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“We play so hard that we can’t tune our guitars fast enough. People can relate to that.”
Here's Guitar World's last interview with Kurt Cobain, from the February 1992 issue of GW. The original headline was "Cool Hand Puke: Kurt Cobain tries to explain why Nirvana — third-hand guitars and all — is suddenly the hottest band in the country."
“We’re just musically and rhythmically retarded,” asserts Kurt Cobain, guitarist, vocalist and chief songwriter for Nirvana. “We play so hard that we can’t tune our guitars fast enough. People can relate to that.”
Seems reasonable enough, considering that Nevermind, the Seattle trio’s major label debut, has become one of the hottest out-of-the-box albums in the country.
Fueled by the contagious hit single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the spirited album turned gold a mere five weeks after its release, and leaped past both Guns N’ Roses’ Illusions just one month later. But their sudden, platinum-bound popularity probably had more to do with band’s infectious, dirty riffs and wry lyrical hooks than with the roughly played, out-of-tune guitars, of which Cobain is so proud.
“We sound like the Bay City Rollers after an assault by Black Sabbath,” continues the guitarist in his nasty smoker’s hack. “And,” he expectorates, “we vomit onstage better than anyone!”
Nirvana began their career with 1989’s Bleach (Sub Pop), an intensely physical mélange of untuned metal, drunk punk and Seventies pop, written from the perspective of a college drop-out. The album’s other notable distinction was that it was recorded in three days for $600. Nevermind, costing considerably more than six bills, is Nirvana’s major label, power-punk/pop masterpiece, awash in slashing, ragged guitar riffs, garbled lyrics and more teen spirit than you can shake