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Nirvana Frontman Kurt Cobain Defended His Band Against the Idea of Selling Out in 1993: ‘I’d Rather Just Laugh About It’

Nirvana was often the center of sell-out rumors when they hit the mainstream, but Kurt Cobain said he’d never compromise his art.

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When Nirvana rose to fame quickly after Nevermind, there was often talk about selling out, that the band had become too mainstream. This, of course, leads into the commentary about how capitalism hijacked grunge and drained it of all its counterculture cred.

At the time, the focus was often narrowed to Nirvana as the sell-outs of the genre. The consensus: once they put your band logo on a t-shirt, it’s basically over for you. But Kurt Cobain was often fighting those sell-out allegations, defending his band when those questions came around.

While speaking with Much Music in 1993, Cobain touched on the fact that he and Nirvana were often slammed in the press. Notably, the fact that they were at the level of needing to take legal action against libel on some occasions. When did Nirvana realize they would need a........

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