Frances Bean Cobain wasn’t even two years old when her father, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, shot himself. She’s spoken to Teen Vogue and yours truly before, but, understandably, without real mention of her famous folks. Now 22-years-old and the executive producer behind Brett Morgen’s highly anticipated Kurt biopic Montage of Heck, Frances has decided to speak publicly about her parents for the first time in an exclusive Rolling Stone cover interview published this afternoon.
“Do you remember the first time you heard a Nirvana record – and knowing that was your father?” writer David Fricke asks the rock royalty’s offspring. Her response: “I don’t really like Nirvana that much.” Yup, you read that right. “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,” Frances continued, before shouting out which of her dad’s jams she actually does enjoy (Dumb and Territorial Pissings, just fyi.)
Frances also speaks candidly on her father’s ambition and the troubled position he occupies in popular culture: “He wanted his band to be successful. But he didn’t want to be the fucking voice of a generation…He’s larger than life, and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians. We love to put them on a pedestal,” she tells Fricke.
As to their uncanny likeness, she talks about giving her pop’s former Nirvana bandmates Kirst Noveselic, Dave Grohl, and Pat Smear what she calls the “K.C. Jeebies,” “when they see me, they see Kurt. They look at me, and you can see they’re looking at a ghost.” She also gave us the K.C. Jeebies back in 2011 when Hedi Slimane shot her and some of Kurt’s personal memorabilia for his famous Diary, or when she sported the same pair of pajamas he married her mother in for an Elle spread in 06.
The Rolling Stone interview also teases tidbits about “her complex relationship with her mother,” but it looks like we’ll have to wait for the full print issue to hear those thoughts on Courtney.
Montage of Heck premieres on May 4 on HBO. Catch the trailer here.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Ron Galella via Getty Images