For the first time in her life, Frances Bean Cobain is opening up about life without her dad, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, she talked about "Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck," the upcoming documentary that she is an executive producer on, growing up without a father and her opinion of Nirvana, which is quite interesting.
Frances Bean also spoke candidly about what she thinks led to her father's death.
"Kurt got to the point where he eventually had to sacrifice every bit of who he was to his art, because the world demanded it of him," she said. "I think that was one of the main triggers as to why he felt he didn't want to be here and everyone would be happier without him."
If Frances Bean, now 22, grew up with Kurt as her father, she said that it "would have been an incredible experience."
She added that Kurt Cobain "wanted his band to be successful. But he didn't want to be the ****ing voice of a generation."
At one point, Frances Bean tells the story of when former Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear told her she is just like her dad:
"It's very weird how genes are. Dave [Grohl], Krist [Novoselic] and Pat [Smear] came over to a house where I was living. It was the first time [the ex-Nirvana members] had been together in a long time. And they had what I call the 'K. C. Jeebies,' which is when they see me, they see Kurt. They look at me, and you can see they're looking at a ghost. They were all getting the K. C. Jeebies hardcore. Dave said, 'She is so much like Kurt.' They were all talking amongst themselves, rehashing old stories I'd heard a million times. I was sitting in a chair, chain-smoking, looking down... And they went, 'You are doing exactly what your father would have done.'
"But I was glad they came over. It was a cool experience, like having a Nirvana reunion minus one. Except for his spawn."
David Fricke, who once interviewed Sean Lennon about the death of his father and Beatles member John Lennon, spoke to Frances Bean.
Below are some more excerpts of the interview:
FRICKE: Do you remember the first time you heard a Nirvana record - and knowing that was your father?
COBAIN: I don't really like Nirvana that much [grins]. Sorry, promotional people, Universal. I'm more into Mercury Rev, Oasis, Brian Jonestown Massacre [laughs]. The grunge scene is not what I'm interested in. But "Territorial Pissings" [on Nevermind] is a ****ing great song. And "Dumb" [on In Utero] - I cry every time I hear that song. It's a stripped-down version of Kurt's perception of himself - of himself on drugs, off drugs, feeling inadequate to be titled the voice of a generation.
FRICKE: Did you feel awkward as a teenager, not being that interested in the music Kurt made?
COBAIN: No. I would have felt more awkward if I'd been a fan. I was around 15 when I realized he was inescapable. Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there's my dad. He's larger than life. and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians. We love to put them on a pedestal. If Kurt had just been another guy who abandoned his family in the most awful way possible . . . But he wasn't. He inspired people to put him on a pedestal, to become St. Kurt. He became even bigger after he died than he was when he was alive. You don't think it could have gotten any bigger. But it did.
FRICKE: How would you describe "Montage of Heck"?
COBAIN: It's emotional journalism. It's the closest thing to having Kurt tell his own story in his own words - by his own aesthetic, his own perception of the world. It paints a portrait of a man attempting to cope with being a human. When Brett (Morgen) and I first met, I was very specific about what I wanted to see, how I wanted Kurt to be represented. I told him, 'I don't want the mythology of Kurt or the romanticism.' Even though Kurt died in the most horrific way possible, there is this mythology and romanticism that surrounds him, because he's 27 forever. The shelf life of an artist or musician isn't particularly long. Kurt has gotten to icon status because he will never age. He will always be that relevant in that time and always be beautiful.
