197 Kurt Donald Cobain Quotes

Kurt Donald Cobain quotes

1. Same thing happened in the Punk Movement in the late 70's. It's like, major labels were signing punk bands right after the band's first gig, y'know, a punk band would start, play one gig, and get signed to a major label right away, 'cause it's a trend. That just shows there are a lot of old school dinosaurs in the record industry who need to be weeded out.

2. We're waiting for the dinosaurs to die out. They will die. And then we'll move into their homes.

3. I would like to think there's some purity in us, yeah, naive, y'know, purposely naive.

4. Music comes first. Lyrics are secondary... Most of my lyrics are contradictions. I'll write a few sincere lines and then I'll have to make fun of it. I don't like to make it too obvious because if it is too obvious it gets really stale. You shouldn't be in people's faces 100% all the time. We don't mean to be really cryptic or mysterious but I just think that lyrics that are different and weird and spacey paint a nice picture. It's just the way I like art.

5. I need an easy friend I do, with an ear to lend

6. I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned.

7. She loves him more than he will ever know He loves her more than he will ever show.

8. Yes, I eat cow I am not proud.

9. With the lights out, it's less dangerous Here we are now, entertain us I feel stupid, and contagious Here we are now, entertain us.

10. Load up on guns, and bring your friends, it's fun to lose and to pretend, she's over-bored and self-assured, I know I know, a dirty word.

11. He's the one Who likes all the pretty songs And he likes to sing along And he likes to shoot his gun But he knows not what it means.

12. Come as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a Trend, as a friend, as a known enemy Take your time, hurry up The choice is yours, don't be late.

13. I'm so happy 'Cause today I found my friends They're in my head. I'm so ugly, but that's okay 'Cause so are you.

14. Polly wants a cracker Think I should get off her first, Think she wants some water To put out the blow torch.

15. Polly says her back hurts And she's just as bored as me She caught me off my guard Amazes me, the will of instinct.

16. Just because you're paranoid Don't mean they're not after you.

17. One baby to another says I'm lucky to have met you

18. The finest day that I ever had Was when I learned to cry on demand

19. The animals I've trapped Have all become my pets.

20. It's OK to eat fish 'Cos they don't have any feelings

21. Teenage angst has paid off well Now I'm bored and old.

22. I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black.

23. It's so relieving to know that you're leaving as soon as you get paid It's so relaxing to hear you're asking wherever you get your way. It's so soothing to know that you'll sue me, This is starting to sound the same. I miss the comfort in being sad.

24. Hate me Do it and do it again Waste me Rape me, my friend.

25. The sun is gone, but I have a light.

26. My heart is broke, but I have some glue Help me inhale and mend it with you We'll float around, hang out on clouds then we'll come down and have a hangover

27. I miss the comfort in being sad.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

28. I take pride as the king of illiterature.

29. Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld So I can sigh eternally.

30. Hate your enemies Save your friends Find your place Speak the truth.

31. All in all is all we are.

32. What else could I say. Everyone is gay.

33. And the flowers sing in B minor And the birds fly happily.

34. And if you save yourself You will make him happy.

35. Things have never been so swell I have never felt this well.

36. Something in her eyes Must be the smoke in my lungs.

37. I need you around To remind me what not to become.

38. Congratulations, you have won It's a year's subscription of bad puns.

39. If I may, and if I might Lay me down, weeping.

40. I use bits and pieces of others personalities to form my own.

41. I just feel bad for all the kids who are forced to buy their music from big chain stores and have to have the edited music

42. John Lennon has been my idol all my life but he's dead wrong about revolution... find a representative of gluttony or oppression and blow the motherfucker's head off.

43. Maybe someday I'll turn into Helen Keller by puncturing my ears with a knife, then cutting my voicebox out.

44. Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second rate freudian evaluation on my lyrics when 90% of the time they've transcribed the lyrics incorrectly?

45. I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes.

46. Birds... scream at the top of their lungs in horrified hellish rage every morning at daybreak to warn us all of the truth... but sadly we don't speak bird.

47. I only remember a few things about Jimmy Carter. He had big lips and liked peanuts. I now know that Jimmy Carter was and is a good man.

