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Billie Joe remembers Kurt Cobain 20 Years After His Death


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Billie Joe remembers Kurt Cobain 20 Years After His Death

Billie Joe Armstrong remembers being out on Green Day's first tour in 1990 and encountering the band's graffiti in a string of tiny clubs out West. He'd heard of Nirvana through its Sub Pop releases, including its debut album, "Bleach," but thought little of it at the time.

A year later, Nirvana was known throughout the world. Cobain became something of a tortured poet laureate, a figure Armstrong thinks was as important for his generation as Lennon and McCartney were to theirs.

"You know, the guy just wrote beautiful songs," Armstrong said. "When someone goes that honestly straight to the core of who they are, what they're feeling, and was able to kind of put it out there, I don't know, man, it's amazing. I remember hearing it when 'Nevermind' came out and just thinking, we've finally got our Beatles, this era finally got our Beatles, and ever since then it's never happened again. That's what's interesting. I was always thinking maybe the next 10 years. OK, maybe the next 10 years, OK, maybe. ... That was truly the last rock 'n' roll revolution."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/kurt-cobain-remembered-20-years-death-23173372

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I was reading this thinking that wow, his opinions have changed compared to when he was young and promoting Green Day's earlier work, but then...

Correct me if I'm wrong (because this is coming from old interviews on YouTube I probably watched when I was 14) but I thought Green Day hated grunge and Nirvana? I thought Dookie was a reaction against the very same musical revolution he's now praising? I mean, you could even say that their hatred of the genre inspired the pop-punk revival of the 90's. It was purposely different, and that's why it succeeded.

Green Day was at Nirvana's show in Oakland in 93

Billie has said he once played In Utero while having sex with his wife and was paying more attention to the cd than the wife

I've never heard or seen any of the members say anything even remotely negative about Nirvana or Kurt

Plus Nirvana is more punk than they are grunge only 2 songs out of 113 songs Nirvana has released comes close to grunge...

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Billie has said he once played In Utero while having sex with his wife and was paying more attention to the cd than the wife

:lol: Source?

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:lol: Source?

I believe it was a RS int from the 90's

I'm paraphrasing it tho as I don't think that was the direct exact quote itself

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in a book i read, billie said he really loved nirvana and as said above he went to see them at a show.

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This makes me really happy, Billie praising Kurt and Nirvana, I was waiting for this moment to come cause I've always had the impression that he wasn't.. let's say their biggest "fan"(for lack of a better word).Never read anywhere that he couldn't stand them, just I had the impression on an interview that he was annoyed at a question about Green Day being the heirs to Nirvana.

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I was reading this thinking that wow, his opinions have changed compared to when he was young and promoting Green Day's earlier work, but then...

Correct me if I'm wrong (because this is coming from old interviews on YouTube I probably watched when I was 14) but I thought Green Day hated grunge and Nirvana? I thought Dookie was a reaction against the very same musical revolution he's now praising? I mean, you could even say that their hatred of the genre inspired the pop-punk revival of the 90's. It was purposely different, and that's why it succeeded.

Billie said that they had "Nevermind" on repeat in the Bookmobile.

Dookie was a response to grunge. It sucks. It's dull, introverted and boring. Nirvana always got lumped into that category because they were "dirty" but Nirvana never classified themselves as grunge. Nirvana came from a punk rock community. Their songs had punk undertones more than anything else. They did not have dragged out, boring songs. They had catchy, pop songs disguised with pounding drums and heavy distortion.

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"You know, the guy just wrote beautiful songs," Armstrong said. "When someone goes that honestly straight to the core of who they are, what they're feeling, and was able to kind of put it out there, I don't know, man, it's amazing"

Wonderfully put and couldn't agree more.

I was reading this thinking that wow, his opinions have changed compared to when he was young and promoting Green Day's earlier work, but then...

Correct me if I'm wrong (because this is coming from old interviews on YouTube I probably watched when I was 14) but I thought Green Day hated grunge and Nirvana? I thought Dookie was a reaction against the very same musical revolution he's now praising? I mean, you could even say that their hatred of the genre inspired the pop-punk revival of the 90's. It was purposely different, and that's why it succeeded.

This quote from Billie comes to mind :lol:

"Well, we write rock and roll music. We're a rock and roll band. We're extroverted and exhibitionist. We're not shoe gazers, no way. We're demented. Up on stage, I'm gonna take my fuckin' clothes off and wiggle my little dick at everybody. I'm gonna be totally obnoxious and rude and spit in the eye of every fucking heavy grunge band that ever came out."
But as others have alluded to I don't think he was talking about Nirvana when he said stuff like that, seems to me he was referring to the boring and crappy grunge bands that were around at the same time. Nirvana were much more energetic, showman-like, tuneful and punk influenced and I've only heard him say good things about them.
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I was reading this thinking that wow, his opinions have changed compared to when he was young and promoting Green Day's earlier work, but then...

