Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees
In the spring of '89, Nirvana played a show at the community center in my
hometown of Ellensburg, Washington. They completely blew me away; it was some jerk who
worked there stopped the show-they'd gone over their time limit because the ten local
bands who opened had gone over time. So they just stood there for a second and then Krist
started throwing his bass in the air, up to the top of this 20-foot ceiling, and catching
it with one hand. Meanwhile Kurt was letting his amp go loud as hell, and their road
maganger got in a fistfight with the jerk guy. The whole thing was completely crazed. And
this was in Ellensburg, of all places. I still believe to this day that it's the best
fucking band I've ever seen. And I miss the guy more than I could ever express.
Steve Turner, Mudhoney
We played this tiny club in San Jose in early '89. I don't know if it was
really even a club-it was so small we had to play in the window. Nirvana opened for us and
during one of the songs they were hopping around, and Kurt somehow ended up balancing on
his head-still playing guitar-and stayed there for a good long time. It was one of the
coolest things I'd ever seen. I tried it after that. It didn't work as well.
Iggy Pop
I went to see Nirvana at a small club called the Pyramid on Avenue A in New
York City. It was hard to hear the guitar, but the guy playing and singing had a vibe; he
hopped around like a muppet or an elf or something, hunched over his guitar, hop hop hop,
hippety hippety hop. I loved that. When he sang, he put his voice in this really grating
place, and it was kind of devilish sounding. At the end of the set he attacked the drum
kit and threw cymbals, other bits, and finally himself into the audience. Later I saw the
same guy passing the bar. He was little, with stringy blond hair and a Stooges T-shirt. I
felt proud.
Tori Amos
I was playing a festival in Germany a
few years ago right after I had done the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' cover. This is one of
those festivals where people drink gallons of German beer for three days straight. I
played on the second day and they were already gone. Many boys proceeded to yell,
'Schnell, you fucking slut' as I was playing my piano. I turned to them and said, 'Look
you motherfuckers, synchronize your watches because I'm here until the big hand gets on
the 12. So unless you blow me off the stage with a rifle, suffer.' And I did the longest
version of 'Teen Spirit' anyone's ever done, like 22 minutes, and walked off the stage,
pride intact, graciously ass-saved.
Derrick Bostrom, Meat Puppets
We did a week with Nirvana in the fall of 1993. About halfway through our
Halloween show, an overexcited fan bopped Kurt on the noggin with a tennis shoe. Kurt
grabbed the offending article and looked into the audience for the culprit. Unable to find
him, Kurt dropped the shoe onto the stage, unzipped his fly, and mid-song, filled the shoe
with piss.
Kim Thayil, Soundgarden
Nirvana's success drew attention to a marketing demographic previously
ignored by the mainstream, and inadvertently started a gold rush with advertising
executives, product manufacturers, merchandise distributors, fashion coordinators, and
rock imitators, the latter of whom have yet to equal the sincerity, power, and wit of
Nirvana.
Joey Ramone, Ramones
It's 1995 and I still haven't found total nirvana...but hope to! Speaking of
Nirvana, I miss their soothing, calming effect, their soul and spirit and angst, great
songs, antics, and excitement. Where are the exorcists when you need them to calm the
beast within?
Eugene Kelly, the Vaselines/Eugenius
My favorite Nirvana memory is when we reformed the Vaselines for one night
to support Nirvana when they played in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1990. Also being asked
onstage at the 1991 Reading Festival to sing 'Molly's Lips.' Unforgettable!
Lee Ranaldo, Sonic Youth
Our bands were playing the Reading Festival in 1991, just before Nevermind
went ballistic. Toward the end of an absolutely raging set, Kurt leapt over the monitors
and into the photo pit where Dave Markey just happened to be shooting our tour film, The
Year Punk Broke. Hundreds of arms reached out to grab him. Kurt, still playing, made his
way over to Markey, stuck his mouth to the camera mike, and said, 'This is a blues scale
in E,' poking fun at himself and every guitar hero ever.
Patty Schemel, Hole
I went to an all-ages show in Tacoma at the Community World Theater in
1987. One band had a singer with long hair and a drummer with short hair and a moustache.
They played Creedence Clearwater Revival songs. I didn't think much of it. Months later, I
went to see Nirvana at the Vogue in Seattle. I thought I recognized the long-haired singer
on stage. 'Oh,' it occurred to me, 'these are the guys that do the Creedence
covers.'
David Bowie
I was simply blown away when I found out that Kurt Cobain liked my work,
and I always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering 'Man Who Sold the
World.' It was a good straightforward rendition and sounded somehow very honest. It would
have been nice to have worked with him, but just talking would have been real cool.
Dale Crover, Melvins
My favorite memory of Nirvana was watching an audience of dumbfounded
Canadians getting their asses kicked while Nirvana played their best song. 'Endless
Nameless,' for the first time.
Blackie Onassis, Urge Overkill
We were doing a show at the Mississippi Nights club in St. Louis on the
Nevermind tour, and the whole day there had been this running joke in the Nirvana camp
about how Guns N' Roses had just had that big riot there. Kurt mentioned that he'd like to
start a riot, too, but I don't think anyone took him seriously. Nirvana needed to use our
gear that night because the previous evening they had just trashed everything. It was only
20 minutes into their set and Dave runs in and says that Kurt just invited the entire club
onstage becasue there were so many kids stage-diving. We realized our gear was up there,
so we all went running on stage to save our equipment. We found Krist and Kurt sitting on
the edge of the stage, totally bewildered, with 500 kids swarming all around them. The
whole place was going crazy, the owners were calling the cops. The police showed up and
Krist gave this long speech about how everyone needed to get along and he talked everyone
back into their seats and the cops agreed not to arrest anybody. Nirvana started playing
again and they kept the club open late so they could finish their set. Even the cops
stayed and watched the show. What started out as total mayhem ended in peaceful
resolution. That's how badly people wanted to hear Nirvana.
