You'll Never Guess Who's Fronting Nirvana's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Performance

Nirvana are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame later this week and with the surviving band members set to perform at the 2014 ceremony, music media is abuzz with speculation as to who will fill Kurt Cobain’s iconic shoes.

Rumours have included another round of ‘Sirvana’ with Paul McCartney or even Cobain’s close friend and REM frontman Michael Stipe, who is inducting Nirvana at the ceremony, but a major clue from none other than Foo Fighters strongly suggests it won’t be a male fronting the Nirvana performance, but one of rock’s great female singer-guitarists.

A photo from band rehearsals was posted to Foo Fighters’ social media accounts yesterday, displaying Grohl’s drumkit, Krist Novoselic’s bass, Pat Smear’s Fender strat, and a rather distinctive looking Melody Maker guitar in the middle, which belongs to none other than Joan Jett (and here’s proof), as Billboard reports.

Jett has previously buddied with Grohl on a series of live performances. The ‘I Love Rock & Roll’ hit-maker and former Runaways member having played with the Foo Fighters on a 2011 Late Show With David Letterman performance, while Grohl appeared on Jett’s 2013 album Unvarnished, helping co-write and perform the track ‘Any Weather‘. But the big question is – assuming the Jett-as-Cobain happens – is what tune the 55-year-old will be tackling? (And what the outspoken Courtney Love thinks of the whole situation).

All will be revealed tonight, Thursday 10th April, when the induction takes place at the Barclays Center in New York, where the Seattle grunge legends make the 2014 class cut along with KISS, Hall and Oates, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, producer Andrew Loog Oldham, plus Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band – complete with a live performance with the Boss.

Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction comes after being nominated on their first eligible entry, for pre-Grohl 1988 single ‘Love Buzz’. But Chad Channing, the drummer who played on that recording and Nirvana’s debut LP Bleach, has been denied an invitation, as NME reports.

The induction also follows the 20th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain on Saturday 5th April, dredging up all manner of feels and media coverage in the process. Including a comic book tribute to the Nirvana frontman, Triple’s long-lost and very excruciating Cobain interview, and a trailer for a new docudrama that explores claims that the 27-year-old was murdered.