Danny Goldberg on Kurt Cobain, with Eric Alterman, May 28, 2019

Danny Goldberg on Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain, in conversation with Eric Alterman, May 28, 2019, the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Graduate Center, CUNY

[@kungpao-wp2sq]

“Everyone surrounding Nirvana Inc., except for the actual band members themselves, are complete pieces of shit.” - Steve Albini

[@purorockyaguita]

You know you Right!!!!

[@johnrotten3268]

lol Steve Albini was just pissy the big wigs of DGC hated the original album he cut.

[@thomaspurcell6442]

The interviewer looks completely and totally disinterested in the interview and the whole occasion in itself. No eye contact, no cadence to his voice, no vigorous energy, and curiosity or interest about the interview and it's subject.

[@califtom]

You must have been watching a different interview than me. I thought the interviewer was quite good. Since you’re the expert maybe you should contact Reason right away and let ‘em know it’s done right?

[@thomaspurcell6442]

@@califtom Gee heaven forbid I have a differing opinion to others. I apologise if you don't agree with my opinion.

[@califtom]

@@thomaspurcell6442 maybe you can go give them some vigorous energy training lol

[@apope06]

I agree. I thought he was blind for a second. 🤣

[@seltonk5136]

@@apope06 nowadays even the interviewer has to be performative? ffs you people are fucking exhausting

[@PorcelainKilt]

This is the most interesting interview ever. I should replay it and listen to it next time.

[@dirkdarwin2571]

Danny Goldberg seems like a realist with balanced and unbiased views on the whole thing. Obviously he comes across quite clinically, but I quite like his angle... It makes a nice change from all these people who are so overly wrapped up about it that their story becomes too exaggerated.

[@TheFourNobleTruths2]

The thing that annoys me about Danny Goldberg is that he isnt really a Nirvana fan but more of a bussiness person (part of the reason why he got along with Courtney and sided with her especially during the lalapalooza saga of kurts life.) 52:00 he probably has no idea that Here She Comes Now (a cover of a velvet underground) was slated to be a part of Nevermind around the time they attempted to record the redord with Butch for Sub Pop. Just because he didnt scream it from the rooftops does not mean he wasnt influenced significantly by or greatly appreciated that kind of music The fact that people never knew him are able to identify clear errors in his assessments of Kurt's musical tastes and influences is indication of the limits of his relationship with Kurt. Yes he knew and worked with him but there are glaring issues with his evaluation and recounting of Kurt's life and the person that he was. He has not hesitant at all to acknowledge that Kurt was in fear of his life after Rome and that acting in that vain is just insanity and irrationality in his eyes. Independence of anyones belief of what happened to Kurt and what precipitated his death during those last few months, it doesnt take a genius to deduce that there was something more going on there. His strict and narrow bussiness perspective when dealing with Kurt and Nirvana clearly biases his perspective on those issues. Nevertheless his perspective is enlightening and interesting. But one should keep the predicates of his relationship with Kurt and Nirvana in mind while reading his book or listening to his interviews.

[@paulmcduff1930]

Exactly but I think Kurt was sick of sub Pop and basically wanted ambitious managers etc to push his music to as much of an audience as possible but what happened is nevermind surpassed even Kurt's n his managers n everyone else's expectations and it happened quite fast n I think even Kurt thought to himself, shit what do we do next , Enter In Utero which at the time was being called Career suicide by the management and some music industry types, as Kurt himself said about In Utero the grown up's don't like it 👍

[@chancethadood]

preach

[@isabelcastaneda1466]

He is still milking the artist, obviously....that´s what this kind of people are good at...yet another book...

[@johnmc67]

Kurt was a true craftsman.

[@mmlight]

How’s your hair Eric (37:00) Very detached and unempathetic interviewer, yet Danny Goldberg remains professional throughout. Body language reveals some insecurities by interviewer.

[@Vanirvis]

Does Eric seem a little distant to you guys?

[@dontgotostrangers]

Yah wtf he doesn't even look at Danny half the time. It's actually quite distracting.

[@389383]

I think he had to pee!

[@djinntoy]

I googled to check if he was blind.

