“They Were Jealous, Sexist, and Outdated”: In a Resurfaced ’90s Interview, Kurt Cobain Opens Up About His Feud with Axl Rose and Why Guns N’ Roses Represented Everything He Stood Against
In a raw, unearthed interview from the early 1990s, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain spoke candidly about his explosive feud with Axl Rose and the entire Guns N’ Roses camp. Though many fans remember the backstage chaos at the 1992 MTV VMAs, few had heard Cobain’s unfiltered thoughts in his own words—until now.
“The tension with Axl wasn’t personal at first,” Cobain told the interviewer, seated cross-legged on a dingy hotel couch, flannel shirt unbuttoned. “It was symbolic. He stood for the old world of rock, the glam, the arrogance. We were the opposite of that.”
According to Cobain, the friction started when Guns N’ Roses invited Nirvana to tour together—an offer Kurt flatly rejected. For him, it wasn’t about ego. It was about values.
“They were jealous,” he said plainly. “Nirvana came out of nowhere and knocked all the glam bands off the top. We weren’t playing to be cool—we were telling the truth. That scared them.”
The Nirvana frontman didn’t stop there.
“Axl and his crew… they represented this macho, sexist, homophobic vibe that we wanted nothing to do with. They mocked everything we believed in. Their music was about excess. Ours was about survival.”
The bad blood spilled over at the 1992 MTV VMAs, when Cobain’s wife Courtney Love jokingly asked Axl to be their baby’s godfather. Axl snapped, demanding Kurt “shut her up.” Kurt responded with a sarcastic “Shut up, b***h,” mocking Axl’s aggression in front of stunned press and band members.
“I didn’t even want to be in a fight,” Kurt shrugged in the interview. “But when someone like that tries to flex in front of my wife and daughter? Come on.”
Despite the circus, Cobain never saw Axl Rose as a true enemy—just a symbol of a fading era.
“They were the kings of the ‘80s, man. But the ’90s came, and they couldn’t adapt. We weren’t rock gods—we were the weird kids. The misfits. We didn’t fit the mold, and that’s why people connected with us.”
He leaned back, ran a hand through his unwashed hair, and grinned faintly.
“People always ask about the feud. But really, it was just two worlds crashing. Ours was louder.”
Though Cobain died just two years later, this interview is a time capsule of a changing era in rock, one that reminds us how Nirvana wasn’t just a band—they were a cultural shift. And Cobain, with all his flaws and fury, was the reluctant voice of a generation that refused to play by the old rules.
