Machine Gun Kelly has praised late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in a new interview.

Speaking on the Rock This With Allison Hagendorf Spotify podcast, MGK opened up about the state of rock music in general before going on to praise Cobain’s fearlessness.

Initially discussing books he’d read about rock – books which ultimately led him to move to LA – Kelly said: “The sheer disappointed of being like 23 and going to the Sunset Strip and being like, ‘This isn’t what was happening in those books at all!’ And then being like, ‘It’s the restart button, we gotta do it.’”

He continued: “The state of rock ‘n’ roll depends on rock stars. We need to have a face, multiple faces, and attitude again,” he declared. “If I fucking have to deal with politically-correct rock stars for another decade, I’m gonna… I can’t.”

“I gotta see some ‘fuck you.’ I have to see some ‘fuck you,’” he continued. “It’s like, the last decade when I would go to shows, and you’re like, ‘Yo, you guys sound cool, but why can’t I hear you fuck up? Why can’t I hear your guitars squeal, why do you not play bad notes? Are you even playing, are you plugged in?’”

On Cobain, Kelly said: “‘Fuck Pearl Jam, I fucking hate them.’ That’s cool! That’s the coolest thing ever! You’re like, ‘You can’t say that, Pearl Jam’s the biggest band in the world! How can you say that?’ But he did,” he said of Cobain’s comments.

“And guess what I wanna do? Watch him do an interview every single time. Guess what I wanna do? Watch him go on an awards show and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna play ‘Teen Spirt.” And he’s like, ‘No I’m not, I’m gonna play ‘Rape Me.””

“You know what I wanna see? Someone be like, ‘Machine Gun Kelly, you’re a rapper.’ And I go, ‘Fuck you, I am whatever I wanna be. Here’s a punk rock album.’”

Recently, MGK teamed up with Yungblud and Travis Barker on a new collaborative track, ‘acting like that’.

The collaboration comes from Yungblud’s second album ‘Weird!’, which arrived yesterday (December 4).

“‘Acting like that’ is a result of what happens when me, mgk and travis get together, the energy’s electric and we write songs that amplify a feeling,” Yungblud explained.

He added: “This song radiates just going fucking nuts at your favourite show, a feeling that we all need right now. this song is about losing control and feeling free with your best fucking mates.”