[@ChristinaSpringsteen-on5vm]

Kurt knew the end was coming

[@kimcorsi6560]

What BS!! Goldburg never mentions the fact that Kurt called his wife, Kurt’s attorney to tell her to take Courtney out of his will and that he wants a divorce. Or the fact that Tom Grant has Rosemary recorded saying that Kurt was not suicidal and she thought Kurt was murdered after finding the trace papers in Courtney’s backpack that matches perfectly the last four lines of Kurts goodbye letter to his fans about moving on to other music. Courtney did not go to rehab the same time Kurt did, she went to the Pensula Hotel and did heroin and planned and followed through with Kurts murder. Tom Grant was not a low life Private Investigator with an office in a seedy area of LA, he had handled high profile cases before. So much more that Danny is not telling the truth about because he jumped on the bandwagon to write a book about Kurt to make money and collaborated with Courtney because she’s alive and Kurt is not. Really hard to listen to Danny talk bad about Kurt and try to enforce the lies. And Courtney did not find out she was pregnant a few months after they got married, she lied to Kurt and told him she was pregnant to trap him into marriage. It makes me sick how someone can murder a person and continue to lie about it and have no conscience!!

[@chestrockwell6807]

what a load of crap. Kurt didn't have a will and you can't disinherit your spouse in any US state. Not suicidal? Literally everyone who knew Kurt agrees he was suicidal including his bandmates and own mother.

[@paulmcduff1930]

@@chestrockwell6807 there's tapes out tger that Tom grant recorded that Courtney admits Kurt wanted a divorce plus we hear Danny Goldberg's wife rosemary Carrol also on a tape mentioning that Kurt wanted a divorce or new will written up and then rosemary Carrol asks if Tom Grant's recording the conversation which he replies yes and from then on she shuts up about what she was talking about, this is just some of the weird shit that surrounds Kurt's death 👍

[@chestrockwell6807]

@@paulmcduff1930 you mean Tom Grant's doctored audio recordings? who cares. Explain to me why Kurt attended rehab at the request of Courtney if he was supposedly divorcing her. Doesn't that seem a little odd for someone supposedly going through a divorce?

[@paulmcduff1930]

@@chestrockwell6807 not odd at all he was pressured by the record company and CL and his managers to goto rehab n that's why he left two days later , even CL admits that he wanted a divorce plus she also admits Kurt was ganged up on to go to rehab , this is all from CL,s mouth and you can find vids and recordings of CL saying all this on KZbin 😃

[@chestrockwell6807]

@@paulmcduff1930 where did she admit he wanted a divorce? cite the source for this or a post a link to the KZbin video now.

[@gregdahlen4375]

i enjoyed that, something like spending an hour with kurt himself. if i'd asked a question i woulda asked about kurt's parents' divorce. peeps say he was a happy boy til his parents divorced at age 10, then depressed. that's hard for me to understand. the divorce wasn't his fault so i wouldn't think would depress him that much or too much

[@carinajohansson8696]

Kurt was a survaver i know he didnt kill him selv i know kourtney had something to do with his death i know it ❤️🧍‍♂️🎸

[@LifeHappensJustinTime]

You want to try that sentence over again?

[@chestrockwell6807]

you can't even spell but youre an internet sleuth. LOL

[@ravenswood118]

seek help

[@kckstnd8]

You’ve proven to the world that you have no critical thinking skills and no independent thoughts.

[@apope06]

Noam Chomsky managed Nirvana?🤣

[@willkelly8315]

And Matt Lauer interviewing him

[@TheFourNobleTruths2]

54:00 who tf is he to say those bands didnt write hit songs. Anybody thats heard here she comes now or Sunday morning knows that these songs had soul and melody. Just because they werent viable in a commercial sense (his perception of "meolody") doesnt mean they werent melodious. Again a limitation brought forth because of his strictly bussiness perspective. He has the gall to say Nirvana wasnt the biggest band he managed because they didnt tour as much (meaning they didnt make him as much money) is so tonedeaf and delusional

[@beastieboy9286]

Terrible interviewer and rude. Danny goldberg remained respectful.

[@PaulWildstar]

Goldberg = Gold Mountain? Cool!

[@Pennyroyal_T.]

He seems a bit nervous when talks about Courtney and about Kurt's death...... 🤔

[@dirkdarwin2571]

Well yeah... You try taking about the death of someone you knew in front of a crowd of people and be all 'la la la'...

[@califtom]

and he should feel comfortable talking about death?

[@ravenswood118]

seek help

[@a5dr3]

Goldberg is sharp.

