Listen: Lost Interview with Kurt Cobain Reveals Feelings About Success, Rap Music

Image courtesy of Curmodgeon Nirvana
Image courtesy of Curmodgeon Nirvana

By JOHN DALY

An interviewer who had a chance to sit down with Kurt Cobain in 1991 said he came away from the interview feeling the Nirvana frontman was not enjoying success.

In an interview recently posted on Bandcamp, a then-21-year-old aspiring radio reporter and musician named Roberto LoRusso got Cobain to chat about a few topics, including rap.

“I’m really not that much of a fan,” Cobain told LoRusso about rap music. “I totally respect and love it because it’s one of the only original forms of music that’s been introduced. But the white man doing rap is just like watching a white man dance. We can’t dance, we can’t rap.”

Listen to interview here:

 

‘Depression is a Cruel Thief’

LoRusso said his final take-away from that interview was he got a “vague sense that he wasn’t really enjoying their success.”

“I couldn’t understand it,” LoRusso wrote as notes on the Bandcamp release. “I was so enamoured with and envious of his talent and success I just couldn’t understand how he could have been so indifferent to it. A few years later it became very clear why.” 

Video courtesy of Curmodgeon Nirvana:

“When I reflected on this experience, I realized that success doesn’t mean a goddamn thing if your world is falling apart. Depression is a cruel thief that bankrupts your life with one fleeting moment of joy at a time. It still bums me out. 

Among other tidbits LoRusso pulled from the late frontman is that Cobain was happy just to be able to pay the rent every month.

“Financially we’re well off, I’ve never had so much money in my life,” Cobain told LoRusso. “To be able to pay rent is great.” 

Watch Nirvana in 1991: