The late legendary singer, guitarist and songwriter Kurt Cobain was certainly one of the most important musicians of the past decades. Although Nirvana was active only from 1987 to 1994, until Kurt’s tragic death, they really changed the whole Rock and Roll music scene with the release of their groundbreaking album “Nevermind” in 1991.
They were undoubtedly the Grunge band that made the biggest impact on the music scene, influencing countless groups over the decades. Their influence has even been compared to the seismic effect the Sex Pistols had on music in the late ’70s. But what did Kurt Cobain think of the British Punk Rock group?
What was Kurt Cobain’s opinion on Sex Pistols
Kurt Cobain was really a big fan of the Sex Pistols and besides praising them many times also said they were a really important influence for him. For example, in a TV interview back in the 90s he was asked how important the Punk Rock group was. His answer was: “How important they were? As important as Led Zeppelin or any big Rock band. (…) Besides the hype the music was great”.
Talking with Jessica Adams back in 1992, he said that Punk was still his favorite kind of music and that the Sex Pistols were still an influence. “Oh, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, any ’77 Punk Rock band from mid-to-late seventies was totally influential on my music. It’s still our favorite form of music.”
He continued:
“Even though we grew up in the Hardcore generation of the early 80s and were subjected to a lot of, I guess I should say ‘bullshit’ underground music. Like Hardcore, something I’ve never really liked, the straight edge hardcore scene. So we, at the time, while pretending to be Punk rockers at our youthful age, we were listening to anti-Hardcore bands. (Some of them) like Flipper and the Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid. We weren’t necessarily into all these real heavy politic ideals.”
Sex Pistols inspired “Nevermind” in terms of songwriting according to Kurt Cobain
Curiously, Nirvana‘s most important album “Nevermind” borrowed one word from the Sex Pistols’ only studio album. The Grunge band didn’t confirm that about the title, but Kurt said that they were inspired in terms of songs.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1994, he said that he decided to put all the greatest songs he had at the time on Nevermind. He was inspired by other albums that also were packed with amazing tracks. One of the records mentioned was from the British punk group.
“It just kind of pisses me off to know that we work really hard to make an entire album’s worth of songs that are as good as we can make them. I’m gonna stroke my ego by saying that we’re better than a lot of bands out there. What I’ve realized is that you only need a couple of catchy songs on an album. The rest can be bullshit Bad Company rip-offs, and it doesn’t matter.”
“If I was smart, I would have saved most of the songs off Nevermind. (Then) spread them out over a 15-year period. But I can’t do that. All the albums I ever liked were albums that delivered a great song, one after another. Aerosmith‘s Rocks, the Sex Pistols‘ Never Mind the Bollocks, Led Zeppelin II, Back in Black, by AC/DC,” Kurt Cobain said.
Over the years, Cobain explained that he felt that Punk Rock expressed his feelings about politics and social life. Something that according to him he couldn’t find in Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.