September 13, 2012
A class action suit against the late singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was filed earlier today by a small group of underground bands, including The Raincoats, Screaming Trees, Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Eugenius, and Beat Happening, among others, for what they contend is reverse slander, the first lawsuit of its kind.
“When Kurt began championing us to his fans, it put undue pressure on us to live up to the expectations,” says Ana da Silver of UK female punk act The Raincoats. “This led to hundreds of people coming to our live shows and buying our records, and all of them came away unconvinced that we were as important as Kurt made us out to be. We were wobbly and dull—-barely a band which anyone should worship the way he did.”
“Then, in 1996, we were signed to Geffen Records and forced to record an unremarkable album [Looking in the Shadows] which ended up in the 99 cent remainder bins in record stores around the world, and it’s all Kurt’s fault. I’ve never forgiven him for what he put us through.”
Former Eugenius front man Eugene Kelly (later of The Vaselines) faced a similarly harrowing experience. “We weren’t exceptionally interesting, but as soon as Cobain began telling all of his fans that [Eugenius] were one of his favorites, our popularity went through the roof, and quite honestly, we didn’t deserve it. His fans initially embraced us but quickly retreated once they realized we were nothing special, and it drove me into a deep depression from which I am only now recovering.”
The class action suit seeks unspecified damages. The spokesman for the Cobain Estate could not be reached for comment, though Cobain's widow Courtney Love has weighed in via her Twitter page, yesterday tweeting the following statement, “Gng to kill all f u, vis cm the money u sk fks wnt wnt tuch yr lps.”
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