Nirvana & Guns N' Roses: Rock's Unlikely Common Ground

Before their rivalry began, Axl Rose considered himself a fan.Axl Rose considered himself a fan of Nirvana.In 1991, he showed his love for Nirvana in Guns N' Roses' video for "Don't Cry".Axl Rose included a Nirvana hat in a shot.Respect between the two groups did not exist. Kurt Cobain tried to keep distance from Rose.

While promoting Nirvana...promoting Nirvana...Nirvana.Cobain used GNR as an example of what Nirvana was not. He said, "We're not your typical [GNR] type of band that has absolutely nothing to say."

This hurt Rose. He could not grasp why Nirvana, along with other major alternative groups, did not like him, his band, or their music. Rose told Faith No More:

I only like Nirvana, Jane's Addiction, and two other bands. You all hate me. Why do you hate me? It's like I left and came back home to find you f*cked my wife.

Rose's hurt feelings did not make Nirvana change their minds.Cobain stated"Rebellion is standing up to people like [them]."

Sometime in early 1992,early 1992Axl Rose asked Nirvana to play at his birthday party; they said no. Hurt but still a Nirvana fan, Rose latersuggested they openfor GNR on their 1992 stadium tour with Metallica.

Kurt Cobain refused and ignored Rose's"non-stop" phone callsabout the rejected invitation:

I think it represented something bigger. Nirvana did not want to turn into GNR. So Kurt started talking sh*t in interviews, and then Axl began talking back. It went back and forth like 10th-grade bullsh*t.

Rose hit back withpublic thoughts such as, "Nirvana would rather stay at home and [do smack] with their b*tch wives than tour with us." GNR invited Faith No More to open instead. As Cobain predicted, the tour he refused to join became a symbol of everything Nirvana hated about GNR.

Audiencesexperienced an inebriated Rosevomiting on stage and walking off mid-performance repeatedly. Late show starts, flashy pyrotechnics burned James Hetfield, and mayhem in Montreal cost about $400,000.

Axl Rose often called out Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love for their substance use. Bothstruggled with dependency, and despite hisproblems with substances, Rose pursued the pair. In 1992, Love gave birth to daughter Frances Bean.Vanity Fair reported she continued to use while pregnant.

Roseused thisas fuel during a GNR show in Orlando, calling Cobain and Love "junkies" and saying, "If the baby is born deformed, I think they both ought to go to prison."

As the grunge aesthetic grew popular in the early '90s, MTV tried to shift smoothly from '80s glam metal by hosting artists from both sides at the 1992 Video Music Awards, featuring GNR and Nirvana. The two bands already had a huge rivalry, and things soured when they met face to face for the first time.

Cobain was in the artist area with Courtney Love and their baby, Frances Bean, when Axl Rose arrived.Cobain rememberedHe walked by with five bodyguards and a camera person.

Love sarcastically asked Rose if he wanted to be their daughter's godfather. This pushed Rose over the edge, and he started screaming at the Nirvana frontman. Cobain remembered the incident. He said, "These were his words: 'You shut your b*tch up, or I'm taking you down to the pavement.' So I turned to Courtney and said: 'Shut up, b*tch!' So I guess I did what he wanted me to do—be a man."

Cobain's sarcasm eased tension. Love insulted Rose's girlfriend's intelligence. The Guns N' Roses singer left in a huff.

Nirvana and GNR lead singers had a heated talk. Their bassists also fought. GNR's Duff McKagan...McKagan heard about Axl Rose's encounter with Kurt Cobain.McKagan felt disrespected by Nirvana after hearing about Axl Rose's run-in with Kurt Cobain.

Alcohol fueled McKagan. He saw Krist Novoselic as the Nirvana bassist moved toward the stage. McKagan admitted, "I was mad and insane then. My only way to handle conflict was bar-room brawling."

McKagan approached Novoselic with a few bodyguards and pushed him. Novoselic was already altered and ready to fight. The crew had to separate the men and calm things down before Novoselic and Nirvana could play.

"I was already off balance and immediately said the same thing. The crew grabbed me, and we moved toward the stage," Novoselic recalled.

After several near-fights before Nirvana played at the VMAs, the tension between the two rock bands...continued on stage.As Nirvana played "Lithium," Krist Novoselic threw his bass high into the air then caught it. This time, stage lights blinded him, and the instrument hit his head, making him fall.

Novoselic recalled, "I was fine, but I acted like I was knocked out, maybe showing my inner stress from a tough night. Maybe I was just embarrassed."

As the song ended, Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl destroyed the stage and their instruments while Novoselic left. During the chaos, Grohl went to the mic and taunted Axl Rose again, yelling, "Hi Axl! Hi Axl! Where's Axl? Hi Axl!"

Perhaps high from their show, Kurt Cobain went down to the 1992 Video Music Awards stage to...mess with Axl Rose.Rose planned to close the show with a duet of "November Rain" with Elton John. The crew set up two pianos below the stage on hydraulic lifts.

