Nirvana's Krist Novoselic: ‘Kurt Cobain wouldn’t hold any punches with today’s music’
He also reveals a surprise Nirvana influence.
Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic says that Kurt Cobain wouldn’t hold back in his views on some of today’s music.
The 51-year-old bassist was speaking to Rolling Stone about the 25th anniversary of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ when he cogitated upon Kurt’s enduring legacy.
“I didn’t celebrate (the ‘Nevermind’ landmark), it just kinda happened. 25 years go by and you’re like ‘wow, what happened?’,” he told the US magazine.
"I wish Kurt was still around. The music, a whole new generation of listeners are discovering Nirvana and is connecting with Nirvana. It's always good that we remember Kurt. He lives on.”
He continued: "You know Kurt was a cynical b**. He could be a vicious critic. You know, I love him, but boy, I don't know what he'd think of a lot of music today. He wouldn't hold his punches.
“Kurt just had so much passion, the way he'd sing and feel about the music. We all had this intensity. We’d really bash it up.
“We used to practise all the time, putting songs together and feeling good about the songs. It seemed that almost anything was possible. There was an innocence too, it was like coming of age and hitting puberty or something – you have all this awareness (everything is) exciting.”
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Speaking about Nirvana’s influences, Krist said: “We were inspired by The Beatles. We just took things from different bands – The Sex Pistols, The Beatles, Bay City Rollers. Serious. We would joke y’know. We were a boyband.”
Reflecting on the ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ sessions when he, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear joined forces with "really talented left-handed songwriter" Paul McCartney, Krist also said Kurt would have given it his seal of approval.
“He would have loved (playing with Paul McCartney), he would have been all over it,” Krist said.