Nirvana

This club is dedicated to all things Nirvana. It was created to allow people to speak freely and genuinely about a band who redefined the music industry from 1987 to 1994. Feel free to say anything or post anything in this club through forum posts and general comments. Please be respectful to one another, and keep posts focused on the topic at hand. No spam as well. <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:blue"><u><strong>Brief History/Discography</strong></u><!--color--></span><!--center--></div> <div style="text-align: center;">Taken from Rolling Stone<!--center--></div> Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic grew up in Aberdeen, Washington, a small logging town 100 miles southwest of Seattle. When Cobain was eight, his secretary mother and auto-mechanic father divorced, leaving him constantly moving from one set of relatives to another. As a child he loved the Beatles, but by nine discovered the heavier music of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Kiss. Cobain met the 6-foot-7-inch Novoselic, son of a local hairdresser, through mutual friend Buzz Osborne of the Aberdeen band the Melvins. Osborne introduced them to the hardcore punk of Black Flag and Flipper. In 1987 Cobain and Novoselic, both of whom had long felt alienated from their working-class peers, formed Nirvana with Chad Channing and started playing parties at the liberal Evergreen State College in nearby Olympia. The following year, Seattle independent label Sub Pop signed the band and released its first single, “Love Buzz” b/w “Big Cheese.” Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, recorded for $606.17, came out in 1989 to kudos from the underground-rock community; it sold an initial 35,000 copies, considerable for an indie-label release. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/372549649_14aa080837.jpg" border="0"><!--center--></div> With Nevermind, Nirvana succeeded at getting punk to the populace on a grand scale: After an initial shipment of 50,000 copies, the record kept selling, eventually bumping new albums by Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, U2, and MC Hammer from the top of the chart. Nevermind ultimately sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. Amid the chaos, Nirvana released Incesticide in 1993, a collection of early singles and outtakes. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://musicsnobbery.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/17/smells_like_teen_spirit.jpg" border="0"><div style="text-align: center;"> On September 21, Nirvana released In Utero, which debuted at #1 and ultimately produced the Modern Rock radio hits “Heart-Shaped Box” and “All Apologies.” On January 7, 1994, Nirvana performed what would be their last American concert, at the Seattle Center Arena. On February 6, the band departed for a European tour, but after a series of shows in France, Portugal, the former Yugoslavia, Germany, and Italy, decided to take a break, during which Cobain remained in Rome. At 6:30 a.m. on March 4, Love found Cobain unconscious in the couple’s room at Rome’s Excelsior Hotel, the result of an overdose of the tranquilizer Rohypnol. At first deemed an accident, later reports uncovered a suicide note. Cobain remained in a coma for 20 hours. When the Cobains returned to Seattle, things took a turn for the worse. On March 18, police arrived at the Cobain home again after the singer locked himself in a room with a .38-caliber revolver, threatening to kill himself. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.nirvanaone.ru/photos/cdcovers/CompleteReadingFestival1992/Predok.jpg" border="0"><!--center--></div> On March 30, Cobain checked in to the Exodus Recovery Center in L.A., but fled on April 1, after telling staff members he was going outside for a smoke. On April 8, he was found dead in a room above the garage of the couple’s Seattle home, the result of a self-inflicted .20-gauge shotgun wound to his head. For weeks afterward, fans, the news media, MTV, and radio mourned his death with specials about Nirvana and the generations they inspired. In November 1994, MTV Unplugged in New York, an album of the acoustic show taped in 1993, was released.

