Random People Responded To Kurt Cobain's Death (13 items)

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  (#12) David Bowie

  • 72

  During the MTV Unplugged performance, Nirvana covered David Bowie’s song "The Man Who Sold the World." The legendary musician later remembered him, saying:

  I was simply blown away when I found out that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and I always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering "Man Who Sold the World." It was a good, straightforward rendition and sounded somehow very honest. It would have been nice to have worked with him, but just talking would have been real cool.
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  (#10) Greg Sage

  • 67

  Greg Sage is a songwriter and musician who was something of an idol to Cobain. He had spoken to him shortly before his passing and shared his thoughts:

  Well, I can't really speculate other than what he said to me, which was, he wasn't at all happy about it, success to him seemed like, I think, a brick wall. There was nowhere else to go but down, it was too artificial for him, and he wasn't an artificial person at all...

  Actually, two weeks after he died, he was supposed to come here and he wanted to record a bunch of Leadbelly covers.
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  (#8) Anthony Kiedis

  • 56

  Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, felt a profound sense of loss when he heard the news. Writing in his autobiography, he said:

  One day we were working and got a call from Lindy, who informed us that Kurt Cobain had killed himself. The news sucked the air out of the entire house, I didn't feel like I felt when Hillel died; it was more like "The world just suffered a great loss."

  Kurt's death was unexpected... It was an emotional blow, and we all felt it. 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 of his screaming and all of his darkness, he was just lovable.
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  (#2) Dave Grohl

  • 50

  The Nirvana drummer and close friend of Cobain explained his emotions upon hearing the news, saying:

  [It was] probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life. I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, "Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't.”

  Grohl also explained how the loss made him feel emotionless:

  When Kurt died I was lost. I was numb. The music I had devoted my life to had now betrayed me. I had no voice. I turned off the radio. I put away my drums. I couldn't bear to hear someone else's voice singing about pain, or joy.
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  (#3) Krist Novoselic

  • 53

  Krist Novoselic was Cobain's bandmate in Nirvana and longtime friend. He explained his feelings following the loss years later, saying:

  I used to be so cynical. But more than anything, Kurt’s death changed that. I still can’t make sense about what happened and I was truly shocked... I went to the funeral home to say goodbye and it was hard to see him like that. They fixed him okay, but you could see his head was busted up. They folded a kerchief over his eyes and forehead. I held his hand and it was so cold. I left feeling really bad...

  I got home and thought I was going crazy. Even after like 20 times at the sink, I couldn’t wash that cold off my hands. I called Dave and he said I wasn’t going crazy and that it was shock I was experiencing. That realization made me feel a little better. I crawled to bed dazed.
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  (#4) His Mother, Wendy O’Connor, Was Completely Devastated

  Wendy O’Connor was Cobain's mother, and only spoke to the media a few times. Through tears, she told journalists, "I'll never hold him again. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go."

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