48. When I hear the term Right wing I think of Hitler and Satan and Civil war.

49. I mean I like to be passionate and sincere but I also like to have fun and act like a dork. Geeks unite.

50. I like Dan Hanrahan's taste in women and so does he.

51. To be positive at all times is to ignore all that is important, sacred or valuable. To be negative at all times is to be threatened by ridiculousness and instant discredibility.

52. Assassinate the greater and lesser of two evils.

53. Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art.

54. Expression and the right to express is vital, anyone can be artistic.

55. Say anything just to have an opinion.

56. I have absolutely no right to express my opinions until I know all of the answers.

57. Humans are dumb. Ashamed to be human

58. I hate Mom. I hate Dad. Dad hates Mom. Mom hates Dad. It just makes you want to be so sad.(1976)(Kurt scratched this into the wall of his bedroom in 1976 after his parents had a fight.)

59. I won't eat anything green. (Unknown)

60. Like Hamlet, I have to choose between life and death. (1994)

61. We're so trendy, we can't even escape ourselves. (Unknown)

62. Holding Frances in my arms is the best drug in the world.

63. I hate having people feed me fine French meals when all I want is macaroni and cheese

64. I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't.

65. If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!

66. No amount of effort can save you from oblivion. (Journals)

67. Kurt Cobain often ridiculed rival Pearl Jam, arguing that it lacked the underground purity of Nirvana - that it was simply an old-line commercial rock band in grunge clothing. But Cobain, who was 27 when he died, liked Vedder personally, and that made him feel guilty about the put-downs. 'I'm not going to do that anymore,' he said in a 1992 interview. 'It hurts Eddie and he's a good guy'; L.A. Times 5/1/94, 'He Didn't Ask for All This' (Cobain about Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam)

68. In Aberdeen, I hated my best friends with a passion, because they were idiots. (1989)

69. I'd like to live off the band, but if not, I'll just retire to Mexico or Yugoslavia with a few hundred dollars, grow potatoes, and learn the history of rock through back issues of Creem magazine. (1989)

70. It's really not hard to keep your dignity and sign to a major label...Most people don't have any dignity in the first place. (1990)

71. Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock. (1990)

72. I knew I was different. I thought that I might be gay or something because I couldn't identify with any of the guys at all. None of them liked art or music, they just wanted to fight and get laid. It was many years ago but it gave me this real hatred for the average American macho male. (1991)

73. Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth. And it happens every few minutes. (1991)

74. If I went to jail, at least I wouldn't have to sign autographs. (1991)

75. I would like to get rid of the homophobes, sexists, and racists in our audience. I know they're out there and it really bothers me. (1992)

76. We sound like the Bay City Rollers after an assault by Black Sabbath. And, we vomit onstage better than anyone. (1992)

77. Hope I die before I turn into Pete Townshend. (1992)

78. Guns N' Roses are a shitty band that makes shitty music. (1992)

79. I just can't believe anyone would start a band just to make the scene and be cool and have chicks. I just can't believe it. (1992)

80. Zits are beauty marks. (1992)

81. All drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem. They're no good at all. But I'm not going to go around preaching against [them]. (1992)

82. I wouldn't wear a tie-dyed tee-shirt unless it was dyed with the urine of Phil Collins and the blood of Jerry Garcia. (1992)

83. Yeah, I was run out of town. They chased me up to the castle of Aberdeen with torches. Just like the Frankenstein monster. And I got away in a hot air balloon. And I came here to Seattle. (1992)

84. If you're a really mean person you're going to come back as a fly and eat poop. (1992)

85. Jocks have completely taken over music... And just to get back at them, I'm going to start playing basketball. (1993)

86. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had voted me Most Likely To Kill Everyone At A High School Dance. (1993)

87. If I could get that girl to publish her poetry, the world would change. (On Courtney Love) (1993)

88. I'm a much happier guy than a lot of people think I am. (1993)

89. The thrill and embarrassment of becoming international pop stars was too much, so we opened our mouths and put our foot in sometimes. (1993)

90. I can't play [guitar] like Segovia. The flip side of that is that Segovia could probably never have played like me. (1994)

91. I just think there's a breed of people who honestly like music. And there aren't very many of 'em, really. Those are the people who usually become musicians. It doesn't really matter what environment you grow up in. It's just some environments are more restrictive than others. (1994)

