Confessions of a Grunge God: Hear Mark Lanegan on Addiction, Losing Kurt Cobain, and More

“When a drug addict loses a friend, they just do more drugs,” the late Screaming Trees frontman and solo artist Mark Lanegan tells senior writer Kory Grow in an extraordinarily revealing interview on a new episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast.

Lanegan, who died Feb. 22 at the age of 57, talks about losing Kurt Cobain, Anthony Bourdain, and other close friends, and shares heartbreaking details from his struggles with addiction and homelessness — including how Duff McKagan and Courtney Love came to his rescue.

To hear the whole episode, press play above, or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 

Download and subscribe to our weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts), and check out three years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others — plus dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters. Tune in every Friday at 1 p.m. ET to hear Rolling Stone Music Now broadcast on SiriusXM’s Volume, channel 106.