Nirvana appeared on the cover of AP in early 1992, taking us into their world just as they were rupturing the mainstream with Nevermind. Though steeped in belonging, disillusionment, and a desire for realness, writer Susan Rees pointed out that love was a lyrical theme Kurt Cobain kept returning to. “Love’s the most important thing,” he said at the time. “I can’t stand political lyrics — they’re so obvious. There should be a cryptic element to rock ’n’ roll so you can’t quite figure it out.”
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Born three years after Nevermind’s release, Phoebe Bridgers has long sung about loneliness, toxic relationships, and the cycles of grief in stunning ambiguity. It also turns out that she’s a massive Nirvana fan. Alongside her boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, she recreated a classic Nirvana Rolling Stone photo shoot for their own cover story in 2023, and nine months later, Dave Grohl joined them onstage at the Hollywood Bowl for “Satanist.” Recently, she threw it back to 1991 by performing a spectral acoustic cover of “Lithium” on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, joined by Christian Lee Hutson on guitar.
While in the Live Lounge, the duo also played “Lost Boys” and “Bobby” from Lost Weekend, released earlier this month. Watch the performances below.