92. Hello, we're major label corporate rock sell outs. (04/17/91 at the O.K. Hotel, Seattle, Washington)

93. There is plenty of Huhnerfleisch in the Kuhlschrank. (There is plenty of chicken in the fridge) (08/27/91 at Bremen, Germany)

94. Hi, my name is Kurt Cobain, I'm homosexual, I'm a pagan, I'm a drug abuser, and I like to fuck pot-bellied pigs! (12/02/91 at Newcastle, UK)

95. What's the matter with all you people at the back, did you come here to see Gloria Estefan? (11/27/93 at AT&T Bayfront Park Amphitheater, Miami, Florida)

96. OK, you trained monkeys, everybody jump up and down. Let's bring back the good old pogo! (12/31/93 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California)

97. I spent all of my life trying to stay away from sports and here I am in a sporting arena. (12/30/93 at the Great Western Forum, Inglewood, California)

98. This song is dedicated to Frank Zappa, and River Phoenix, Fred Gwynne who played Herman Munster, Dixie Lee Ray, Thomas P, Tip O'Neil, and you, dumb ass, who just threw water on me. (01/07/94 at Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, Washington)

99. It's better to burn out than to fade away.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

100. Wanting to be somebody else is a waste of the person you are. (True source unknown)

101. Nobody dies a virgin... Life fucks us all.

102. I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

103. I remember Kurt for what he was, caring, generous and sweet.

104. I still dream about Kurt. Every time I see him in a dream, I'll be amazed and I get this feeling that everyone else thinks he's dead. It always feels totally real, probably because I'm a very vivid dreamer. But, in my dreams, Kurt's usually been hiding - we'll get together and I'll end up asking him, 'God, where have you been?'

105. He really didn't care about a lot of things that you're supposed to care about in the public arena. He really just didn't care.

106. In his way, he was the closest equivalent this decade and this generation of rock fans had to a John Lennon, and I don't make that comparison easily or impulsively.

107. I think one of the reasons so many people connected to him is they could tell his music was really pure and instinctual.

108. He said, 'Man, I just escaped from Exodus' [a treatment facility]. I didn't have any foresight that the guy was going to do what he did. I could tell he was bummed out, and I'd been that way before. We were at baggage claim, and I thought I'd ask him to come stay at my house. I turned around and he was gone... What if. Only if. A lot of my friends have died. If only he'd...

109. He had an amazing ear for melody.

110. Lyrically I thought Kurt's writing was sort of cynical and that his words meant more than even he realized.

111. I cried, I don't know why:.I don't like his music or anything:.you know it's awful about his baby I just::I don't want to talk about that:..I just don't think he has very many guts::I just don't see why he wouldn't want to see his daughter grow up:you know:that he wouldn't be excited enough about that to not think of himself::people just start thinking of themselves too much. I don't think it's so much that they become conscious of the world of video and the world of this and that and a world of fame, they just think of themselves and no matter who you are and whether you're a rock star or a garbage man, if you're thinking of yourself all the time you're not gonna be very good at what you do. With a baby you can tell them funny jokes when they're two and they'll love it, you can teach them about how everyone's an idiot and they'll love it:..but you know:..it doesn't occur to a lot of people how intense that is:..how beautiful it is.

112. I remember watching Kurt come through and thinking, 'God, this music is nuclear', This is really splitting the atom. They raised the temperature for everybody. Manufactured pop never looked so cold as when that heat was around. Nirvana made everything else look silly.

113. In 1991 there was a kind of shift in rock music in America - it was shifting away from all the hair bands in LA. And with Kurt Cobain you felt you were connecting to the real person, not to a perception of who he was - you were not connecting to an image or a manufactured cut-out. You felt that between you and him there was nothing; it was heart-to-heart. There are very few people who have that ability. I never met him but our guitarist Kirk Hammett had a relationship with him. We were doing this tour with Guns N' Roses in the US in 1992 and we wanted Nirvana to come out and join us. Kirk asked Kurt, but while Cobain said he would play with Metallica anywhere in the world, at any time, on any stage, he would not step up on the same stage as Guns N' Roses - obviously he felt that Axl was the antithesis to what he was. As I said, I never met Kurt, and he's probably the only guy in rock'n'roll that I have never met that I really wanted to - other than Bon Scott maybe. What a sad thing we can't hear the fourth Nirvana album. It would have been so great to be able to see how that would have evolved.

