain was a fan of both Neil Young and Queen. Because none of us can be 100% sure about who Kurt Cobain really quoted in his note, we need to give the credit to Neil Young since he came up with this quote first.

"Congratulations, you have won It's a year's subscription of bad puns." Opinion


You shouldn't read into things too much guys. A great line, restated by one of the greats.

Non-Lyrical Quotes[edit]

"we're so trendy we can't even escape ourselves"

Issues with this page[edit]

Most of the quotes here (except those from the song lyrics) are unsourced. (I assume that someone has checked the credits on the song lyrics and made sure that Cobain is listed as the sole lyricist...?) Before adding any more unsourced material, properly sourcing what's already here would probably be a good idea, or someone is likely to take an axe to it. 121a0012 04:34, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]


I'll say. The filter song isn't even abou Kurt Cobain, it's about Bud Dwyer

"Fuck fuck fuckity fuck!" -Kurt Cobain

Unsourced[edit]

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Kurt Cobain.

  • I hate Mom. I hate Dad. Dad hates Mom. Mom hates Dad. It just makes you want to be so sad.(Kurt scratched this into the wall of his bedroom in 1976 after his parents had a fight.)
  • I won't eat anything green. (Unknown)
  • I like the Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney
  • Like Hamlet, I have to choose between life and death. (1994)
  • We're so trendy, we can't even escape ourselves. (Unknown)
  • Holding Frances in my arms is the best drug in the world.
  • I hate having people feed me fine French meals when all I want is macaroni and cheese
  • I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't.
  • If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!
  • No amount of effort can save you from oblivion. (Journals)

From interviews[edit]

  • Kurt Cobain often ridiculed rival Pearl Jam, arguing that it lacked the underground purity of Nirvana - that it was simply an old-line commercial rock band in grunge clothing. But Cobain, who was 27 when he died, liked Vedder personally, and that made him feel guilty about the put-downs. "I'm not going to do that anymore," he said in a 1992 interview. "It hurts Eddie and he's a good guy"; L.A. Times 5/1/94, "He Didn't Ask for All This" (Cobain about Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam)
  • In Aberdeen, I hated my best friends with a passion, because they were idiots. (1989)
  • I'd like to live off the band, but if not, I'll just retire to Mexico or Yugoslavia with a few hundred dollars, grow potatoes, and learn the history of rock through back issues of Creem magazine. (1989)
  • It's really not hard to keep your dignity and sign to a major label...Most people don't have any dignity in the first place. (1990)
  • Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock. (1990)
  • I knew I was different. I thought that I might be gay or something because I couldn't identify with any of the guys at all. None of them liked art or music, they just wanted to fight and get laid. It was many years ago but it gave me this real hatred for the average American macho male. (1991)
  • Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth. And it happens every few minutes. (1991)
  • If I went to jail, at least I wouldn't have to sign autographs. (1991)
  • I would like to get rid of the homophobes, sexists, and racists in our audience. I know they're out there and it really bothers me. (1992)
  • I just can’t believe anyone would start a band just to make the scene and be cool and have chicks. I just can’t believe it. (1992)
  • Zits are beauty marks. (1992)
  • All drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem. They’re no good at all. But I’m not going to go around preaching against [them]. (1992)
  • I wouldn’t wear a tie-dyed tee-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia. (1992)
  • Yeah, I was run out of town. They chased me up to the castle of Aberdeen with torches. Just like the Frankenstein monster. And I got away in a hot air balloon. And I came here to Seattle. (1992)
  • If you're a really mean person you're going to come back as a fly and eat crap. (1992)
  • Jocks have completely taken over music... And just to get back at them, I’m going to start playing basketball. (1993)
  • I wouldn't have been surprised if they had voted me Most Likely To Kill Everyone At A High School Dance. (1993)
  • If I could get that girl to publish her poetry, the world would change. (On Courtney Love) (1993)
  • I'm a much happier guy than a lot of people think I am. (1993)
  • The thrill and embarrassment of becoming international pop stars was too much, so we opened our mouths and put our foot in sometimes. (1993)
  • I can't play [guitar] like Segovia. The flip side of that is that Segovia could probably never have played like me. (1994)
  • I just think there's a breed of people who honestly like music. And there aren't very many of 'em, really. Those are the people who usually become musicians. It doesn't really matter what environment you grow up in. It's just some environments are more restrictive than others. (1994)

Stage banter[edit]

  • Hello, we're major label corporate rock sell outs. (04/17/91 at the O.K. Hotel, Seattle, Washington)
  • There is plenty of Hühnerfleisch in the Kühlschrank. (There is plenty of chicken in the fridge) (08/27/91 at Bremen, Germany)
  • I think I see a guy who's has a cassette o' phone out there. But we know that all boot people who bootleg shows or sell bootleg T-shirts. They all a bunch of pedophiles. They support murder in the Third World. They torture children. That's the reason not to support bootleggers. (12/31/93 sanfrancisco, california)(EDIT - this was actually 2-22-94 - Palaghiaccio - Rome Italy - http://www.livenirvana.com/bootography/reviewad06.html?filename=roma)
  • Hi, my name is Kurt Cobain, I'm homosexual, I'm a pagan, I'm a drug abuser, and I like to fuck pot-bellied pigs! (12/02/91 at Newcastle, UK)
  • What's the matter with all you people at the back, did you come here to see Gloria Estefan? (11/27/93 at AT&T Bayfront Park Amphitheater, Miami, Florida)
  • OK, you trained monkeys, everybody jump up and down. Let's bring back the good old pogo! (12/31/93 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California)
  • I spent all of my life trying to stay away from sports and here I am in a sporting arena. (12/30/93 at the Great Western Forum, Inglewood, California)