"I spat on Axl's keyboard... it was either that or beat him up," Cobain recalled. "I saw his piano there, and I just had to take this chance and spit big goobers all over his keyboards." Cobain later learned the piano he spat on belonged to Elton John.

The evening's events widened the split between GNR and Nirvana. Cobain used the chance to mend things with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.The two men slow danced to Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven."Cobain told Vedder he had heard Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven."Cobain respected Vedder as a person.Cobain held this respect despite disliking Pearl Jam.

After Nirvana played at the 1992 VMAs, several Guns N' Roses members decided to knock over Nirvana's trailer.GNR members visited the band's trailer.No Nirvana members returned. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's infant daughter stayed with her nanny inside.

Amy Finnerty, MTV's director of music programming, recalled arriving at the trailer. She found McKagan and others trying to tip it over. Rose was there but not helping.

They did not know Frances was inside. Cobain panicked and called security. They stopped when they realized Frances was present. It was just a joke.

No one got hurt during the incident.

In early 1993, Kurt Cobain appeared in an interview.Cobain sat down for an interview.The interview was with LGBTQ+ publication The Advocate.Cobain spoke with The Advocate.This interview increased the tension between Nirvana and GNR. Both bands shared many fans, making a comparison natural.

When Kevin Allman asked Cobain about GNR's music, Cobain said, "I can't think of a damn thing. I can't even waste my time on that band; they are obviously pathetic and untalented."

The Nirvana singer also described an exchange with a fan asking for the bands to "work this out." Cobain replied:

Cobain told the fan, "No, kid, you're really wrong. Those people are total sexist jerks, and the reason we're playing this show is to fight homophobia in a [really] small way. The guy is a f*cking sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can't be on his side and be on our side."

By 1994, the rivalry between Nirvana and GNR eased somewhat. During this calm time, Kurt Cobain and Duff McKagan found themselveson the same flight.They flew from Los Angeles to Seattle.

They acted civil and spoke politely, McKagan recalled:

We were both messed up. We talked, but not deeply. I was in my hell, and he was in his; we both seemed to get it.

The two discussed their shared experiences with dependency and recovery. As they landed and took their bags, people who knew Cobain and McKagan surrounded them, and they separated.

McKagan briefly considered inviting Cobain over because he seemed lonely, but he did not ask. Cobain went home, just down the street from McKagan's. Two days later, Cobain ended his life.

After Kurt Cobain died in April 1994, the remaining members of Nirvana and GNR stopped their feud. Dave Grohl said GNR drummer Matt Sorumquickly contacted him to offer his condolences.Sorum offered his sympathy.

Matt Sorum says he and the Nirvana drummer offered condolences after Kurt Cobain passed away.are good friends now.Sorum and the Nirvana drummer are good friends now.

After leaving GNR in the late nineties, bassist Duff McKagan formed Velvet Revolver with former GNR bandmates. He also contributed a weekly column to 'Reverb' in Seattle Weekly's music section.McKagan wrote a weekly column.He wrote for 'Reverb'.','McKagan was part ofSeattle Weekly'smusic section.

In 2010, McKagan talked about the GNR-Nirvana conflict and Kurt Cobain's death. McKagan said he considered inviting the Nirvana singer over after meeting him on a plane. He said, "I felt the same way. [Cobain] felt lonely and alone that night." McKagan did not invite him then.

McKagan also spoke to Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic directly. He apologized for not contacting him when Nirvana gained fame:

Your band should have set new standards for a rock band. Your career and vision ended too soon. Musicians avoid talking about this stuff, thinking it is too personal. People expect us to move on. Do we not have money to feel better? Only people know.

SlashSlash claims he did not participateSlash explained he was not involved in the GNR-Nirvana fight at the 1992 Video Music Awards, saying, "I did not have time for that crap." He did help improve relations between band members. In 2010, Dave Grohl attended theRevolverGrohl gave Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Gods Awards.

Before getting the award, KilmisterSlash joined Grohl.Kilmister joined Grohl and Slash on stage for a Motörhead song, "Ace of Spades." Slash and Grohl played together fine and got compliments on their shows. The two men shared a smile at the song's end.

In 2015, Dave Grohl misjudged a jump off stage while touring with the Foo Fighters.He broke his leg.Though he returned on a stretcher after a short hospital stay and finished the show, the band did not know how to finish their tour. ButGrohl had a painkiller-induced vision.and asked his team to build a chair for him to perform on stage.

The device looked like the Iron Throne, but it had light-up guitars. As asked, it had an extra platform where Grohl could rest his leg and keep it up while sitting.

One year later, GNR planned a reunion tour. Before the first show, Axl Rosebroke his foot during a preview at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.Dave Grohl loaned Axl Rose his performing throne for a preview show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The tour faced many issues; Rose needed surgery, making cancellations likely.

Fans at GNR's first Las Vegas stop saw Rose seated in a throne with his leg in a cast. After the show, roadies removed a cover from the throne's back, showing the Foo Fighters logo, proving who owned the chair.