Matt Cameron Says Kurt Cobain Was A Soundgarden Fan And Recalls His Unexpected Request

Former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron gave an interview to Seattle Today in which he revealed that Kurt Cobain was a fan of their band. Moreover, he also recalled Cobain’s unexpected request from him.

Formed in 1984, Soundgarden was a band that belonged to the Seattle grunge scene along with Nirvana. Back in 1986, Matt Cameron joined the band as their full-time drummer. On September 24, 1991, they released their third album ‘Badmotorfinger’ on the same day as Nirvana’s iconic record ‘Nevermind.’

On April 17, 1991, Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron were at the OK Hotel where Nirvana was performing. In the interview with Seattle Today, the drummer recalled that day and revealed what Kurt Cobain asked him to do.

Matt Cameron said that at some point, Kurt Cobain broke his guitar string while playing and handed him his guitar to change the string after the performance. The drummer confessed that he didn’t know which string he needed to change, so he felt anxious while trying to do so.

Following that, Cameron said it was an honor that Cobain asked him such a favor. Moreover, the drummer added that he saw a Soundgarden sticker on the Nirvana frontman’s guitar during another performance. Cameron then noted he heard that Cobain loved their first album, ‘Screaming Life,’ and that’s a cool thing to know.

Matt Cameron recalled Kurt Cobain’s request as:

“We heard about this OK Hotel show with Nirvana, with Dave. I think it was his second or third show here in Seattle with Nirvana, maybe it was his first show, I don’t know. So anyway, we went to the alleyway behind the OK, knocked on the door, and Krist Novoselic was there, so he let us in.

There was one point where Kurt – I didn’t know him that well, but we were definitely familiar and acquaintances and stuff – but he broke his guitar string while playing and he handed me the guitar and was like, ‘Change my guitar string!’

There was this Scooby-Doo lunchbox with just some, like, wrapped up guitar strings. I don’t know which string I was supposed to change. So I started to change his string, like ‘I don’t know which string goes on which thing here!’.

Then somebody came in and finished the job for me, luckily. But it was cool, ‘Change my string!’. ‘Gladly, sir! My pleasure.’ It was an honor.”

The drummer then continued:

“They were always great guys. I remember seeing them at a Tuesday Vogue show with Chad and everything. Kim and I were there, and Kurt came up and introduced himself, we’d heard ‘Love Buzz’ and fu**ing loved it. I think there’s a photo of Kurt with a Soundgarden sticker on his guitar. I heard he really loved ‘Screaming Life,’ our first album, so that’s cool.”

You can check out the interview below.