More about: Nirvana
Would you like to buy Nirvana frontman's phone?
Kurt Cobain's former roommate has taken to Craigslist to sell a load of the Nirvana frontman's posessions - including his skis and telephone. Weird, eh?
Alex, who says he lived with Cobain in the 90s, before the grunge icon moved out and left a load of his stuff behind in a box - which he is now selling on here.
In his posting, Alex claims that Cobain never got the items back because he never returned to pay rent that he owed and didn't talk to his roommates once he became famous. He also called Courtney Love a 'dick' - so she certainly won't be getting her late husband's ski's back.
If you've ever been mental enough to wonder what Kurt Cobain's skis, telephone and favourite old-school TOMY game would have looked like, then check them out below.
Alex posted:
"Hey Seattle what’s up, I used to live with Kurt Cobain back in the 90s and I have been holding on to a bunch of his stuff that he left in a box when he moved out. He owed us rent and said he would get the box when he came back and gave us money but he never came back, then when he was famous he never really talked to any of us again because courtney never liked us but she’s a dick so no hard felings.
"i am sure it would be easy for you to think that this stuff is fake, but i have pictures of kurt with some of it and i have som friends that will talk to you that will say that this is kurts stuff. we lived together in capitol hill and for a short time in olympia, i was in some very popular bands back then but now i am not playing any music anymore, but if anybody reading this wants to jam, let me know heh heh.
"some of this stuff is pretty historical as he was using it whem he was signing his first record contracts, like the phone i know i think he used to talk on the phone to people in LA. that is why it is expensive. the Swatch phone is a twin phone which means that two people can talk on it at the same time, i remember in the commercials that two people would talk on it at the same time, like a girl would listen in while the other girl was talking, it is in really good condition and is $55.
"Kurt was learning to skii when i met him, we went to mount baker a few times to hit the slopes, these are his skiis but i do not have the poles or anything. the bindings are pretty loose but they are good skiis, but of course they are a lot cooler because they are kurts. They are $80 This TOMY game is called “kingman” and is kindof like donkey kong. kurt liked to play this game a lot, it is in good condition but there is some corossion near the battery part. it is still cool tho, and you can have it for $25.
"I am willing to meet in belltown near the croc or at the sculpture park, but you can also come to my apartment if you are interested in these items. i also have a lot more stuff of kurts, like magazine and clothes that i will be selling off soon. thank you for looking."
Below: 20 artists inspired by Nirvana's In Utero
Fall Out Boy: Speaking to NME ahead of In Utero's anniversary, guitarist Joe Trohman said "I'm a big Nirvana fan, like in the 90's - it's definitely an era when we all grew up. That record - lyrically it's one of the most raw Nirvana records and sonically because Steve Albini engineered it. It definitely sounds like a loud record, it sounds like three guys playing in a room together."
Flaming Lips: The band started out as a much grungier outfit that the psych-rock space mentalists we know today, and even toured with Nirvana as far back as 1989. In 2007, Wayne Coyne told The Guardian that In Utero was "far superior" to Nevermind. You can hear the love and respect for the band in Flaming Lips' cover of the In Utero classic 'Pennyroyal Tea'. Youtube it, it's awesome.
Manic Street Preachers: The depression, troubles and disappearance of Richey Edwards are often mentioned in reference to the demise of Kurt Cobain, while their cult classic The Holy Bible is held in the same league for raw emotion and bleakness as In Utero. Bassist Nicky Wire has often spoken of Nirvana's influence on This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, while the impact of the band can certainly be heard on their cover of In Utero's 'Pennyroyal Tea'.
Everything Everything: That 'Heart-Shaped Box' is still one of their favourite songs and play it every time before they go on stage: "We're huge fans of Nirvana's In Utero. I actually prefer that album to Nevermind, which some people find perverse but I really prefer the sound of it. Nevermind has this amazing streamlined pop quality to it, but In Utero feels like the true essence of the band ought to be."
Lana Del Rey: Explaining her cover of In Utero's 'Heart-Shaped Box, the 'Video Games' star told Sirius FM: “When I was 11, I saw Kurt Cobain singing 'Heart Shaped Box' on MTV and it really stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Even at a young age, I really related to his sadness. She added: I never revisited his music again until I was about 17 or 18, and then when I did, it still meant just as much to me then. It's continued to be my primary inspiration – in terms of not wanting to compromise lyrically or sonically."
Feeder: Another band who came to be in the heyday of grunge around the time of In Utero are Feeder - who have often cited Kurt Cobain and co as influences and covered their tracks.
30 Seconds To Mars: Jared Leto cites Nirvana as one of his biggest influences, telling Q Magazine: "Nirvana were a great band, Kurt was a genius songwriter with an unstoppable voice and they were three musicians that made a really unique sound - but there was something else that Nirvana gave, and that was the gift of permission for all of us to have the right to pick up an instrument and create."
Placebo: Any three-piece band formed in the mid-90s with a heavy emphasis on riffs, unrelenting vocals and emotive lyrics is going to get Cobain comparisons, and Placebo were plagued by the tag 'the glam rock Nirvana' for years. However, they do admit the band's influence and have even covered them.
Frank Turner: The alt-folk hero has never shyed away from love of Nirvana. He's covered their classics and even paid tribute to Cobain by controversially coming on stage at Reading & Leeds in a wheelchair.
Weezer: Rivers Cuomo has been very vocal about the impact of Nirvana when Weezer first formed. Kurt Cobain was even mentioned by name in the original draft for the lyrics to 'Susanne', but upon Cobain's death, the line was altered. When the song was brought back into the band's setlists in 2010, the original line ("Even Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose/When I call, you put them all on hold.") was restored.
Biffy Clyro: Beyond the beards, occasional blonde hair, blistering vocals and insane stage antics, Nirvana's impact on Biffy is well-documented. When they first formed just after In Utero's release, The Biff admit that they sounded 'like every other band who'd ever heard Nirvana'. Speaking to FaceCulture in 2007, frontman Simon Neil said: "A band like Nirvana comes along and they're normal guys making music. Guns 'N' Roses were very close to my heart but Nirvana felt a lot more real, so when I saw them I thought 'I can play music, I can do this."
Muse: The Devonshire trio were met with many Nirvana and Radiohead comparisons when they emerged with debut album Showbiz. Speaking to NME in 1999, frontman Matt Bellamy said: "We take our influences from lots of American bands, like Nirvana." Bassist Chris Wolstenholme added: "We were into Nirvana when we were younger, when we were in previous bands we did covers of their stuff, it was what got us into bands really, it was what made us want to be in bands."
More about: Nirvana
Photo: Press/Craigslist
