Smells Like Mean Spirit

Nirvana bashing has become a popular sport of late. The backstage brouhaha between Axl Rose and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain at the Sept. 9 MTV Video Music Awards isn't the only episode, or even the latest one. The feud began earlier this year, when Nirvana refused to open for the touring Guns N' Roses. And last month Rose dissed Cobain and his wife, Courtney Love, during a Florida GN'R concert.

Tensions at the awards peaked when Love mockingly invited Rose to become godfather to her month-old baby, Frances. Rose snapped to Cobain, ''If you don't shut your woman up, I'm going to take you down to the pavement.'' Then Rose's pal, model Stephanie Seymour, asked Love, ''Are you a model?'' ''Yeah, are you a brain surgeon?'' Love shot back.

Adding to the dump-on-Kurt mix: During the Sept. 12 Lollapalooza show in L.A., singer Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam (which has been bad-mouthed by Cobain) beckoned ''Kurt'' to join in a jam: Jack Irons, drummer with Eleven, pranced on stage in a Cobainian wig. His appearance got a big laugh.