114. Most kings get driven so insane that they try to hit the same vein Kurt Cobain did

115. I remember the first time I saw him. I was 14 years old. I saw the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video and instantly fell in love with him, even though I couldn't see his face. I just wanted to see his face so much. After weeks of finding out anything I could about Nirvana, I saw his face - and he had a face like an angel. I loved him. He was my platonic love.

116. He had a touch most guitarists would kill for.

117. I only met Kurt once...I was touched by him. He seemed a little shell shocked as though he felt yet another show might drop at any time.

118. You know, I always thought I'd go first. I don't know why I thought that, it just seemed like I would. I mean, I didn't know him on a daily basis - far from it. But, in a way, I don't even feel right being here without him. It's so difficult to really believe he's gone. I still talk about him like he's still here, you know. I can't figure it out. It doesn't make any sense.

119. I meet him a few times. He was an pretty cool guy.

120. In twenty years from now, when people will look back at the 90's, they wont remember the commercial giants like Ace of Base or Backstreet Boys, they will remember the artistic bands and artists like Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

121. I think one of Kurt's strengths was his simplicity. He knew how to write really catchy songs that said a lot without doing too much.

122. The only person I have any respect for as a songwriter over the last 10 years is Kurt Cobain. He was the perfect cross between Lennon and McCartney...but he was a miserable fuck at the same time.

123. Cobain was a marvelous singer...I heard his unplugged version of that Leadbelly song and it was such a perfect vocal that I was really moved.

124. He had a wonderful balance of raw, dangerous anger, but also he was this delicate, fun person...He was brilliant, but he played dumb. And you know, Kurt was funny as shit.

125. Kurt chewed bubblegum in his soul.

126. Kurt Cobain was one of the best of our time

127. I dont think there's any better expression for that era (the 90s) then Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

128. Rage and aggression were elements for Kurt to play with as an artist, but he was profoundly gentle and intelligent.

129. He had life figured out really young. He knew life wasn't always fair.

130. [He] was very talented, but he was passive-aggressive, kind of a whiny white guy, basically.

131. [If he] applied the same brain to his music that he applied to his drug-infested life, its reasonable to think that his music may not have made much sense either.

132. I think Kurt was one of the deepest thinkers we've had in popular music over the last 20 years and if anyone deserves to have his songs dwelled upon it's him.

133. Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends, but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person, he was so excited about having a child.

     Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

134. I mourn for Kurt. A once beautiful, then pathetic, lost and heroically stupid boy.

135. He really, really inspired me. He was so great. Wonderful. One of the best, but more than that. Kurt was one of the absolute best of all time for me.

136. There's something wrong with that boy. He frowns for no good reason.

137. That kid had heart.

138. I don't know why everyone on earth felt so close to that guy; he was beloved and endearing and inoffensive in some weird way. For all his screaming and all of his darkness, he was just lovable.

139. He was a genius.

140. It's a shame about your future It's a crime about your past.

141. Blown away by fame We could all feel the shotgun hit the floor.

142. Help me please Burn the sorrow from your eyes Oh come on, be alive again Don't lay down and die

143. You can hear them crying down the lane From Portland to Maryland From Greece to Spain

144. They all stand straight and swing to the side No heads, but they feet still glide Take a step back, twist and dive I even seen Kurt Cobain get live

145. The whole world was crying when Kurt's gun went bang When Eazy-E died though, it wasn't no thang Rapper dies of A.I.D.S. but you hardly mention Rocker blows his face off and becomes a legend Heroin and a shotgun, a hero is made Maybe I should do that shit so J can get paid

146. Don't feel like home. He's a little out And all this words elope. There's nothing like your poem A scratching voice all alone. There's nothing like your baritone It's nothing as it seems. The little that he needs. It's home The little that he sees is nothing he concedes. It's home

147. A truant finds home...and I wish to hold on... But theres a trapdoor in the sun...immortality...

148. There was this boy who played in a rock n' roll band And he wasn't half bad at saving the world She said he could do no right, so he took his life The story is true

