KURT COBAIN And MARK LANEGAN's Friendship And Musical Collaboration Explored - "A Really Personal Relationship"

Greg Prato, reporting for Ultimate-Guitar.com: There were several instances where friendships within the Seattle music scene led to classic collaborations. Case in point, Temple Of The Dog (which saw various members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam unite), Mad Season (Alice In Chains' Layne Staley and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready), Brad (Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and singer/songwriter Shawn Smith), etc.

But one that tends to get overlooked was the fleeting Screaming Trees and Nirvana union, The Jury. Comprised of Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan and Mark Pickerel along with Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, the collaboration came about due in large part to the friendship of Lanegan and Cobain.

In my 2023 book, "Lanegan," the relationship between the two incredibly talented singers was discussed by several people from the scene who knew the pair personally. Including producer Jack Endino, who oversaw The Jury recording session at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle in 1989.

"I'd imagine [Mark and Kurt] were drug buddies on some level. But, they were also simpatico on a creative level, as well. Unfortunately, there were no results as far as songwriting that anybody knows about. I don't know what they might have done together – in terms of collaborating creatively, other than these Lead Belly covers. And Mark is only on 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' – he has no involvement in the other two tunes we recorded during The Jury session. Kurt sings one of them and Mark's not there, and nobody sings on the other one and Mark's not there, either."

Read the full report at Ultimate-Guitar.com.