The Cobain 503 Jul 2024

Michael Azerrad, the Man Who (Literally) Wrote the Book on Nirvana

Michael Azerrad joins us to talk about his relationship with Kurt Cobain, reviving a 30-year-old biography, Nirvana's legacy, and some of the records on Kurt’s list. Michael wrote the 1993 biography "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana," and he recently released an annotated version titled "The Amplified Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana."

Next week, we'll return to our regularly scheduled stories about the albums on Kurt's list, resuming with Get the Knack.

Hosts: Dusty Henry and Martin Douglas
Audio producers: Dusty Henry and Roddy Nikpour
Podcast manager: Isabel Khalili
Editorial director: Larry Mizell Jr.

Support the podcast: kexp.org/cobain

0:00:00: Intro
0:01:38: Meeting Kurt for the first time
0:09:26: From acquaintance to friend
0:13:00: Why Michael annotated the biography 30 years later
0:19:18: Michael on revisiting his work
0:21:39: Navigating self-made mythologies
0:24:31: Kurt's antagonists and his collaging methods
0:27:47: Kurt on "Calvinists" and riot grrrl
0:30:31: Nirvana ≠ grunge ("hot take territory")
0:33:03: Kurt didn't like Sub Pop's marketing of Nirvana
0:38:00: Kurt as a working-class guy
0:39:34: The REAL list? Bands that Kurt talked about a lot
0:46:05: Michael on Sex Pistols
0:48:04: Michael on Wipers
0:50:51: Michael on Mudhoney
0:51:54: How do you compare Dan Peters to Dave Grohl?
0:53:03: Michael on Beat Happening
0:56:04: Michael on Black Flag
0:59:21: Michael and Kurt's eternally intertwined legacies
1:02:32: Thank you
1:03:27: Credits

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Episoder(126)

Come As You Are: A Live Finale Episode

This episode marks the end of The Cobain 50 and El Cancionero de Kurt. After going through all 50 albums from Kurt’s list, we celebrated with an event in KEXP’s Gathering Space with a packed house of ...

2 Mai 20251h 13min

Daniel Johnston – Yip/Jump Music (1983)

On our penultimate episode—and the final album on Kurt Cobain’s list—Martin Douglas dives into Yip/Jump Music by Daniel Johnston. Johnston rose from obscurity by self-recording (and self-dubbing) his ...

23 Apr 202550min

Half Japanese – We Are They Who Ache with Amorous Love (1990)

Janice Headley chats with frontman and co-founder Jad Fair for this in-depth look at the Half Japanese album We Are They Who Ache with Amorous Love. Plus, KEXP presents the world premiere of “Lemonade...

16 Apr 202545min

Butthole Surfers – Pee Pee the Sailor (1983) and Locust Abortion Technician (1987)

On this week’s episode of The Cobain 50, Dusty Henry digs deep into the two Butthole Surfers albums from Kurt’s list – Pee Pee The Sailor (also known as their self-titled debut EP) and Locust Abortion...

9 Apr 202534min

Swans – Young God (1984)

In this week’s episode, Dusty Henry digs into one of the more caustic bands on Kurt’s list – Swan’s and their 1984 EP, Young God. The band has one of the more abrasive sounds and stories on the list, ...

2 Apr 202531min

Bonus: Ray Farrell’s Journey Through Indie and Major Labels

This week on The Cobain 50, we share one last bonus episode before we hit the final stretch of albums on Kurt Cobain’s top albums list. Ray Farrell may not be a familiar name to most, but he’s worked ...

26 Mar 20251h 6min

Bonus: A Deeper Listen with Matt Cameron

This week on The Cobain 50, we’re taking a quick break from our regularly scheduled programming to share an interview with another Seattle music icon – Matt Cameron. Cameron is the drummer for legenda...

19 Mar 202542min

The Frogs - It's Only Right and Natural (1989)

Roddy Nikpour speaks with Josh Modell about It’s Only Right and Natural by The Frogs. By modern standards, The Frogs created cancel-able album after cancel-able album. Somehow, though, their punk inno...

12 Mar 202532min