Axl's reaction to Kurt Cobain's death

[Ignatius]

One of the things I'm always been very curious about, was Axl's reaction to Kurt Cobain's death.

This is one of the topic's I'd always though I'd bring up if I ever had a conversation with Axl Rose (it's not happened unfortunately).

I've read/watched many comments from pretty much every rock star from that era commenting on Cobain's passing; Duff, Slash, Flea, Bono, Anthony Kidies, Eddie Vedder, Liam Gallagher but I've never heard Axl.

In 1994, Guns was already out of the public eye, Illusions tour had ended the previous year and the band was already on hiatus (and there was no Internet).

We didn't hear back from Axl until he faxed MTV in 96 or 97 announcing the next album and the departure from Slash...so as far as I recall, there are no interviews with Axl for at least 3-4 years after Kurt's death.

I know they've never really got along, but this was more to do on Kurt's side, who rejected any help from Axl/Guns because they represented what Nirvana was against. Axl was a fan back in the day until 92, when Nirvana started to make fun of Axl/Guns and then the infamous incident at the MTV music awards.

I've looked around to see if there's anything on this topic, but I could only find a few articles here and there, all of them based on the same source more or less really.

What I found is, according to Bryn Breidenthal, former Geffen publicist, Bryn talked about being the first person to tell Axl what happened, she said-“The first thing I did when I got back to my hotel room, was to call Axl because I was afraid of how the news might impact him. He was such an emotional roller coaster, I was afraid that Axl would hurt himself. He felt things really deep and felt a real connection there, even though there was no connection from the other side. I think he had a lot of empathy for Kurt. I was on the phone with Axl until about 3:00 in the morning. Ultimately it was okay but I don’t remember that what was said because I’d had so many hours and hours of those kinds of conversations with him. One time, I got off the phone with him and my teeth were chattering and I felt like I was the aunt, I was how was the energy inside my head. We were just talking on a level that wasn’t there and now, it was just pure energy and out-of-body experience, and he said that my body acts like its freezing or something. It was just so intense.”

There's also a video from Guns N' Roses Central here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QiGJWd63rw about the same thing...

No one has never asked Axl (at least in an interview) how did Cobain's death affected him...I'd love to know what went through his mind when he heard the news. Axl's a pretty sensitive guy. I'm pretty sure, despite all the bad vibes between the two, Axl felt Kurt's tormenting soul very deeply.

[Executioner]

Nirvana tried to portray themselves as this low key Garage band that despised the big corporate Rock world yet they were signed to Geffen on a massive multi million dollar deal the same label as GnR ,Axl wanted Nirvana to open for GnR on the illusions tour but they turned it down on a number of occasions and Kurt refused to meet Axl backstage at an Nirvana concert the thing is they probably would have hit it off they both came from a very dysfunctional background and had a lot of inner demons .

[LunsJail]

The GNR Central interview with Goldstein discussed it more than I had ever heard about. It’s interesting what a visceral reaction his death brought on in so many people. Would that happen with anyone now? I’m afraid we’ve become a little desensitized to rock star deaths since then.

[Mysteron]

Nirvana tried to portray themselves as this low key Garage band that despised the big corporate Rock world yet they were signed to Geffen on a massive multi million dollar deal the same label as GnR ,Axl wanted Nirvana to open for GnR on the illusions tour but they turned it down on a number of occasions and Kurt refused to meet Axl backstage at an Nirvana concert the thing is they probably would have hit it off they both came from a very dysfunctional background and had a lot of inner demons .

Kurt Cobain was always offish and wierd. I met him once, and I knew Krusher from working in London thorugh a friend who lived in Fulham, and he thought the same, or so he said

[Executioner]

[PermissionToLand]

Man, Cobain just looks like he's screaming for help inside.

[Sillything]

Kurt himself said in a documentary clip that he could have been touring with GNR but that he was to smacked up to do it. I guess that was more the reason than being too "alternative" than the "mainstream" GNR.

[jarmo]

Man, Cobain just looks like he's screaming for help inside.

I could be wrong, but seems as real as some of those recent unwanted Ivanka photos....

Nowadays just because there is a photo of something doesn't mean it happened.



