In a new interview with Lyndsey Parker, Buzz Osborne said he’d prefer Kurt Cobain to be alive and not famous rather than famous and gone.
In the early ’90s, the Seattle grunge scene saw many lives cut short, including Cobain’s, Layne Staley’s, and Chris Cornell’s. Osborne felt content not being as famous. He was proud of his friends’ success and glad to be connected to them. The singer said:
“I only ever felt happy for those guys, but especially in the Nirvana case, and then later, with Soundgarden, that ended so badly that it’s difficult for me to look back on it [as] the good old days. I would, honestly, much rather have Cobain alive and not famous, because I was friends [with him], and would still be.”
Buzz’s Other Statements On Cobain
Osborne continued:
“I was friends with him before he could buy cars with a credit card, which made no difference to me. If you can be friends with people when you have nothing and they have nothing, that’s true friendship. So, it wouldn’t have mattered to me if he never got famous. I was still friends with those guys, and would have remained friends with them.”
The rocker finds the tragic end of Cobain’s story hard to get over:
“It’s a tragic story with a terrible ending, and I don’t know if that’s anything I’ll ever get over… I remember I did an interview after Cobain died, and they were like, ‘We don’t want to talk about that other part of it. We just want to talk about the good parts.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s all mixed together. I’m sorry I can’t just write that off.’ Nor will I do that. As great as it was, it ended so badly that I can’t fully enjoy that.”
Cobain would work with Melvins in the past as a producer but he struggled due to addiction and missed a session. Osborne previously said it became clear that Cobain couldn’t effectively contribute, so they moved on.