About Kurt Cobain[edit]

  • I remember Kurt for what he was, caring, generous and sweet.
  • I still dream about Kurt. Every time I see him in a dream, I’ll be amazed and I get this feeling that everyone else thinks he’s dead. It always feels totally real, probably because I’m a very vivid dreamer. But, in my dreams, Kurt’s usually been hiding - we’ll get together and I’ll end up asking him, ‘God, where have you been?’
  • He really didn't care about a lot of things that you're supposed to care about in the public arena. He really just didn't care.
  • In his way, he was the closest equivalent this decade and this generation of rock fans had to a John Lennon, and I don't make that comparison easily or impulsively.
  • I think one of the reasons so many people connected to him is they could tell his music was really pure and instinctual.
  • He said, 'Man, I just escaped from Exodus' [a treatment facility]. I didn't have any foresight that the guy was going to do what he did. I could tell he was bummed out, and I'd been that way before. We were at baggage claim, and I thought I'd ask him to come stay at my house. I turned around and he was gone... What if. Only if. A lot of my friends have died. If only he'd...
  • Lyrically I thought Kurt's writing was sort of cynical and that his words meant more than even he realized.
  • I cried, I don’t know why….I don’t like his music or anything….you know it’s awful about his baby I just……I don’t want to talk about that…..I just don’t think he has very many guts……I just don’t see why he wouldn’t want to see his daughter grow up…you know…that he wouldn’t be excited enough about that to not think of himself……people just start thinking of themselves too much. I don’t think it’s so much that they become conscious of the world of video and the world of this and that and a world of fame, they just think of themselves and no matter who you are and whether you’re a rock star or a garbage man, if you’re thinking of yourself all the time you’re not gonna be very good at what you do. With a baby you can tell them funny jokes when they’re two and they’ll love it, you can teach them about how everyone’s an idiot and they’ll love it…..but you know…..it doesn’t occur to a lot of people how intense that is…..how beautiful it is.
    • John Frusciante (Years later, the clean John, turned in something like a Nirvana fan, playing nirvana covers in his shows)
  • Most kings get driven so insane that they try to hit the same vein Kurt Cobain did
  • I remember the first time I saw him. I was 14 years old. I saw the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video and instantly fell in love with him, even though I couldn’t see his face. I just wanted to see his face so much. After weeks of finding out anything I could about Nirvana, I saw his face — and he had a face like an angel. I loved him. He was my platonic love.
  • He had a touch most guitarists would kill for.
  • I only met Kurt once...I was touched by him. He seemed a little shell shocked as though he felt yet another show might drop at any time.
  • You know, I always thought I'd go first. I don't know why I thought that, it just seemed like I would. I mean, I didn't know him on a daily basis - far from it. But, in a way, I don't even feel right being here without him. It's so difficult to really believe he's gone. I still talk about him like he's still here, you know. I can't figure it out. It doesn't make any sense.
  • In twenty years from now, when people will look back at the 90's, they wont remember the commercial giants like Ace of Base or Backstreet Boys, they will remember the artistic bands and artists like Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.
  • I think one of Kurt's strengths was his simplicity. He knew how to write really catchy songs that said a lot without doing too much.
  • The only person I have any respect for as a songwriter over the last 10 years is Kurt Cobain. He was the perfect cross between Lennon and McCartney...but he was a miserable fuck at the same time.
  • He had a wonderful balance of raw, dangerous anger, but also he was this delicate, fun person...He was brilliant, but he played dumb. And you know, Kurt was funny as shit.
  • Kurt Cobain was one of the best of our time
  • I dont think there's any better expression for that era (the 90s) then Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.
  • Rage and aggression were elements for Kurt to play with as an artist, but he was profoundly gentle and intelligent.
  • He had life figured out really young. He knew life wasn’t always fair.
    • Wendy O'Connor (mother)
  • [He] was very talented, but he was passive-aggressive, kind of a whiny white guy, basically.
  • [If he] applied the same brain to his music that he applied to his drug-infested life, its reasonable to think that his music may not have made much sense either.
  • I think Kurt was one of the deepest thinkers we've had in popular music over the last 20 years and if anyone deserves to have his songs dwelled upon it's him.
  • Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends, but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person, he was so excited about having a child.
  • He really, really inspired me. He was so great. Wonderful. One of the best, but more than that. Kurt was one of the absolute best of all time for me.
  • I don't know why everyone on earth felt so close to that guy; he was beloved and endearing and inoffensive in some weird way. For all his screaming and all of his darkness, he was just lovable.
  • I only met Kurt once...I was touched by him. He seemed a little shell shocked as though he felt yet another shoe might drop at any time.
    • Jello Biafra, quoted during a speech at Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA (1994-04-16)
  • People keep calling him the voice of our generation, but I never understood any of his songs.

You know you're right[edit]

The lyric is "failed to fail" not "felt so well" the lyrics were incorrect on the linear notes.

Found a possible quote online; if anyone can confirm it as an actual quote, please ad it with appropriate source[edit]

I feel this society has somewhere lost its sense of what art is. Art is expression. In expression you need 100% freedom, and our freedom to express our art is seriously being fucked with.

If this is an actual Cobain quote, please add it to the page with appropriate source.  allixpeeke (talk) 22:22, 15 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]