Kurt Cobain may not have been aware of it, but he caused a fed-up Dave Grohl to briefly quit Nirvana in 1993.



In the upcoming biography, "This Is A Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl," author Paul Brannigan reveals that the powerhouse drummer and Foo Fighters founder decided he'd had enough after he overheard Nirvana's tortured frontman badmouthing his musicianship on a plane.



Da Capo press will publish the book, which deems Grohl, 42, "the last true hero to emerge from the American underground," on Dec. 1.



Brannigan writes that in Autumn 1993, tensions within Nirvana had essentially split the band into two alienated camps, with Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic in one, Cobain and wife Courtney Love in theother.



According to the author, the "sickness at the heart of Nirvana" became too much for Grohl to bear during a flight with the band from Seattle to Los Angeles.



On the plane, Grohl tells Brannigan "Kurt was kinda f---ed up. And I heard him talking about how s----y a drummer I was."



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In actuality, Brannigan says, Grohl is a "magnificent" drummer whose arrival turned Nirvana into a powerful, professional rock band."



At flight's end, Grohl learned from Novoselic that Cobain wanted him to "play more like" Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, who'd briefly occupied Nirvana's throne prior to Grohl.



This was the last straw for Grohl, who called Nirvana's tour manager Alex McLeod and told him he wanted "out" of the band.



"I just want to f---ing play music. I don't want to have to deal with any of this craziness," Grohl says he told MacLeod.



Fortunately, MacLeod calmed the drummer down and Grohl decided to stay.



"In the cold light of day, Dave decided that everyone has to eat a little s--- at work sometimes," Brannigan says, and he "tried to carry on in a measured, professional manner." He adds that he doubts word of the incident ever reached Cobain.



Had Cobain not taken his own life in April 1994, Brannigan says his "gut instinct" is that Nirvana would still be around but that Grohl, who formed Foo Fighters in the wake of Kurt's death, "probably wouldn't be a part of it.



"Dave was very aware that Nirvana was Kurt and Krist's band, and that as lifelong friends, they shared a bond which went beyond music," he says. "At some point I feel that Dave would have parted company with the pair."