Few bands were as influential in the early 1990s as Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana. The Gunners were already part of the rock aristocracy, the younger band around singer Kurt Cobain were the up-and-coming grungers. Guns N’ Roses stood for excess, Nirvana for depression.
After Cobain turned down Rose’s offer to support him, the fire was off. Hate speech and threats followed. There is no trace of the feud between Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana today, and not just because Kurt Cobain died in 1994.
Something like a friendship also seems to have developed, at least between Axl Rose and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, now the singer of the Foo Fighters.
In an exuberant tweet The Roses frontman thanked Grohl for allowing him to borrow his throne for his stage appearance – Axl broke his foot and currently has to sing sitting down.
The Foo Fighters met Guns N’Roses in June 2018: Axl, Slash and Duff joined the ex-Nirvana drummer on stage to play “It’s So Easy”.
The US colleagues from ROLLING STONE analyze the bands’ overlapping paths.
Chronicle of an argument with a good outcome
1991-1992: Kurt gossips about Guns N’ Roses
Axl was originally a Nirvana fan and even wore a cap with the Nirvana logo in the “Don’t Cry” clip. But Kurt didn’t like his colleagues from LA. “We’re not like Guns N’ Roses, a band that has nothing to say. Rebellion means turning against people like you. “
1992: Kurt doesn’t want to tour with GN’R
Despite Cobain’s dislike of the Gunners, Axl Rose wanted Nirvana to perform as the opening act for Guns N’ Roses and Metallica’s tour. Grohl: “Axl kept calling Kurt, Kurt was like, ‘Fuck, when is this going to stop?'”
1992: Axl calls Kurt and Courtney “fuckin’ junkies”
Rose took revenge for Cobain’s lack of interest by agitating against the Nirvana frontman from the stage: Kurt and Courtney’s child, Frances Bean, would be born with a birth defect because the parents were junkies. He even wished them jail: “The only thing that means to me is someone like Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, who is basically just a fuckin’ junkie with a junkie wife. And if the baby’s born deformed, I think they both oughta go to prison — that’s my feeling.”
September 1992: Showdown at the VMAs
Backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Axl and his girlfriend Stephanie Seymour meet Kurt and Courtney, who are playing with their daughter Frances. Courtney asks the Roses singer if he wants to be a godfather. He freaks out and yells at Cobain: “Tell your whore to shut up or you’ll end up on the sidewalk!” Kurt, sarcastically to Courtney: “Shut up, bitch!” After Nirvana’s performance of “Lithium,” Dave Grohl tearfully calls into the microphone: “Hi, Axl!”
December 1992: Kurt destroys Axl in the “The Advocate” interview
In conversation with the LGBT magazine The Advocate calls Cobain rose a “fucking sexist, racist and homophobe”. Listeners should decide whether they want to side with Nirvana or Guns N’Roses. “And besides they can’t write good music.”
March 1994: Kurt Cobain and Duff McKagan chat peacefully on a plane
A few days after his suicide, Cobain met the Gunners bassist on the plane to Seattle. People talk about drug addiction and rehab. “We talked about what it was like to come home.” McKagan tried to offer Cobain a ride with him, but the Nirvana singer disappeared after getting off the plane.
1994: Matt Sorum condoles Dave Grohl
After Cobain’s death, GN’R drummer Matt Sorum calls his drummer colleague Dave Grohl. “He was one of the first,” Grohl remembers. “Matt left a message saying, ‘Man, I’m really sorry. Hope you’re okay.’”
February 2010: Duff McKagan apologizes for attacking Krist Novoselic at the VMAs
In his column for the Seattle Weekly GN’R bassist Duff apologized for an incident at the 1992 VMAs. “I was drunk and high and only heard what I wanted to hear. Backstage I attacked Krist. I had no control over my behavior back then. And Krist, I am sorry for that day.”
April 2010: Dave Grohl and Slash support Lemmy during his “Ace of Spades” performance
Lemmy, the dispute mediator! At the “Revolver Golden Gods Awards”, the Motörhead singer received the “Lifetime Achievement” award, and together with Slash’s band he performed his biggest hit – with Dave Grohl on drums.
April 2016: Axl borrows Grohl’s throne
Damn broken foot. Axl Rose has to complete Guns N’Roses’ comeback concerts two and three sitting down. Former fellow sufferer Dave Grohl, who broke his leg, lent the singer appropriate seating.
June 2018: Foo Fighters and Guns N’Roses live
Both bands perform the GN’R classic “It’s So Easy” from “Appetite for Destruction”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z6UJr-HAis