3 Guitarists That Kurt Cobain Absolutely Loved

Kurt Cobain was an excellent guitarist and an even more talented songwriter and singer as the frontman of grunge outfit Nirvana. He often spoke about his favorite musicians here and there back in the 90s, and there are a couple of guitarists he particularly enjoyed. Let’s look at just three of Kurt Cobain’s favorite guitarists! One of these might surprise you.

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1. Lead Belly

Quite a few grunge musicians in the 90s praised Lead Belly’s talent as a guitarist, and Kurt Cobain was one of them. For the uninformed, Lead Belly was an American folk-blues singer and guitarist known for his powerful vocals and talents at the 12-string guitar. You’ve probably heard his rendition of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?/In The Pines”, even if you’re not familiar with him. 

It certainly makes sense why Cobain admired him. Even Van Morrison once said that British pop music of the 1960s would have never happened without Lead Belly’s influence. Cobain loved Lead Belly and covered “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” during his famous MTV Unplugged set in 1993. Cobain spoke highly about the late Louisianan guitarist as well.

“This was written by my favorite performer,” said Cobain before diving into the song in 1993.

2. John Lennon

This might surprise some casual fans of Nirvana. Cobain was actually a pretty big Beatles fan as a kid, and he repeatedly hailed John Lennon as one of his favorite guitarists. Specifically, Cobain identified with John Lennon and even threw some shade at Paul McCartney in an interview.

“John Lennon was definitely my favorite Beatle, hands down,” Cobain once said. “I don’t know who wrote what parts of what Beatles songs, but Paul McCartney embarrasses me. Lennon was obviously disturbed. [laugh] So I could relate to that.”

3. James Williamson

Another one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite guitarists is James Williamson of the proto-punk band The Stooges. We get why; he’s an absolutely killer guitarist who managed to find the punk-rock guitar sound before punk rock was even a thing.

Cobain famously wrote in his journal numerous times that the 1973 record Raw Power by Iggy And The Stooges, which featured Williamson, was his “favorite album of all time.” When you really listen to Nirvana, that influence is pretty clear.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc

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