Interview: Storming Back From the Brink
08/29/1993
SEATTLE—As Kurt Cobain walks into the living room of his rented house, he's made an odd choice in clothing. The most important new voice in American rock in years is wearing a black thigh-length thrift store dress over flannel longjohns.
"Wearing a dress shows I can be as feminine as I want," he says, in a jab at the macho undercurrents that he detests in rock. "I'm a heterosexual… big deal. But if I was a homosexual, it wouldn't matter either."
As one of rock's most celebrated figures, it's easy now for Cobain to make such statements.
Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, which has sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide since its release in late 1991, reflected the anger and alienation of young rock fans in a way that has led critics to hail Cobain, 26, as the voice of a new generation.
Even Beavis and Butt-head, the hopelessly moronic head-bangers on MTV, think Cobain (and all other Seattle rockers) is cool.
But there was a time—back in high school in nearby Aberdeen—when it was difficult for Cobain to express himself so freely.
In those days, he felt alienated from the other kids, most of whom didn't understand why he wanted to paint rather than play sports or why he dreamed about getting out of Aberdeen someday instead of joining the other boys in thinking about taking over their fathers' jobs at the timber mill.
So, Cobain isn't just being provocative for provocative's sake when he wears a dress or includes a pro-gay reference in a song. He feels deeply about the issue because he was frequently tormented by teens and adults in his hometown because he didn't seem manly enough. He also was appalled by the misogynistic attitude of most of his male peers in the tough logging town.
It's easy to see how Cobain was an easy target back then. He looks so frail physically and is often so withdrawn when he speaks that it's hard to picture him standing up to a bully's onslaught.
Yet there's a deep-rooted intensity in Cobain that suggests an underlying fearlessness—even recklessness—in the support of his beliefs.
Further waving a red flag at rock's homophobic contingent, he includes in the band's upcoming album the line, "What else should I say / Everyone is gay." On the point, he adds, "I respect people who promote the way that they feel sexually." Cobain pauses, as if thinking back to those long-ago days in Aberdeen.
Read more at: https://www.livenirvana.com/interviews/9307rh/index.php#Transcript1
Live Nirvana | Interview Archive | 1993 | July ??, 1993 - Seattle, WA, US