Pat Smear thinks the surviving members of Nirvana should play the band's songs live.

The guitarist was a member of the iconic grunge band for six months before they ended in 1994 with the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain and thinks he and fellow surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic should play the band's material live again.

He told DigitalSpy.co.uk: ''Playing Nirvana songs? I think that's different for those guys than it is for me.

''I know Nirvana's a strange thing. It means a lot of things to a lot of people. I personally wouldn't have a problem with it.

''Yeah, why the f**k wouldn't we play Nirvana songs?! That's my attitude. I get it, y'know, but I don't know... for me it's like, 'Why wouldn't we?' ''

Pat is now a member of Foo Fighters with Dave and the pair joined Krist onstage to perform for the first time since Nirvana disbanded at a benefit concert last year, with Sir Paul McCartney fronting the supergroup. They have since played a number of shows but stuck to material by Paul's old group The Beatles and their own compositions. The only Nirvana song Foo Fighters have ever played live is 'Marigold', which was originally sung by Dave.

Talking about why Nirvana's legacy persists, Pat added: ''Because Nirvana was better! Seriously. There's also something to be said for bands that weren't around long enough to start doing crap.

''It was a really good band that made really good records, and all that's left of them is really great stuff.''