Dave Grohl Describes How Kurt Cobain Reacted to Vocal Lessons

There are countless musicians out there who evangelize the virtues of vocal coaching and who credit their success to their voice instructors. 

But classical training isn't for everyone, and it was definitely not for iconic Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain

In an interview with BBC Music from this past November, former Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl said he's pretty sure Cobain never had any formal musical training. But Cobain went to a vocal coach at least one time that he knows of. 

"It was funny when we were making the record Nevermind, [Cobain] started blowing out his voice so he went to go see this vocal coach," Grohl told BBC's Gregory Porter

"He comes back from this vocal coach. And we said, 'How'd it go?' And he said, 'Check this out.' And he put this cassette in the cassette player of the warm-ups that this guy wanted him to do. And it was like (singing scales) me me me me me me me - boy boy boy boy boy boy boy

"And we sat and we laughed like hell as we listened to it, and then threw the cassette away."

If Cobain couldn't take it seriously, it wasn't going to help him. And he finished recording vocals on Nevermind anyway, and that album was pretty good, huh?

Grohl and Foo Fighters are about to launch a world tour in support of their latest album, Concrete and Gold, which will keep them busy through September. 

Get all the tour dates here

Maybe Cobain would have responded a bit more favorably to 'Queen of Scream Melissa Cross, who's become something of a legend by teaching healthy screaming to punk, hardcore and heavy metal vocalists. 

Photo: Getty Images


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