For many reasons, The Beatles are the most important musical act the world has ever seen, and will ever see. This ranges from their pioneering songwriting and production techniques to business acumen. It says everything about their significance that despite breaking up over half a century ago, they are still one of the most popular acts in the world, with their legacy continuing to thrive in an increasingly digital world far removed from the analogue one of their apogee.
While we can perceive the Fab Four’s legacy in myriad ways, perhaps the finest indicator of their consequence is through the masses of subsequent icons who cite them as key influences, with their spirit living on vicariously through them. From Oasis to Billie Eilish, many over the years have cited the Liverpudlian group as key creative inspirations.
Out of this hallowed set of disciples, arguably Nirvana frontman and mastermind, Kurt Cobain is the most important, as his music is the only sonic palette to have come remotely close in game-changing significance to that of the 1960s legends’. With Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl in tow, Cobain’s fusion of punk with pop melodies was transformative for music and culture. It blew away hair metal and established alternative rock as the force du jour.
Although he was not the first to marry the two spheres – with a handful of niche acts doing it before him to varying extents – the way he seamlessly blended the influence of heavy underground rock with sugary pop melodies with such mass appeal was unlike anything anyone had ever heard before. A true visionary, he succeeded in taking the unrelenting grit of bands such as Sonic Youth and Melvins, and burnishing them with catchy lyrics and melodies that even The Beatles would have been proud of.
Although Cobain was a punk at heart, he made no bones about loving the music of the 1960s that his generation were brought up on, which, of course, included the era’s most unavoidable band: The Beatles. He spoke about his love for the group on numerous occasions, and during a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, even named his favourite member.
Unsurprisingly, his favourite member was the group’s brooding, songwriting genius John Lennon. Not only was it his fine musicianship, but it was his clear psychological darkness that appealed greatly to the grunge extraordinaire.
“John Lennon was definitely my favourite Beatle, hands down,” Cobain explained. “I don’t know who wrote what parts of what Beatles songs, but McCartney embarrasses me. Lennon was obviously disturbed [laughs]. So I could relate to that.”
Sadly, this interview was given only four months before Cobain would tragically take his own life in April 1994, so the frontman found during it was not his usual impish self, but rather, morose and reflective, pertinently drawing parallels between himself and the late Lennon.
“Although he was totally in love with Yoko and his child, his life was a prison,” Cobain continued. “He was imprisoned. It’s not fair. That’s the crux of the problem that I’ve had with becoming a celebrity – the way people deal with celebrities. It needs to be changed; it really does.”
“No matter how hard you try, it only comes out like you’re bullshitting about it,” the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ genius concluded. “I can understand how a person can feel that way and almost become obsessed with it. It’s so hard to convince people to mellow out. Just take it easy, have a little bit of respect. We all shit.”
