MICHAEL STIPE - STIPE STILL CAN'T LISTEN TO NIRVANA AFTER COBAIN TRAGEDY

R.E.M. star MICHAEL STIPE can no longer listen to an entire NIRVANA album because remembering the death of his friend KURT COBAIN is still too painful.
The rocker admits to being a huge fan of the Smells Like Teen Spirit hitmakers, and regrets he hasn't been able to listen to classic albums like Nevermind and In Utero since Cobain killed himself in 1994.
He says, "The great tragedy of his death is that, as an artist, as someone pushing things forward, he was really pushing himself.
"He had reached a point where he was about to push through to something that was so phenomenal and so beautiful.
"It was all written, it was all right there and it was so obvious where he was going, and then he didn't make it.
"I still have trouble... I can't listen to an entire Nirvana record."