Correct me if I'm wrong (because this is coming from old interviews on YouTube I probably watched when I was 14) but I thought Green Day hated grunge and Nirvana? I thought Dookie was a reaction against the very same musical revolution he's now praising? I mean, you could even say that their hatred of the genre inspired the pop-punk revival of the 90's. It was purposely different, and that's why it succeeded.

You have it backwards :P it was the grunge scene that hated Green Day and punk pop
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You have it backwards :P it was the grunge scene that hated Green Day and punk pop

Naw not punk rock at least well least not the early grunge Melvin was one of the first grunge bands if not the first and they were real into punk (and still are) a lot of folks credit Buzz with breaking punk music in that area of Olympia and Tacoma and surrounding areas Mudhoney and TAD were also big into punk as well (tho Mudhoney ditched the grunge sound by the time grunge "exploded")

Maybe the followers after them had issues with punk but the core bands of grunge love punk

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I thought Billie didn't really have an opinion about Nirvana, that they were just an OK band for him. I never thought I'd see him saying that Nirvana were "the Beatles of an era" and "the last rock 'n' roll revolution"! So this is nice :)

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Reading Billie talk about Kurt and Nirvana in general made my day. :) Green Day will always be my first favorite band but Nirvana comes at a very close second. There is something about having a connection between two of your favorite bands, that is just amazing. Never really knew Billie's stance on Nirvana, always thought he thought they were just "ok" or a catalyst to get punk rock even more to the forefront. Never knew about the "In Utero, 80" comment he made XD That is just hilarious.

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This makes me really happy, Billie praising Kurt and Nirvana, I was waiting for this moment to come cause I've always had the impression that he wasn't.. let's say their biggest "fan"(for lack of a better word).Never read anywhere that he couldn't stand them, just I had the impression on an interview that he was annoyed at a question about Green Day being the heirs to Nirvana.

Maybe back then he was just annoyed at people comparing them to or measuring them against Nirvana, but that in itself doesn't necessarily mean he hates them or anything.

Oh yeah, weren't they filming the video for Longview at around the time when Kurt committed suicide? Or am I misremembering it?

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Maybe back then he was just annoyed at people comparing them to or measuring them against Nirvana, but that in itself doesn't necessarily mean he hates them or anything.

Oh yeah, weren't they filming the video for Longview at around the time when Kurt committed suicide? Or am I misremembering it?

yes! "The video takes place in a dimly-lit basement unit of a house in Berkeley, California that the band used to live in. The band members say that the look was intentionally grungy. In the video, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is shown sitting on a couch watching television, before going insane and tearing up the couch later in the video. A few moments before filming started, the news of Kurt Cobain's death broke and Armstrong learned of it while sitting there watching TV"

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Might as well add this here for those who seem to have not heard Billie talk about Nirvana before

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Maybe back then he was just annoyed at people comparing them to or measuring them against Nirvana, but that in itself doesn't necessarily mean he hates them or anything.

Oh yeah, weren't they filming the video for Longview at around the time when Kurt committed suicide? Or am I misremembering it?

yes! "The video takes place in a dimly-lit basement unit of a house in Berkeley, California that the band used to live in. The band members say that the look was intentionally grungy. In the video, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is shown sitting on a couch watching television, before going insane and tearing up the couch later in the video. A few moments before filming started, the news of Kurt Cobain's death broke and Armstrong learned of it while sitting there watching TV"

That info is actually false. The Longview video was filmed in January 1994 and Kurt Cobain didn't die until April, so looks like some sensationalist writer just made that up.
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That info is actually false. The Longview video was filmed in January 1994 and Kurt Cobain didn't die until April, so looks like some sensationalist writer just made that up.

omg i always thought it was real

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LOL That doesn't even sound real, it just sounds like fanfiction anyway.

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Here are the best news for the last period of time, especially for me. Nirvana was the first rock-band I ever loved, and all my love to rock started with Nirvana's music. I can definitely say that without it I wouldn't be listening to Green Day and other bands nowadays, and it is such a cool thing that Billie respects them as much as I do. Rest in peace, Kurt

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  • 11 months later...

Here's the RS making of Dookie article where Billie talked about how they found out about Kurt

54D7679C-6123-4C24-AB70-F7CD97210A23_zps

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