Top 220 Quotes & Sayings by Kurt Cobain

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American singer Kurt Cobain.
Last updated on September 10, 2024.
Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer, songwriter and artist. He was the guitarist, lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is considered one of the most influential musicians in the history of alternative rock.

My body is damaged from music in two ways. I have a red irritation in my stomach. It's psychosomatic, caused by all the anger and the screaming. I have scoliosis, where the curvature of your spine is bent, and the weight of my guitar has made it worse. I'm always in pain, and that adds to the anger in our music.
Throughout my life, I've always been really close with girls and made friends with girls. And I've always been a really sickly, feminine person anyhow, so I thought I was gay for a while because I didn't find any of the girls in my high school attractive at all.
If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask someone else first. — © Kurt Cobain
If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask someone else first.
If I wouldn't have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle.
We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers.
Rather be dead than cool.
I really miss being able to blend in with people.
I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't.
I've never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows. I find myself scribbling on little notepads and pieces of loose paper, which results in a very small portion of my writings to ever show up in true form.
I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude.
I wanted to have the adoration of John Lennon but have the anonymity of Ringo Starr. I didn't want to be a frontman. I just wanted to be back there and still be a rock and roll star at the same time.
Punk is musical freedom. It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.
I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar - hide in the back and just play. — © Kurt Cobain
I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar - hide in the back and just play.
When I listen to 'Nevermind,' I hate the production, but there's something about it that almost makes me cry at times.
When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band - or at least in a Pixies cover band.
I'm not well-read, but when I read, I read well.
My mother encouraged me to be artistic. It was written in a contract at an early age that I would be an artist.
I don't blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they'll realize there's more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.
I've always wanted male friends that I could be real intimate with and talk about important things with and be as affectionate with that person as I would be with a girl.
I like to complain and do nothing to make things better.
I like to make people feel happy and superior in their reaction towards my appearance.
I thought I would try to be gay for a while, but I'm just more sexually attracted to women. But I'm really glad that I found a few gay friends, because it totally saved me from becoming a monk or something.
I'm so happy because today I found my friends - they're in my head.
The sun is gone, but I have a light.
If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!
It's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings.
I really haven't had that exciting of a life. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done, instead of just sitting around and complaining about having a boring life. So I pretty much like to make it up. I'd rather tell a story about somebody else.
We're so trendy we can't even escape ourselves.
Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with with your self-esteem. They're no good at all.
I'm a spokesman for myself. It just so happens that there's a bunch of people that are concerned with what I have to say. I find that frightening at times because I'm just as confused as most people. I don't have the answers for anything.
I'm too busy acting like I'm not Naive. I've seen it all, I was here first.
I bought a gun and chose drugs instead.
I'm really interested in smells. I think I'd like to own a perfumery someday.
I like to have strong opinions with nothing to back them up with besides my primal sincerity. I like sincerity. I lack sincerity.
Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.
I didn't know how to deal with success. If there was a Rock Star 101, I would have liked to take it. It might have helped me.
I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me.
I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music. — © Kurt Cobain
I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music.
Ever since the beginning of rock and roll, there's been an Axl Rose. And it's just boring. It's totally boring to me.
I never listen to 'Nevermind.' I haven't listened to it since we put it out. That says something.
Sometimes I wish I had taken the Bob Dylan route and sang songs where my voice would not go out on me every night, so I could have a career if I wanted.
I own a '66 Jaguar. That's the guitar I polish, and baby - I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd.
I'm left-handed, and it's not very easy to find reasonably priced, high-quality left-handed guitars. But out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. I've only owned two of them.
The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.
Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I've got.
I sing and play the guitar, and I'm a walking, talking bacterial infection.
I like guitars in the Fender style because they have skinny necks. — © Kurt Cobain
I like guitars in the Fender style because they have skinny necks.
I've always had a problem with the average macho man - they've always been a threat to me.
A friend is nothing but a known enemy.
I wanted to be in a punk band before I had even heard any punk music.
I've had this terrible stomach problem for years, and that has made touring difficult. People would see me sitting in the corner by myself looking sick and gloomy. The reason is that I was trying to fight against the stomach pain, trying to hold my food down. People looked me and assumed I was some kind of addict.
There's nothing better than having a baby. I've always loved children. I used to work summers at the YMCA and be in charge of, like, 30 preschool kids. I knew that when I had a child, I'd be overwhelmed, and it's true... I can't tell you how much my attitude has changed since we've got Frances. Holding my baby is the best drug in the world.
I definitely feel closer to the feminine side of the human being than I do the male - or the American idea of what a male is supposed to be. Just watch a beer commercial and you'll see what I mean.
John Lennon was definitely my favorite Beatle, hands down.
I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.
The worst crime is faking it.
I have to admit I've found myself doing the same things that a lot of other rock stars do or are forced to do. Which is not being able to respond to mail, not being able to keep up on current music, and I'm pretty much locked away a lot. The outside world is pretty foreign to me.
I won't eat anything green.
Every time I see documentaries or infomercials about little kids with cancer, I just freak out. It affects me on the highest emotional level... Anytime I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of.
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