Frances Bean Cobain Breaks Her Silence On Kurt In First Ever Interview

Despite having tragically taken his own life now 21 years ago, Kurt Cobain is a man surrounded in mystique, a cultural figure and a voice of a generation that will never be forgotten, this sentiment espoused even more so with the forthcoming release of the definitive, official documentary on his life Montage of Heck, that has been co-produced by his daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, who for the very first time has given an in-depth interview on her late father.

Frances Bean, who is now 22 years-old and has very much remained hidden from the public eye for the majority of her life – outside of her Twitter spat with Lana Del Rey – spoke with Rolling Stone in a Q&A format for an upcoming cover story of Cobain, going into detail about the documentary, explaining what Nirvana songs she actually likes, recounting her rocky relationship with her mother and her experiences with the Nirvana band members.

The interview sees Frances bluntly tell writer Dave LaChapelle what she believes strongly lead to Cobain’s suicide, “Kurt got to the point where he eventually had to sacrifice every bit of who he was to his art, because the world demanded it of him, I think that was one of the main triggers as to why he felt he didn’t want to be here and everyone would be happier without him.” Before painfully going on to say, “in reality, if he had lived, I would have had a dad. And that would have been an incredible experience.”

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Stepping away from the serious sentiment that paints the interview, Frances cheekily admits that she doesn’t really dig Nirvana’s tunes, which if you think about it, is more than understandable. She continues, “I don’t really like Nirvana that much. Sorry, promotional people, Universal. I’m more into Mercury Rev, Oasis, Brian Jonestown Massacre.

“The grunge scene is not what I’m interested in. But ‘Territorial Pissings’ [on Nevermind] is a fucking great song. And ‘Dumb’ [on In Utero] – I cry every time I hear that song. It’s a stripped-down version of Kurt’s perception of himself – of himself on drugs, off drugs, feeling inadequate to be titled the voice of a generation.”

Frances explains these comments, “I would have felt more awkward if I’d been a fan. I was around 15 when I realized he was inescapable. Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there’s my dad. He’s larger than life, and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians.

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“We love to put them on a pedestal. If Kurt had just been another guy who abandoned his family in the most awful way possible…But he wasn’t. He inspired people to put him on a pedestal, to become St. Kurt. He became even bigger after he died than he was when he was alive. You don’t think it could have gotten any bigger. But it did.”

With the release of Montage of Heck, the visual artist looks to be “stepping-out” into the public eye, interestingly around the same time Kurt fell under the microscope of the world’s eye. “Being 22, it’s the first year a fire has been lit under my ass – not because of the documentary, just personally” she said “I have this motivation and ambition that I didn’t have before: ‘I want to go paint this painting.’ The hardest part of doing anything creatively is just getting up and doing. Once I get out of bed and get into my art room, I start painting. I’m there. And I’m doing it.”

For the full interview, jump over to Rolling Stone, but before you do – once again check out the harrowing trailer for the Thursday May 7 release of Montage of Heck:

AUSTRALIAN CINEMAS SCREENING MONTAGE OF HECK

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