149. First time I saw you, You were sitting backstage in a dress A perfect mess.

150. He gathered up his loved ones And he brought them all around To say, 'Goodbye, nice try.'

151. He lies in an empty room With his hair burnt to the back It sure sounds funny When you say his name like that.

152. Toward another, he has gone To breathe an air beyond his own.

153. He rocked the United States by flying all over the country and playing that rock and roll He is a good singer He is my rock star

154. Too late, He sleeps with angels Too soon, He's always on someone's mind.

155. He needs a quiet room With a lock to keep him in It's just a quiet room And he's there He plays an old guitar With a coin found by the phone It was his friends guitar That he played He's never been in love But he knows just what love is He says nevermind And no-one speaks

156. Kurt Cobain's rich as fuck he's buried in the ground

157. Thanks to Elvis and Kurt Cobain the world will never be the same

158. Kurt Cobain, we was good friends Ozzy Osbourne too.

159. My sister, she says she knows Elvis She knows Jesus, John Lennon, and Kurt Cobain personally

160. I remember doing nothing on the night Sinatra died And the night Jeff Buckley died And the night Kurt Cobain died And the night John Lennon died.

161. What of Kurt Cobain, will his presence still remain?

162. A whole generation of kids blowin' out their fuckin' brains to this Kurt Cobain music

163. And going for the clincher, a girl cries out in vain How Jesus lived 6 years longer than Kurt Cobain And Jesus' hair was longer, and Jesus' arms were stonger And Jesus's eyes were bluer, and Jesus' thoughts were truer

164. And a memory that can ease your pain Like a melody from Kurt Cobain.

165. Way out in Seattle Young Kurt Cobain Snuck out to the greenhouse Put a bullet in his brain.

166. Keep them high like Kurt Cobain.

167. Johnny wishes he was famous Spends his time alone in the basement With Lennon and Cobain And a guitar and a stereo.

168. Having conversations with Kurt Cobain I'm drowning my fears in the acid rain.

169. And so I parallel the brains of Cobain.

170. Cobain, can you hear the spheres Singing songs off station to station?

171. Yeah the whole byrd gangs in here like Kurt Cobain was here.

172. Now I'ma pull a fuckin' Jeffery Dahmer, now he's suicidal, just like NIrvana.

173. Kurt Cobain, he never had a chance, you know. Incurable romantics never do.

174. Disturbed by the fame Just like Kurt Cobain.

175. Kurt Cobain reincarnated Sighs and licks his face.

176. And KDC you were much too young and you changed my life but I draw the line at suicide. Here's to Life!

177. I'll spend my days with J.F.K., Marvin Gaye, Martha Raye, and Lawrence Welk, And Kurt Cobain, Kojak, Mark Twain and Jimi Hendrix's poltergeist.

178. I'll finish with a bang, like in Cobain's biography

179. A daily dose of eMpTyV Will flush your mind right down the drain Shannon Hoon and Kurt Cobain, Make yourself a household name

180. Maybe if I put a bullet in my brain They'd remember me like Kurt Cobain And the parasites on MTV Would wipe their eyes and act like they knew me

181. My favorite color is red, like the blood shed from Kurt Cobain's head, when he shot himself dead

182. Ne me parle pas de travail a la chaine Je veux pas finir comme Kurt Cobain (Don't talk to me about working on the assembly line/I don't wanna end like Kurt Cobain)

183. Kurt Cobain was so young Sad to see this poet's gone.

184. Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside her mind

185. And they told me The times have changed Cause' our parents had Hendrix, Janis and Jim But what about River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain.

186. Y hoy me encuentro tan solo y triste cual hoja al viento quisiera llorar, quisiera morir, como Kurt Cobain, de sentimiento. (And today I am so alone and sad like a leaf in the wind I wish to cry, I wish to die like Kurt Cobain, of feeling)

187. So I watched pay per view and polished my shoes and my gun

1. Never met a wiseman if so its a woman!

2. If you die youre completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. Im not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope Ive got.

3. Never met a wiseman if so it's a woman!

4. If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I've got.

5. Im so happy because today I found my friends theyre in my head.

6. I'm so happy because today I found my friends - they're in my head.

7. Don't read my diary when I'm gone.

8. I've never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows. I find myself scribbling on little notepads and pieces of loose paper, which results in a very small portion of my writings to ever show up in true form.

9. Don't expect me to die for you.

10. Maybe we can change some kid's life & stop him from becoming a welder or a sleazy lawyer.