Charbor on the Rocks - Band v. Band Feud: Guns 'N Roses v. Nirvana

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This feud flared up relatively quickly and, it might be added, seemingly randomly, at least on the surface. But there were actually deep-seeded differences in attitude and philosophy. They were both hard-rocking groups in their own right. But Kurt Cobain actually could not stand the machismo. He hated the possibility that many fans were homophobic, sexist, and racist, and he felt that Guns N' Roses played up to that, and embodied that redneck mentality.


When asked about this mentality, it was Cobain (and not the interviewer, Kevin Allman) who brought up Guns N' Roses in his response:

"That's been the biggest problem that I've had being in this band. I know there are those people out in the audience, and there's not much I can do about it. I can talk about those issues in interviews-I think it's pretty obvious that we're against the homophobes and the sexists and the racists, but when "Teen Spirit" first came out, mainstream audiences were under the assumption that we were just like Guns N' Roses." (http://www.burntout.com/kurt/interviews/int4.html)


The feud had it's roots with Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose, who was a fan of Nevermind, continually asking Nirvana to accompany them on their upcoming tour for the summer of 1992, with Metallica. Cobain liked Metallica, but Guns N' Roses? Not so much. Dave Grohl, drummer for Nirvana, recalls:

"I remember that when Nevermind first came out, Axl Rose was a really big fan of us. Guns N' Roses was about to do this massive stadium tour with Metallica, and they wanted us to open. So Axl had been calling Kurt nonstop. One day we're walking through an airport and Kurt says, "Fuck. Axl Rose won't stop calling me." I think it represented something bigger. Nirvana didn't want to turn into Guns N' Roses. So Kurt started talking shit in interviews, and then Axl started talking back. It went back and forth like tenth-grade bullshit. Then we got to the awards and our trailers were all in the same one hundred yards. And Courtney was there, which never makes anything easier. So it didn't take much to blow up into a full-fiedged showdown. Kurt and Courtney were screaming at Axl. Axl screamed back. It was all just soap-opera bullshit. Krist, our bass player, almost got in a fistfight. I was just the drummer, so I shouted some loud, funny shit and hit the bar." (http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/134946-grohl-talks-about-axl-vs-kurt/)

Here's what Kurt had to say in a 1992 interview with Kevin Allman of The Advocate (February 1992 issue):

"I can’t even waste my time on that band, because they’re so obviously pathetic and untalented. I used to think that everything in the mainstream pop world was crap, but now that some underground bands have been signed with majors, I take Guns N’ Roses as more of an offense. I have to look into it more: They’re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they’re the most popular rock band on the earth right now. I can’t believe it." (http://blog.vh1.com/2011-06-06/the-top-five-musical-feuds-of-the-last-20-years-not-involving-moby/)

That was not the end of the feud, by any stretch of the imagination.

When confronted by a kid who claimed that both GNR and Nirvana played awesome music, and should just get along, Kurt had this to say:

"And I just couldn't help but say, 'No, kid, you're really wrong. Those people are total sexist jerks, and the reason we're playing this show is to fight homophobia in a real small way. The guy is a fucking sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can't be on his side and be on our side. I'm sorry that I have to divide this up like this, but it's something you can't ignore. And besides they can't write good music'." (http://www.burntout.com/kurt/interviews/int4.html)

So, when rumors ran rampant that the Cobain baby was deformed because of drug use, Axl rose had something to say. "Axl Rose, of Guns N' Roses, even weighed in from the stage: Kurt Cobain is a fucking junkie with a junkie wife. And if the baby's born deformed, I think they both ought to go to prison." ("Heavier Than Heaven: A biography of Kurt Cobain", by Charles R. Cross, Loc 4287, 57%).

Then, of course, came the most famous, or perhaps rather infamous, night between the two bands at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, when tempers really flared up and came to the surface in a very public way. Charles Cross describes how it began:

"Meanwhile, a drama was unfolding backstage. Kurt, Courtney.... were sitting with Frances when Axl Rose walked by, holding hands with his model-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour. "Hey Axl," Courtney beckoned, sounding a bit like Blanche Dubois, "will you be the godfather of our child?" Rose ignored her but turned to Kurt, who was bouncing Frances on his knee, and leaned down near his face. As the veins in Axl's neck thickened to the size of a garden hose, he barked: "You shut your bitch up, or I'm taking you down to the pavement!"

"The idea that anyone could control Courtney was so laughable that a giant smile came to Kurt's face. He would have chortled uncontrollably if it weren't for his own strong sense of self-preservation. He turned to Courtney and ordered, in a robot-like voice: "Okay, bitch. Shut up!" This brought a snicker to everyone within earshot, other than Rose and Seymour. Perhaps seeking to save face, Seymour created her own confrontation, asking Courtney, with as much sarcasm as she could muster, "Are you a model?" Love, who had just delivered her child three weeks before, was too quick for anyone to best her in this type of reparteee - particularly Stephanie Seymour - and fired back, "No. Are you a brain surgeon?" With that, Rose and Seymour stormed off." ("Heavier Than Heaven: A biography of Kurt Cobain", by Charles R. Cross, Loc 4452 - 4463, 60%).

The night did not end there, however.

