Kurt: "The Biggest Fuck You Of My Life"

Melody Maker - January 30th, 1993

Cobain blows his top at scandals and obsessions


Copies of the original sleeve notes to Nirvana's "Incesticide", including a rambling letter from Kurt Cobain, have surfaced in America - and The Maker has obtained one. The sleeve notes were not included on final copies of the LP due to time and printing constraints, even though Kurt had insisted that they be included.

In the liner notes, Kurt rages against Lynn Hirschberg, author of the Vanity Fair article which portrays Kurt and Courtney as drug-guzzling fuck-ups. He also condemns the authors of a forthcoming, unofficial Nirvana biography, and hits out at racists and sexists in the Nirvana audience.

"The biggest fuck you of my life goes out to the self-inflated, indefensible, florid and pompous lies set down by Lynn Hirschberg and any lemming that followed her knowing how evil and how full of shit her story was," Kurt rants. "I think it's very sad that we can't move onward in the history/demise of rock music instead of assigning me/us/my wife these ridiculous, archetypal, retro, rock roles to live out. We are decent, ethical people - we take no delight in being involved in blatant sexism, treachery, or scandals made up off the top of someone's head. And now, as a result of Ms Hirschberg's personal and unhealthy obsession with me/us/my wife, we are having to deal with the betrayal and harassment that stems from the 'inside sources' and aspiring groupie 'writer', who surround us now like celebrity-worshipping jackals moving in for the kill.

"I have learned one thing from this and not much else - the life of a failed groupie (ie, somone with no self-respect but a hugely sociopathic need to be near to and accepted by successful people, whether the objects of their obsessions like them or not) is a very sad and dangerous thing. I'd really like to thank those of you in the media who saw this for what it was and did not sell us down the river for the sake of a 'story', who didn't dirty our music with things that have nothing to do with music, or, for that matter, reality.

"Let's see what else I can complain about ... oh yeah - I don't feel the least bit guilty for commercially exploiting a completely exhausted rock youth culture because, at this point in rock history, punk rock (while still sacred to some) is, to me, dead gone. We just wanted to pay tribute to something that helped us to feel as though we had crawled out of the dung heap of conformity. To pay tribute like an Elvis or Jimi Hendrix impersonator in the tradition of a bar band. I'll be the first to admit that we're the Nineties version of Cheap Trick or The Knack, but the last to admit that it hasn't been rewarding.

"At this point, I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different colour, or women, please do us this one favour for us - leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows, and don't buy our records."

Kurt also refers to a recent American court case in which two men sang the lyrics to Nirvana's anti-rape song, "Polly", as they raped a woman last year.

"I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are bacteria like that in our audience. Sorry to be so anally, uh, concerned, but that's the way I feel."

The letter is signed with love from "Kurdt (the blond one)".

Meanwhile, wife Courtney Love is in court on assault charges next month. She and Victoria Clarke, co-author of a forthcoming unofficial Nirvana biography, are suing each other over an alleged exchange of fists and handbags in an LA nightclub last December. Clarke is reportedly being represented by Guns N' Roses lawyer.

The biography, written by Clarke and Britt Collins, is said to be finished and undergoing legal checks, prior to production.