Perry Farrell Says The Death Of Kurt Cobain Was The Death Of Bands

Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell recently joined American Songwriter for an interview in which he reflected on the challenges young artists face today. The singer stated that the bands, in their classical definition, ended with Kurt Cobain‘s death.

Both Jane’s Addiction and Nirvana have had a tremendous impact with their groundbreaking styles emerging in the rock music scene in nearly the same period. Both greatly influenced establishing and defining alternative music during the ’80s. Although the two bands differed in style, they represented the era with their successive trailblazing works.

However, the industry has constantly changed since their first appearance on the music scene, and it is getting harder for the incoming bands to make themselves heard. Perry Farrell also talked about this issue in a new interview. The singer accepted that it’s become harder now than their period since the record industry has drastically changed.

The record companies sign with the bands, yet they quickly move on if they can’t produce any hit songs. The rocker thinks that record companies don’t spend much money on tours, promotions, or recordings nowadays as they did in their times.

They also prefer to be involved in projects they can easily control. Thus, they don’t want to deal with wild attitudes that can cause problems for them. Perry Farrell considers that Kurt Cobain’s death also marked the concept of the band’s end. From then on, they preferred working with teen groups that would be easy to handle.

Perry Farrell’s words on how Kurt Cobain’s death affected the industry:

It’s become harder and harder to get new groups off the streets. A lot of times, they don’t make it out of the street. They only get one record deal, and if that song isn’t a hit right away, they move on. The record industry right now, with the publishing from these online distribution companies, they’re not making enough money for itself to grow.

How do you get a group these days to the point where they can become a bonafide headliner? I can’t put my finger on it other than to say it boils down to economics, and it takes a lot of money to tour a group. You cut down on your entourage if you’re not in a band. I think the other part is that the record companies are just not paying the same money they did for things like videos or recording these days.

If you’re lucky, they might give ten grand, maybe twenty, for a newly signed artist, but most record companies today prefer to have a project that they can control. In other words: one person that they can control that’s not too wild. I think the death of Kurt Cobain was the death of bands because record companies didn’t want problems on their hands, always worrying if the guys were either going to OD or not showing up. It was too much craziness, so they went for tween groups and music they can control, and it’s produced sh*tty music in the last five to ten years.”

According to Perry Farrell, the bands in the past periods tired out the record companies with their endless crazy moments. Thus, they now work with other kinds of bands that appeal to a younger audience and don’t cause so many problems.