After Nirvana performed their song, Lithium, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl went up to the microphone and loudly taunting Axl Rose, "Hi, Axl! Hi, Axl! Where's Axl? Hi, Axl! Hi, Axl! Hi Axl!" (Here's a video clip of the performance of Lithium, with Dave Grohl's taunts at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8y5ibUBw1k)

Here's a video clip of Grohl's "Hi Axl!" taunt at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, following Nirvana's own performance:



The tensions erupted yet again, this time involving other members from both bands. Charles Cross explains again:

Novoselic....found himself confronted by Duff McKagan, of Guns N' Roses, and two bodyguards, looking for a brawl. Krist, Courtney, and baby Frances were inside the band's trailer when the entourage unsuccessfully attempted to topple it. Kurt missed this because he'd left to make the Exodus curfew." ("Heavier Than Heaven: A biography of Kurt Cobain", by Charles R. Cross, Loc 4463-, 60%).

Still, by year's end, Cobain sent Axl Rose an unexpected Christmas card.

At one point, Kurt Cobain even mockingly imitated Axl's famous "snake dance". I could not get a precise date, although it was mentioned in a comment somewhere that the clip is from 1994, which would mean that the hard feelings between the two may have lasted right up until the end. Here's the clip:
http://www.happybhai.com/?v=hQ8k5LlgH48

The public spat between the bands had finally simmered, although Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain never really did have a chance to settle the dispute before Cobain's suicide in 1994.

Perhaps there is a good reason for that, though. Maybe the tensions still very much existed.

In 2004, Dave Grohl, now of the Foo Fighters, wanted to "personally I'd like to thank Guns N' Roses for cancelling so that we could be here tonight." (Here's the clip for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImsuJvqcYgQ)

More recently, Dave Grohl discussed some of the guys from the original GNR while visiting with Jon Stewart on the The Daily Show:

"Anyone that has met any of those guys like Slash, Duff... they're really nice guys," said Dave Grohl.  "After Kurt died one of the first phone calls I got was from (GN'R drummer) Matt Sorum. He left a message and said 'man, I'm really sorry and I hope you're doing well'. I thought that was really cool. They're good dudes."

Grohl continued:

"What had happened was [GN'R] were about to do a big stadium tour and they wanted us to come out on the road with them and we just weren't ready to do something like that. It wasn't our scene. So in saying no it blew up into something else."  

Dave said while everyone gets along with each other now, back then Nirvana's way of doing things was against the huge rock spectacle of bands like Guns N' Roses.  "We were coming from two totally different places. Our whole world rejected that scene as something that was just not real. There were big differences, fundamental differences in what we did." (Article by Dave-O of Triple M, with quotes from the Dave Grohl Interview during their visit to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/music/news/exclusive-dave-grohl-talks-about-nirvana-and-their-feud-with-guns-n-roses-during-jon-stewart-qa-session/)

Here is an interesting article that was short enough to include here, that describes Cobain's lingering dislike of Guns N' Roses, and Axl Rose in particular. The entire article is included here, with the link attached below:

Rocker KURT COBAIN "detested" GUNS N' ROSES frontman AXL ROSE, according to a new book detailing the late musician's life.  

Former record executive Danny Goldberg writes in his forthcoming memoirs, Bumping Into Geniuses, that the Nirvana singer and Rose were engaged in a bitter feud throughout their careers.  

Goldberg claims promoters were desperate to launch a tour featuring Nirvana, Metallica and Guns N' Roses during the height of their popularity in the early 1990s.  

But plans for the show were put on hold because of a rift between Cobain and Rose when the Nirvana frontman refused to meet Rose after a concert.  

Goldberg writes: "There was a lot of money on the table. Kurt really liked Metallica... (but) Rose had the kind of macho rock persona that Kurt detested."  The book also tells how the grudge between the pair was still not settled when Cobain committed suicide in 1994. 

Article above: "Cobain + Rose's Feud Detailed in Rock Memoir" by Contact Music:

http://www.contactmusic.com/news/cobain-roses-feud-detailed-in-rock-memoir_1077942

Videos

Clip of Kurt Cobain mockingly imitating Axl Rose's snakedance:


Audio clip of Kurt Cobain discussing confrontation with Axl Rose's during Nirvana concert, the night after:







Audio clip of Axl Rose questioning the label "alternative" music, and discussing Kurt Cobain, suggesting that Cobain and his wife are junkies, and that they should be thrown in prison if something ended up wrong with their baby:





Vidio clip of the history of the rivalry between Nirvana and Guns 'n Roses:


Other articles on the feud:

"The Top Five Musical Feuds Of The Last 20 Years (Not Involving Moby)" by Nick Minichino of VH1 Blog:

http://blog.vh1.com/2011-06-06/the-top-five-musical-feuds-of-the-last-20-years-not-involving-moby/


If you want to get a more in-depth viewpoint from Kurt Cobain's perspective, take a look at this fascinating article, in which he talks quite extensively about Guns N' Roses, and the tensions that existed between the two bands at the time.

http://www.burntout.com/kurt/interviews/int4.html


Axl Rose vs. Nirvana- Nastiest Rock Feuds by Graham "Gruhamed" Hartmann of Loudwire:

http://loudwire.com/axl-rose-vs-nirvana-nastiest-rock-feuds/


Quote from Dave Grohl taken from a 2008 interview with Esquire. I found the quote at the link below:

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/134946-grohl-talks-about-axl-vs-kurt/


Article by Dave-O of Triple M, with quotes from the Dave Grohl Interview during their visit to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/music/news/exclusive-dave-grohl-talks-about-nirvana-and-their-feud-with-guns-n-roses-during-jon-stewart-qa-session/