[@jhiramboggs]

He was out of his mind because he didn’t want you to meddle in his picking a therapist?!?! Unbelievable. Shut up Danny

[@ravenswood118]

No, that's not why he was out of his mind. He said he was out of his mind because he was on drugs, at which point he wasn't taking his actions personally. Learn comprehension. I love Nirvana but I hate this fandom, you guys are so annoying.

[@jhiramboggs]

@@ravenswood118 no. Hes being the type of person Kurt Hated who is not here to defend himself. What you think every fucking word out of this moguls mouth is on high? I hate establishment cucks. So annoying

[@Danathema]

@@jhiramboggsKurt loved Goldberg and referred to him as the father he never had. Kurt was the epitome of establishment rock, he just pretended he wasn’t because he was embarrassed and wanted to create a mythos around himself

[@jhiramboggs]

@@Danathema well, Dani could do a lot for Kurt. Kurt was an opportunist. I’m sure he liked Dani, but it didn’t hurt that. He was a rich, powerful music executive. And no, I don’t take everything. Dani says to be etched in stone regarding Kurt Cobain.

[@kckstnd8]

Danny Goldberg is an upstanding honest person

[@califtom]

A few thoughts on the politics discussed in this. Kurt was not a political activist and by all accounts had no desire to be. Like Bob Dylan, he had his views and occasionally voiced them in his music but refused to become a dancing political puppet for anyone’s cause. Regarding the Dead Kennedy’s, while they often were political and clearly hated the Christian Right they had no problem mocking the left either. I have listened to the Dead Kennedy’s music extensively and have never been entirely certain where they stand politically. One thing to remember about punk, a phenomenon I lived right through the middle of growing up in California in the late 70’s and early 80’s, anybody selling or preaching anything whether it be religion or politics were told to get lost. There were a wide range of views in the punk world like anywhere else. The Sex Pistols and Joy Division were both some of Kurts biggest influences and both of those bands were clearly on the right.

[@breakbad9753]

This rude interviewer could care less.... he’s terrible

[@sammoore5933]

Speaks with cleft lisp at 60 years of age..... why?? You must be unique and different.

[@caliblue2]

It a fan of ol Danny Goldberg after what he did to Kurt in the end. Fake af.

[@TheFourNobleTruths2]

1:01:00 hahaha no mention of the fact that Kurt told Rosemary Carol that he wanted to get the "'meanest most vicious divorce lawyer" to execute changes in his will and his divorce with Courtney. No wonder Buzz refused to contribute to Danny's [what he perceived as] Courtney puff piece of a book

[@califtom]

but Kurt didn't have a will and you can't disinherit your spouse. there is also zero evidence of any divorce. they weren't even separated.

[@somewhatsomething4882]

I think you've got that in reverse. Wasn't it CL who said that?

[@paulmcduff1930]

@@somewhatsomething4882 yes it was CL , Kurt asked her to set up a new will for him which he didn't include CL but Kurt ended up dead before he could sign it

[@somewhatsomething4882]

@@paulmcduff1930 they so should not have had the same lawyer. It's a situation ripe for exploitation, or unprofessional emotional disclosures...

[@paulmcduff1930]

@@califtom listen to Tom Grant's tapes , she clearly says to Tom there was another note , this is CL s own words , there was another note but Seattle police told me to destroy it cos it says some nasty things , it mentions divorce, again it's on the tapes CLs words not mine

[@stevemarco8631]

Hey Danny Goldberg, was it Kurt's fault that he could not manage a public image that he could live with?

[@califtom]

Kurt was not nearly as woke as these goofy far left activists wish he was. Today even both Courtney and Krist hate the authoritarian pro censorship left for good reason. I also find it interesting how the same people who keep groaning about how “mysoginistic” hard rock is would never levy this same criticism towards the rap world.

[@jacktilghman9797]

I think you're generalizing a bit.

[@scottminton3121]

One of the people groaning about how misogynistic hard rock is was Kurt Cobain.

[@ravenswood118]

Just because Krist decided to support a rapist and misogynist doesn't mean Kurt would have done the same. Stop projecting your nonsense onto a dead man who no one can know who he would've turned out to be.

[@kckstnd8]

Krist is very politically involved and his views are left wing. Krist and Courtney attack the right wing, not the left wing.

[@kckstnd8]

Kurt was woke. He was a feminist, supporter of lgbt, pro choice, did benefit concert for Bosnian refugees and talked about the genocide going on in Bosnia. I challenge you to name another huge rockstar at that time that was more political than Kurt.