Michael Azerrad participated in a conversation with Brian Hiatt on Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast on October 24. It was in advance of the forthcoming 30th-anniversary deluxe edition of “Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana”. He discussed his time spent with Nirvana and mentioned Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl’s relationship.
“I thought that was a little condescending, frankly,” the author said. Alluding to a passage in the original biography where Cobain was quoted as calling the drummer’s guitar riff in “Scentless Apprentice” “boneheaded.”
Upon bringing up another instance in which the deceased singer called one of his bandmates “the most well-adjusted boy in the whole world”. Hiatt offered the following commentary:
“I believe Kurt made fun of Dave in part because he was a normal, well-adjusted person. He is a well-adjusted, well-liked guy. And I believe that Kurt was mocking that in part because, unlike Kurt, he wasn’t a freak. He was also envious. Kurt may have been a little jealous of Dave because Dave seemed to be in control of his situation.
Azerrad claimed that Cobain had even considered firing Grohl. The singer expressed his desire to split ways with the drummer in a hotel room they shared while on tour, according to the author of his autobiography, “My Time With Kurt Cobain.”
The ex-member of Nirvana remembered the incident differently, as he stated in an interview with Vulture in 2021:
I stood a few rows in front of Kurt and Krist as we traveled to Los Angeles to begin production rehearsals for the In Utero tour. “I think we need a drummer that’s more rudimental,” Kurt said. This was about the drummer who was almost hired when I joined the band, along the lines of Dan Peters.
He continued by expressing his response to Cobain’s remarks:
“I was furious because I believed everything would be alright. I asked Krist if that was really what the two of you wanted to do. Since we can end the day if that’s what you’d like, please just let me know. When I finally brought it up to Kurt, he said, “No.” We don’t want to do that. I simply thought, “You guys should decide what kind of drummer you want”. And they chose for me to stay.
Despite the conflicts, Grohl was the only permanent drummer for Nirvana after the band used six different drummers in the beginning. After the vocalist passed away in 1994, the band disbanded, marking the end of his tenure there.
