Melvin’s front man Buzz Osborne has gone ahead and added a little more badarsery to Kurt Cobain’s already rebellious reputation by revealing the story of the night Cobain was arrested and sent to jail for graffiti.
“We were out spray painting graffiti all over town,” Osborne recalled of the infamous night during the streaming event Divine Monkeyshines: Valentine’s Day Special. He explained that he was joined by Kurt Cobain as well as Melvin’s former drummer, Matt Dillard
“You try to think of something that’s gonna really burn all these people there,” Osborne added before explaining that his “favourite tag” was to write “God is gay” – a phrase that appeared on the Nirvana song “Stay Away.”
“We walked around the corner of this bank and all of a sudden there’s cops, a bunch of cops everywhere,” Osborne recalled. “And we just take off running in different directions.”
While Dillard and Osborne managed to bail off without getting caught, Cobain wasn’t so lucky and got his arse dragged down to the police station.
“All of a sudden, we heard errrrrck around the corner,” Osbourne detailed, mimicking the sound of a car screeching to a halt. “They had nabbed Cobain somehow. Like he was hiding somewhere. And he went to the joint.”
Of course, Kurt Cobain is one of the few so genetically blessed that he can make even a mug shot look great. Exhibit A below:
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Police notes show that the incriminating phrase that Cobain was arrested for read, “Ain’t got no how whatchamacallit.” The singer told Osborne that his short stint in the slammer was “horrible”.
“He was actually a really good artist, so if he spray painted a picture, it would really be good,” Osborne said of Cobain’s tagging ‘work’. “But usually it was very dark humor and not very PC.”
After a battle with substances and depression, Cobain tragically passed away in 1994 from suicide. Fellow former Nirvana member Dave Grohl reflected on Cobain’s untimely death this week and spoke of how it affected both him personally, as well as the band’s potential future.
