There's a whole apparatus for indie bands now, but back in the eighties it was just getting built. The early people really took it on the chin.

People didn't get to see how other towns interpreted the underground ethos, and so they developed their own unique versions of it.

For Nirvana, putting out their first major-label record was like getting into a new car. But the runaway success was like suddenly discovering that the car was a Ferrari and the accelerator pedal was Krazy Glued to the floorboard.

I just wanted to tell the story of a bunch of musicians who had never had their story told before. There's no preaching or theorizing.

There's no glamour in Nirvana, no glamour at all, in fact.

In eras past, mainstream culture was blandly, blindly complacent, so underground music was angry and dissatisfied. But now, mainstream culture isn’t complacent, it’s stupid and angry; underground culture reacts by becoming smarter, more serene. That’s not wimpy—it’s powerful and productive.

There's no law that says anybody has to do an interview.