Steven Tyler, Aerosmith
Kurt's wounds were so deep that when the music floated to the surface after
being filtered through his soul, it was incorporeal.
Mac McCaughan, Superchunk
The first time I saw Nirvana, I thought they sucked. It was at Lame Fest in
Seattle, opening for Tad and Mudhoney the day Bleach came out. I thought the trashing of
gear was contrived, and that Bleach was sort of low-rent Melvins. The next time I saw them
was around the time the 'Sliver' single came out. It took the first 30 seconds of 'School'
to make me realize I had severely misjudged the power of this band; the crowd was going
completely nuts. Much of the set was stuff that would be on Nevermind, so the songs were
amazing, the energy manic, and the trashing of gear seemed inevitable, not
contrived.
Eric Erlandson, Hole
May or June 1991, Jabberjaw, Low Angeles. A spur-of-the moment show during
the making of Nevermind. About 400 lucky souls crammed into this dingy, dinky art space to
sweat and stink as one. Every rock voyeur and band geek in town was there to hear, for the
first time, the songs that would be Nevermind. The show was a mess, but, as always,
Nirvana's wild yet child-sweet
spirit filled the room. I remember somehow deciphering parts of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
and 'Lithium' out of the noise and confusion and feeling overwhelmed. Nirvana were
beautiful like no other.
Kurt's Gone To Join The Stupid Club
By:Wendy O'Conner (Kurts Mother)
[Kurt and I] were like twins. We never did get that umbilical cord
cut.
When I would think of him, he would call me--it was really weird. I loved his music. He
would play his drums for me--he was a drummer before he was a guitarist--and I would be
just gone on it. He thought I was just being his mother. Kurt and I used to be goofy
together; we'd have these little laughs. But then he stopped laughing. And that's what
really flew the red flag up for me, that it was really getting serious.
"Kurt's problems were ongoing, and we struggled with them for years. I talked him
through so many nights. He was probably a mis- or undiagnosed depressive, which runs in my
family. My grandfather, I would say, died from that, 'cause he tried to commit suicide and
eventually died from the injuries. Also, manic-depression is a progressive disease. Once
you get past a certain stage it's almost unmanageable, even with antidepressants.
I now know in hindsight that the sleeping he was doing in his teenage years was the very
beginning of it. He was sleeping so much, but that was also masked by just being a
teenager. But now I look back and go, 'Ah-ha, that was the very beginning of it.' And, of
course, once they leave home, they're out of your control. He would call me crying and
suicidal. He would always call when he got desperate. And then the last week he didn't
call. That was horrible, because I knew.
"People have asked me, aren't you angry at Kurt for taking such a cheap way out, for
leaving Frances and you, and I said no, not at all. People don't understand what
depression is. The way I explain it is, have you ever been hit in the stomach and lost
your breath? It's a horrible panicky situation. Can you imagine being in that state of
mind, in that state of anxiety and fear for years? He was a wonderful person, but he just
couldn't stand the pain anymore. That's why I'm not angry at Kurt.
"One thing I envied about Kurt and Courtney was how uninhibited they were with
Frances. She's such a brilliant little girl--like 2 going on 4. I worry about what's going
to happen when she gets older and people are talking about her parents. They will say
stuff about them without even knowing them. And so much that was written about Kurt was
wrong. I just hope the truth sustains her.
"I taught Frances a part of the Nirvana song 'Heart-Shaped Box' [that goes] 'Hey,
wait!' Kurt cried when she sang it to him the first time. She doesn't sing it so much
anymore. But there's a big tapestry downstairs of Jesus, and we go down there, and she
says, 'Daddy!' I go, 'Well, he kind of looks like Daddy.' She talks to it. She tells him
all the things that happened during the day.
Songs Written About Kurt
You're the pearl in the quicksand
You sink without a sound
I'm the girl with the tiny hands
Planted underground
You're the dream, I'm the dreamer
In the dream, you're still around
See the sun falling down
See the sun falling down
See the sun falling down
See the sun falling down
You're the bleach
When everything went black
The relief I found
You're the sliver of hope in my lap
You're soft, warm, round
Goodnite moon
Goodnite mush
Goodnite ladies saying hush
"Sundown" by Veruca Salt
Yeah, all those stars drip down like butter
And promises are sweet
We hold out our pans with our hands to catch them
We eat them up, drink them up, up, up, up
Hey, let me in
Hey, let me in
I only wish that I could hear you whisper down
Mister fisherman, to a less peculiar ground
He gathered up his loved ones
And he brought them all around
To say goodbye, nice try
Hey, let me in
Hey, let me in
I have the mind to try to stop you, let me in, let me in
But I've got tar on my feet and I can't see
All the birds look down and laugh at me
Clumsy, crawling out of my skin
"Let Me In" by R.E.M.
Vacate is the word
Vengeance has no place so near to her
Cannot find the comfort in this world
Artificial tear, vessel stabbed, next up volunteers
Vulnerable, wisdom can't adhere
A truant finds home
A wish to hold on
But there's a trapdoor in the sun
Immortality...
As privileged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door
Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor
Cannot stop the thought, running in the dark
Coming up a which way sign
All good truants must decide
Oh, stripped and sold, mom, auctioned forearm
And whiskers in the sink
Truants move on, cannot stay long
Some die just to live...
"Immortality" by Pearl Jam