I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude.

He also had difficulty coping with his fame and public image and the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife musician Courtney Love. During their first few years playing together Novoselic and Cobain were hosts to a rotating list of drummers. Gus Van Sant loosely based his 2005 movie Last Days on the events in the final days of Cobain's life.

During the last years of his life Cobain struggled with heroin addiction illness and depression. Following the success of Nevermind Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation".