Kurt Cobain was one of the most ironic and easygoing musicians the world saw.
He changed the course of music through many iconic tunes, the minute that Nirvana became the biggest band in the world, but there was a good chance that he would also be contradictory about nearly everything on the charts while championing some of the most obscure bands in his record collection.
It’s not like he had bad taste in music by any means, but there were more than a few questionable records scattered throughout his collection that most people would never admit to liking.
Then again, Cobain was proud to get rid of a lot of the cornerstone rock albums in his catalogue as well.
He grew up playing along to songs by AC/DC and Aerosmith, but when he found out that every single one of their lyrics seemed to be about the s*x, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle, he wasn’t exactly enthusiastic to play them.
Those caused him a lot of secondhand embarrassment, and something in him changed once the punk genre became a regular part of the music he listened to.
But even outside of his love for bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash, there were more than a few albums that were reserved for the real outsiders in his collection.
He was an outcast growing up in Seattle, but records by the likes of Daniel Johnston have become classics in their own way, after Cobain talked about him.
And while The Shaggs’ Philosophy of the World is one of the most notoriously bad albums in history, it’s easy to see the charm that the Nirvana vocalist saw in it if you listen to how he talked about his favourite bands.
Even on that grading curve, though, Cobain did have a great love of cheesy pop music. One of his favourite records of all time was Meet the Beatles, and half the reason why he wanted to write About a Girl was to capture that same feeling that he heard when he listened to his favourite R.E.M. records.
However, liking Seasons in the Sun is one of the most uncool things that any artist could ever admit to.
Although Kurt Cobain was always hard to gauge because he spent so much of his time trying to be ironic, he was genuinely sincere when naming the Terry Jacks song as one his favourite childhood memories, saying, “Yes, I did [sing it]. I don’t know the words. One of the only singles I can remember from my childhood that I used to cry to. It’s such an emotional song.”
It is also pertinent to mention that the Nirvana star died on April 5, 1994 due to suicide after his long battle with depression and suicidal tendencies.