/jarmo

[sakuL]

Man, Cobain just looks like he's screaming for help inside.

I could be wrong, but seems as real as some of those recent unwanted Ivanka photos....

Nowadays just because there is a photo of something doesn't mean it happened.



/jarmo

yeah, the light doesn't look corresponding on two of the faces ... I don't know for sure either, but it has some sort of "fake quality" at least

[FreddieJames]

Haha, this is so fake. Its a bad Photoshop job....There's no picture of them posing together.

[Executioner]

How do you know Axl was a big fan of Nirvana and they were both signed to Geffen so they probably crossed paths a few times things may have gone south later when GnR wanted Nirvana to open for them and to be part of the Metallica tour but it's certainly not impossible that they met a few times.

[jarmo]

As far as I know, the only time we know they met was at the 1992 MTV VMAs.



/jarmo

[PermissionToLand]

Man, Cobain just looks like he's screaming for help inside.

I could be wrong, but seems as real as some of those recent unwanted Ivanka photos....

Nowadays just because there is a photo of something doesn't mean it happened.



/jarmo

You're right, I wasn't looking closely.

[Ignatius]

As far as I know, the only time we know they met was at the 1992 MTV VMAs.



/jarmo

I think in 1991, right after Nevermind came out, Axl went to see Nirvana perform somewhere in LA. He wanted to meet Kurt. I think he went with Geffen's publicist. Kurt was told Axl wanted to say hey, but wasn't too keen on the idea and ducked out a back door.


"...Backstage afterward, Eddie Rosenblatt told me that he had come with Axl Rose and asked if he could bring him into the dressing room to say hi to Kurt. When I conveyed this request, Kurt grimaced and said he really didn’t want to meet the Guns N’ Roses singer. I didn’t want to put Geffen’s president in an untenable situation, so I suggested to Kurt that he and I leave the dressing room and then I’d give Rosenblatt a couple of passes. That way it wouldn’t be like we were excluding them, just that Kurt couldn’t be found.

...Kurt nodded and I walked outside, delivered the passes to Rosenblatt, and asked if he and Rose could wait five minutes for Nirvana to ‘change clothes.’ Then I went back in and grabbed Kurt and we ducked out a back door. Rosenblatt never gave me trouble about it afterward so the charade worked on some level, but I doubt it left Rose with a great taste in his mouth.”



https://gnrcentral.com/2019/04/07/axl-rose-rejected-by-kurt-cobain-at-nirvana-concert/

[DeN]

Kurt himself said in a documentary clip that he could have been touring with GNR but that he was to smacked up to do it.

do you have a link? never heard of that before.

[DeN]

Ok, you probably talk about Montage of Heck.

it was a sarcastic comment from Kurt, obviously.

[allwaystired]

Ok, you probably talk about Montage of Heck.

it was a sarcastic comment from Kurt, obviously.

God, I hated that film with a passion. Even went so far as to put me off Nirvana- Cobain just seemed a horrible arsehole.

[pilferk]

Here's the original, unaltered Axl pic:



And while I can't find the full body version of the picture, this looks like it's a cropped version of the other photo used in the 'shop (which was then flipped).



It's definitely a photoshop job.  And not a great one.

[DeN]

Ok, you probably talk about Montage of Heck.

it was a sarcastic comment from Kurt, obviously.

God, I hated that film with a passion. Even went so far as to put me off Nirvana- Cobain just seemed a horrible arsehole.

according to Buzz Osborne from The Melvins and dear friend of the band, the movie is mostly untrue. I think we can trust him.

[allwaystired]

Ok, you probably talk about Montage of Heck.

it was a sarcastic comment from Kurt, obviously.

God, I hated that film with a passion. Even went so far as to put me off Nirvana- Cobain just seemed a horrible arsehole.

according to Buzz Osborne from The Melvins and dear friend of the band, the movie is mostly untrue. I think we can trust him.

I didn't know that actually. I felt quite uncomfortable watching the scenes when he was high handling his baby though. It did make me wonder why the child wasn't taken to care at that juncture, as it looked very unsafe to me.

I actually wish I'd never watched the film.