kurt cobain
To Live and Die in L.A.: Our 1996 Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover Story
This article originally appeared in the April 1996 issue of SPIN. “Los Angeles is my favorite city in the world!” declares super foxy Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, offering as proof of his conviction the city’s name tattooed on the back of his neck. “I would never live anywhere else.” Navarro, drummer Chad Smith, and I are wedged into Newsroom, a trendy Beverly Hills restaurant/coffee house/media mill where omnipresent TV monitors serve up the latest from the E! network with your rice-milk cappuccinos. “But I feel like the bad is taking over,” says Smith, an unadulterated rock dude and Detroit native who, Navarro says, wrote the book on that city’s infamous evening of arson known as Devil’s Night. “I wouldn’t want my kids growing up here,” admits Smith, who at age 33 s...
Someone Spent $14,145 on 6 Strands of Kurt Cobain’s Hair
In the category of “gross stories we kind of hoped we’d never have to think of again,” Kurt Cobain’s hair that was recently put up for auction has officially sold for more than $14,000. If you split hairs, each singular one went for a total of $2,357.50. The winning bid of $14,145 in “The Amazing Music Auction (Vol. I)” secured the six strands of hair that were cut by the Nirvana frontman’s friend, Tessa Osbourne, while in Birmingham, England on the Bleach tour in October 1989. Presumably, the buyer was either a bit of a stalker-ish super fan who needed to own an actual piece of the rock legend or a mad scientist/witch/warlock bent on reanimating the corpse of grunge with Cobain’s DNA. Either way, it’s probably for the best if none of us ever finds out what becomes of t...
Kurt Cobain’s Death Was Apparently Looked Into by the FBI
Kurt Cobain is many things…but the subject of an FBI file? Yep, you read correctly. As Rolling Stone pointed out, the FBI recently released its archived records pertaining to the 1994 death of the Nirvana singer. The bureau’s 10-page file reveals nothing too exciting. Basically, two people not named asked the FBI to investigate Cobain’s death, saying that foul play was involved. “I’m writing you in hopes for your help to press for a reexamination of Mr. Cobain’s death. Millions of fans around the world would like to see the inconsistencies surrounding the death cleared up once and for all. It is sad to think that an injustice of this nature can be allowed in the United States,” one of the individuals wrote in September 2003. In 2007, another said that “The police who took up the ...
You Can Buy Six Strands of Kurt Cobain’s Hair at a Music Auction If You’re Into That Sort of Thing
If you’re a rich person who’s been wondering when you’d finally be able to show off your wealth by purchasing locks of Kurt Cobain’s hair, well, you’re a creep. That said, apparently, you’re a lucky creep. As of today, six locks of the Nirvana legend’s hair will be available as (hopefully) the weirdest lot in Iconic Auctions’ “The Amazing Music Auction (Vol. I).” The auction begins tonight (May 6) at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET and concludes on May 15. Now look, there are plenty of other perfectly reasonable items for people to blow too much money on, including all sorts of signed stuff from the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other rockers and rappers mainstream enough to end up on an auction site. Hell, there are even some less crazy Nirvana options, like one of Cobain’s personal amps and a Stratocas...
Iconic Nirvana Songs to Receive House and Techno Makeovers on Upcoming Cover Album
While Nirvana may have never imagined their music being played amidst CO2 cannons and rave lasers, that’s all about to change with an upcoming cover project produced by Jonathan Hay, Cain McKnight and 41X. Out June 4th via R.U.S.H. Music, Come as You Are: Nirvana Reimagined as House Techno will feature electronic reworks of 12 of the band’s most iconic tracks. To pay homage to the Nirvana’s fabled frontman, Kurt Cobain, a portion of the project’s proceeds are designated for initiatives supporting suicide prevention, mental health and the LGBTQ+ community, of which Cobain was an outspoken ally. Kurt Cobain performing with Nirvana at Reading Festival in 1991. Ed Sirrs/Camera Press/Redux A cover of “Something In The Way” with Daniel...
Kid Cudi Wears a Floral Dress on SNL in Honor of Kurt Cobain
Kid Cudi quietly paid homage to Kurt Cobain during with his wardrobe choices on Saturday Night Live last night. The rapper played two cuts off his latest album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, and during his first performance (“Tequila Shots”) wore a green cardigan reminiscent of Cobain’s famous MTV Unplugged sweater. The outfit also paid tribute to Chris Farley with a t-shirt donning an image of the former SNL cast member. For his second performance (“Sad People”), Cudi sported a long, floral dress. The bold choice was a nod to the dress Cobain wore during a 1993 photo shoot with UK music magazine The Face. The tribute was well-timed, as this week marked the 27th anniversary of the Nirvana frontman’s death. Cudi has long-admired Cobain and last yea...
The Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites Honors Kurt Cobain With ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ Cover
On the 27th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, the Lumineers co-founder Jeremiah Fraites has shared his take on Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box.” It’s from Fraites’ just-announced EP titled Piano, Piano (Acoustic), which will be released via Dualtone Records on April 16. The new collection will be made up of seven live tracks of songs released on his debut album earlier this year, plus two covers, Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over” joining the Nirvana tune. “Out of all Nirvana’s songs, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ is my favorite,” Fraites said in a press release. “I remember listening to this song in the car while riding to middle school with my Mom. I think it has one of the strongest melodies ever written. I did my best to honor this song, especially on this day of remembrance as it ma...
Melvins’ Buzz Osbourne Recalls the Night Kurt Cobain Went to Jail for Vandalism
Before Kurt Cobain became a household name thanks to Nirvana, he was a teenage prankster in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington. (Stars, they’re just like us?) Melvins frontman Buzz Osbourne remembers the night in May 1986 that he and pal Cobain, 19, “were out spray painting graffiti all over town” — antics that eventually landed one of them in jail. Telling the tale during Melvins’ Divine Monkeyshines: Valentine’s Day Special streaming event according to Ultimate Classic Rock, Osborne recalls Cobain getting busted and going to jail, while Osborne and their other compadre, former Melvins drummer Matt Dillard, got away. “We walked around the corner of this bank and all of a sudden there’s cops, a bunch of cops everywhere,” Osborne remembered. “And we just take off running in...
Courtney Love ‘Touched’ by Miley Cyrus’ Cover of Hole’s ‘Doll Parts’
Courtney Love offered her approval for Miley Cyrus’ recent cover of Hole’s “Doll Parts,” saying she was “touched” by the performance. In the same Instagram post, Love shared a video of her late husband, Kurt Cobain, telling the crowd at a Nirvana show that Love was “the best fuck in the world.” In a previous Instagram post, Love had called Cyrus’ cover, which performed on The Howard Stern show, “sweet” and expounded on the song’s origins. “I had to write most of the lyrics on my arm in Sharpie as I ran out of paper,” she recalled of the song, which was written in 20 minutes in a bathroom in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “People were pounding on the door as I wrote it. It was played for the first time about an hour later, at the Virgin megastore in Boston. It was about a boy, whose ba...
Eddie Van Halen’s Iconic Guitars Sell for $422,000 at Legend-Studded Auction
Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstrat” is easily one of the most recognizable instruments in rock history, and Kramer Guitars’ early take on the design now belongs to a wealthy new owner. The three instruments sold for a combined $422,050 ($231,250 for the customized Kramer built with guitar tech Matt Bruck at the guitarist’s home studio, $140,800 for his 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series guitar, and $50,000 for a prop guitar from the “Hot for Teacher” video) at the Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘n’ Roll Auction held by Julien’s Auctions on Wednesday. It was the highest-priced seller out of the nearly 900 available items from a who’s who of music history featuring everyone from Elvis to Lady Gaga, while two of Kurt Cobain’s smashed Fenders sold for a combined $281,600 and Bob Marley’s first gui...
Eddie Van Halen Guitars, Smashed Kurt Cobain Guitar to Be Auctioned
Two of the late Eddie Van Halen’s iconic guitars — his custom-designed, red-and-white-striped, stage-used 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series, and a black-and-white striped Fender Stratocaster-style headstock numbered on the back #54 — are going on the auction block. Each guitar is estimated to sell between $40,000 – $80,000 at the Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘N’ Roll annual music auction on Dec. 4 and 5, live at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills and online here. The event will span over 700 historic artifacts of every genre, including items from the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Guns N’ Roses, Little Richard, Cher, and many more. In 1991, the Charvel Art Series guitar with the red body, below, was gifted to Van Halen’s friend Bryan Cash, the o...
California Graphic Artist Claims He, Not Kurt Cobain, Created Nirvana’s Smiley Face Logo
In the latest twist in Nirvana’s two-year-old copyright and trademark battle with designer Marc Jacobs over the use of the band’s smiley face design, a California graphic artist has stepped forward to say that he created the band’s logo and not Kurt Cobain. Robert Fisher, a freelance graphic designer based in Woodland Hills, filed a motion Sept. 13 to intervene in the ongoing federal litigation in the U.S. California Central District claiming to be the rightful creator and owner of the copyright design. Nirvana LLC has been in litigation with Jacobs since 2018, when they sued the designer for copyright infringement and trademark infringement alleging that he had used that Happy face design as part of his “Bootleg Redux Grunge” line without their permission. The band’s legal papers state Co...
