Frances Bean Cobain: Not A Big Fan Of Her Late Father’s Band, Nirvana

Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain, admitted she isn’t a fan of her late father’s band with a laugh and grin. She shared she isn’t really into the grunge scene. There are two Nirvana songs she mentioned, however, that she does love listening to — one evokes a lot of emotion from her while the other one is just, in her own words, a “f**king great song.”

During an in-depth interview with Rolling Stone, 22-year-old Frances Bean spoke publicly for the first time about the legacy her father left behind, the troubled relationship with her mother Courtney Love, and the documentary on her father, Montage of Heck, which she executive-produced. Frances Bean attended the premiere of the documentary at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where she was photographed smiling and hugging her mom for the first time in public in years. In making Montage of Heck, Frances Bean wanted to show a side of her dad never seen before — the man behind the mythology.

When asked in her Rolling Stone interview, where she also once interned for a period of time, about how she feels when listening to Nirvana’s records, she gives a surprising answer.

“I don’t really like Nirvana that much [grins]… I’m more into Mercury Rev, Oasis, Brian Jonestown Massacre [laughs]. The grunge scene is not what I’m interested in. But ‘Territorial Pi**ings’ [on Nevermind] is a f**king great song. And ‘Dumb’ [on In Utero] – I cry every time I hear that song. It’s a stripped-down version of Kurt’s perception of himself – of himself on drugs, off drugs, feeling inadequate to be titled the voice of a generation.”

Frances Bean was asked if she feels awkward about not being a fan of her late father’s band, and her revealed feelings about Nirvana’s music make sense. She isn’t going to idolize her father, someone she may not have gotten to know well but still sees as a human being like everyone else. Not too often does society think about the children of dead musicians and how their parents’ music being everywhere may affect them, especially when those parents have left this world tragically young.

“No. I would have felt more awkward if I’d been a fan. I was around 15 when I realized he was inescapable. Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there’s my dad. He’s larger than life, and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians. We love to put them on a pedestal.”

The new issue of Rolling Stone with Frances Bean’s interview is due out Friday, April 10.

Montage of Heck is slated to air on HBO on May 4 and will also be shown in select theaters April 24.

While Frances Bean may not be a fan of her late father’s band, Nirvana, there is no doubt Kurt Cobain has left behind not only a legacy in music, but also in her.

[Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images]