Kurt Cobain Would Have ‘Made A Great Monk,’ Claims Former Nirvana Bassist Kris Novoselic

In the church of rock n’ roll, former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is considered something of a latter-day saint, which might by why his old bandmate in grunge Kris Novoselic believes that in life, Cobain would have “made a great monk.”

Rock n’ roll and religion have never been easy bedfellows, which is surprising because when done right, with enough fire and brimstone, both install a fierce unblinking devotion and unquestioning loyalty to a strict code and particular way of life that was set rigidly in stone many years before.

However, when former Nirvana bassist Kris Novoselic explained to Spin magazine in a recent interview that Cobain would have made a great man of the cloth, he was speaking in terms of the splendid isolation, perfect peace, and sweet sanctuary from the pressures of fame it would have afforded grunge’s great fallen idol, and not another pulpit from which Cobain could reach the masses with his surreal but engaging sermons of heart-shaped boxes and serving the servants.

“I wish Kurt would’ve lived and then was like a monk somewhere. He would’ve been a great monk. He could’ve been a great painter. He could’ve been a great sculptor. He was such a talented artist. He could’ve done whatever he wanted to do. He didn’t have to do what he did.”

Doing “what he did” involved Cobain committing suicide aged just 27 in his Seattle home. Cobain’s body was found on April 8, 1994. It’s estimated that he killed himself three days before his body was found. Novoselic revealed he saw him shortly before that and recalls how the troubled singer was “out of his mind on heroin” and not thinking clearly.

“He was out of his mind on heroin. I remember seeing him those last days and he was loaded. And so he wasn’t thinking clearly when he did that [committed suicide].”

Novoselic also admits that the writing had pretty much on the wall since Cobain’s March 1994 suicide attempt in Rome while Nirvana were on tour.

“He was really weird after Rome. Like, quiet and just kinda, he should’ve never done that, but he did it. You know, it’s just like, it’s terrible. People do it. I was heartbroken when it happened. It was terrible.”

[Image Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images]