Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, and grunge legends Nirvana are among the most well-known names in the late-twentieth-century American rock music scene. Despite different styles, these rock icons had a brief crossover in the early 1990s. It resulted in Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain clashing with Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose.
It is probably unsurprising that Cobain and Rose did not have the best of relationships. The two frontmen symbolized opposed concepts of manhood. Kurt Cobain represented a sensitive and angsty age of adolescents disillusioned by old American dream ideals. Axl Rose embodied jockish hyper-masculinity and nationalism.
In addition to his repertoire of meaningless bubblegum rock, Axl Rose was chastised for his sexist, homophobic, and frequently racist attitudes. Rose’s track ‘One in a Million‘ has racist, homophobic, and Islamophobic lyrics. These are completely at variance with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana’s punk philosophy.
This animosity peaked during the 1992 MTV Awards, when Axl allegedly threatened Cobain backstage, urging him to keep his wife, Courtney Love, quiet. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett witnessed the entire incident, telling Revolver, “I was sitting there chatting to Kurt backstage when all of a sudden fucking Axl walks up, sees me, and looks at Kurt and … I am like, ‘Oh no!’ And he approaches Kurt and says, ‘What’s your problem, motherfucker?’ Kurt responds, ‘Whatever, guy.’ And [Axl] says, ‘I’ll fucking beat your ass. Come on. “Let’s go!”
Kurt’s attempts to ignore the bandana-wearing leader were ineffective, as Hammett explains: “Then at another point I was just standing, minding my own business, and then Axl fucking shows up again, and he says to me, ‘What’s up with your fucking friend?'” I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, man. You two have to sort it out. And he says, ‘Yeah, well, I’ll fucking figure it out with him.
Kurt later recounted that he spat on Axl’s keyboard as a subtle form of retaliation for this loud exhibition of toxic masculinity. It was either that or beat him up. I spotted his piano there and felt compelled to spew large goobers all over his keyboards. However, this simply appeared to exacerbate the condition. Soon after, Guns N’ Roses members attempted to topple over Nirvana’s trailer. It only housed Cobain’s infant daughter Francis and her nanny.
So it appears that there was no love lost between Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana. The latter declined an opening slot on the Metallica/Guns N’ Roses tour as a result of Rose’s comical behavior. Years later, Metallica would fall victim to Axl’s invincible ego, with the band being labeled a “cartoon” in 2008. Frontman James Hetfield responded to the comment with some nasty jabs about Guns N’ Roses’ then-current lineup. He added, “[Guns N’ Roses] are a different type of band – and I use the term ‘band’ loosely. There’s a guy and some other guys.” Touché.
