Nirvana’s famed late frontman Kurt Cobain wasn’t exactly afraid to voice his opinions. Though, the grunge icon wasn’t one to constantly go on about bands that he “hated”. Rather, he was quick to point out hypocrisy and bigotry in famous rock bands. And there were a few famous rock outfits from his heyday that Cobain wasn’t exactly fond of. Let’s look at just three bands that Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain said that he didn’t like!
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1. AC/DC
According to Nirvana’s former manager Danny Goldberg, there was a palpable vibe that Cobain actually did like AC/DC. However, it was the lyrical content that rubbed him the wrong way, particularly when it came to the band’s often misogynistic subject matter.
“I think he was torn, I think he liked the music,” said Goldberg. “He liked Led Zeppelin’s music and AC/DC. But the lyrics were not something that he felt comfortable with.”
Apparently, AC/DC wasn’t a fan of Nirvana, either. Malcolm Young once said that Cobain was a “bit of a poser”.
2. Led Zeppelin
As mentioned earlier, Goldberg believed that Cobain enjoyed the musicality of Led Zeppelin. However, he wasn’t really a fan of the objectification of women in their lyrics. Cobain actually spoke on this himself.
“I really did enjoy some of the melodies they’d written, it took me so many years to realize that a lot of it had to do with sexism,” Cobain said of Led Zeppelin. “The way that they just wrote about their d***s and having sex. I was just starting to understand what really was pissing me off so much those last couple years of high school.”
3. Guns N’ Roses
You’ve probably noticed a theme by now. Many of the bands that Kurt Cobain explicitly did not enjoy had pretty misogynistic or homophobic lyrics. It wasn’t the musical talents of the bands that Cobain took issue with. Rather, he wasn’t a fan of the put-on machismo and bigotry he saw in the lyrics of many of these bands’ famous songs.
When it comes to bands Kurt Cobain didn’t like, though, his beef with Guns N’ Roses had less to do with the band and more to do with Axl Rose.
“The guy is a f***ing sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can’t be on his side and be on our side,” Cobain said of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
The two famously feuded in the 1990s as well, as Cobain had made a passing comment that Rose didn’t appreciate, which led to some pretty extreme comments from Rose about Cobain, his wife, and their daughter.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
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