Courtney Love Says Kurt Cobain Would Have Been ‘Proud’ to Hear “Rape Me” Featured in ‘Succession’

Photo Credit: HBO

Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love says she believes the late grunge rocker would be proud of how Nirvana’s “Rape Me” song was used in HBO’s Succession.

Season three of the super-rich family drama is airing now and Love made the comments on social media. “I was in the room watching (agog) as this song was written in about an hour, and I’ve never been so proud of approving one of Kurt’s songs,” Love says.

“This cue in Succession is as if they truly understood [Kurt Cobain] what he was screaming his heart out, without specifics, about. I’m sure wherever he is, he’s proud of this,” Love continues. The song itself is one of the more controversial songs in the Nirvana catalog.

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Nirvana played “Rape Me” live for the first time in 1992 and released it on their final studio album, In Utero. It recently appeared in an episode of HBO’s drama, Succession.

Both Walmart and Kmart refused to sell the album if the original title of the song was used. Nirvana approved renaming the song “Waif Me” on the exterior packaging of the album – with the original title inside.

“One of the main reasons I signed to a major label was so people would be able to buy our records at Kmart. In some towns, that’s the only place kids can buy records,” Cobain says in the Everett True Nirvana biography.

The scene in question takes place as the song is played to interrupt a corporate meeting hiding corruption and malfeasance at a company. So would Kurt Cobain actually be proud of this usage of the song?

It’s hard to say, but Courtney Love says ask her who the song is about and she may just tell you. It’s interesting to see one of the most controversial songs from the ’90s get sync approval for a drama. Certainly not something Cobain would have expected of the song.