Buzz Osborne says Kurt Cobain was “too screwed up” to finish making a Melvins album
Cobain is credited as co-producer on Melvins’ 1993 record, Houdini.
Image: Jeff Kravitz / Bernd Mueller / Getty Images
Buzz Osborne has clarified that Kurt Cobain was fired as a producer halfway through a Melvins album because he was “too screwed up” to finish it.
While Cobain is credited as co-producer on Melvins’ 1993 album Houdini, the extent of his involvement has often been questioned as the Nirvana frontman was relieved of his duties sometime during the record’s making.
Recent interviews has bandleader Osbourne refuting rumours that claimed the band had fired Cobain because he wanted to write all of their songs for them.
“We fired him because he was too screwed up to finish working on the record,” Osbourne says, referencing Cobain’s addiction issues in a new interview with Loudwire.
And when prompted about the “catalyst” moment that triggered the firing, Osbourne told Revolver: “Yeah – that’s exactly what happened. He didn’t show up for one of the sessions, and it was just really obvious [that he was unfit].”
The musician explained that it wasn’t “wasn’t a judgement call” on Cobain’s choices but more of a feeling that “this isn’t going to work.”
“I went into [Nirvana manager] Danny Goldberg’s office at Atlantic and told him this. And he conveniently doesn’t remember any of it, which is crazy,” Osbourne added. “He’s actually said stuff like Kurt quit because we wanted him to write songs for us — which is fucking insane. I don’t need anybody to write songs for me.”
In other news, Nirvana are celebrating 30 years of their final album In Utero with a deluxe 30th anniversary reissue of the record. Set to arrive later this month, the album will feature a total of 72 tracks, with 53 unreleased live recordings from some of Nirvana’s final shows in their hometown.