 Nirvana’s success changed the course of rock music in the ’90s, cementing the rise of alternative rock and legitimizing the differences in perspective between the earlier baby-boom generation of rock fans and the subsequent so-called Generation X. The band’s impact was also felt by some of Cobain’s own musical heroes, heard in such Cobain tributes as Neil Young’s Sleeps With Angels album and Patti Smith’s song “About a Boy.” Cobain’s expressions of support for women and homosexuals challenged the earlier rock & roll status quo. With his sensitive lyrics and outward frustrations over the disordered state of the world, Cobain brought a new edge and urgency to pop music. After years of legal-wrangling, With The Lights Out was released, exposing a box-set collection of the band's rawest demos and studio outtakes in November 2004. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.onewaymagazine.com/images/artists/nirvana1.jpg" border="0"><!--center--></div> <span style="color:blue"><u><strong>Album Reviews</strong></u><!--color--></span> Taken from Various Sources; Mostly Guy Peters :) <strong>Bleach</strong>: Released on June 15, 1989 through the Indie label Sub pop <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Nirvana-Bleach.jpg" border="0"><!--center--></div> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">Recorded in Seattle at Reciprocal Recording by Jack Endino for $600,” the booklet somewhat boastingly mentions. And why? Because the album sounds pretty good for such a low budget, that’s why, and they must have realized that. Although the album does sound rather amateurish, its dirty rawness is a nice match for the heavy Melvins/ Sabbath-inspired dirges. People often tend to forget that the pre-Nevermind-buzz Nirvana was just a small outfit of scruffy looking bums. The Melvins were a crucial band in the Nirvana history. Not only had Cobain (in his teens) played in a band with later Melvins-drummer Dale Crover, it was also that band’s singer/guitarist King Buzzo who introduced them to Bambi-eyed Chris Novoselic, who would eventually stay the permanent bass player. A few years later, Cobain would return the favor by making sure the Melvins got themselves a better record deal with a major label (Houdini (1993)). On this album, Dale Crover fulfils drumming duty on “Floyd the Barber” and “Paper Cuts,” while on the other tracks Chad Channing drums. The booklet also mentions Jason Everman (guitar), but allegedly he doesn’t appear on these recordings. Let’s start with the good things first: “Blew,” in instant Nirvana classic, starts with Novoselic’s heavy bass, and offers a sludgy slab of rock, further characterised by Cobain’s mumbled vocals (obviously inspired by the Meat Puppets’s Curt Kirkwood), and the amateurishly recorded (that bass drum!), but dirty sounding drums. “About a Girl” is the album’s most melodic, accessible and classic-sounding song. It’s not only remarkably melodic and poppy for a ‘grunge’ band (good luck finding pop melodies in albums by Tad, Mudhoney, Soundgarden,… from the same era), it also points out where the band would go on subsequent releases. The album’s two other highlights are firstly “School”, which offers some damn fine guitar soloing, an exemplary instance of typical Nirvana-repetitions (the entire song contains just three different sentences: “Wouldn’t you believe it, it’s just my luck,” “No recess,” and “You’re in high school again”) and a swell building up of tension marked by a thrilling scream; and secondly “Love Buzz,” a dirty – if faithful - cover version of the song by Dutch band Shocking Blue (their other “classic”, “Venus,” was later covered by 80’s pop act Bananarama). A few remarkable things about the song are Cobain’s almost unrecognisable vocals in the first verse, the recognisable repetitive bass lines, and some marvellous guitar freak-outs at the end, clearly inspired by listening to a lot of Dinosaur Jr. “Floyd the Barber”, with its ridiculously loud drums, is one of the better efforts, and I really dig the ending of that song, the guitar and bass disappearing to let the drums finish the song. Sadly enough, the second half of the album offers not one song that can compete with one of those songs. An interesting trio of songs are tracks 8-10, “Scoff,” “Swap Meet,” and “Mr. Moustache.” All these songs are quite brutal and heavy, and have, sadly enough, some weak parts. But, underneath all the muddy violence, some good ideas can be found. “Scoff” features a surprisingly accessible chorus, “Swap Meet” has some twisted, cool-sounding guitar parts and drum-rolls, and is basically recycled in “Mr. Moustache,” which speeds up the previous song. That’s when we get to the bad stuff. Notwithstanding the poppy chorus (with, again, weird bass drums), “Big Cheese” is a letdown because of the weak tuneless verses and truly annoying vocals. “Paper Cuts,” an unbearably slow and heavy Melvins-imitation suffers from the same. Even worse are “Negative Creep” and “Sifting”. The first starts off really powerful, but in the second half of the song, Cobain sounds too demented. Annoyingly demented. The repeated “Daddy’s little girl ain’t a girl no more”-line usually makes me skip it. “Sifting” offers no imagination, goes on for too long (more than six minutes), is underdeveloped and should have stayed off the album. Ridiculously uneven, Bleach is a very frustrating listen. The bad songs are (again) annoyingly bad and repetitive, and therefore it’s a good thing that most of those songs are quite short. On the other hand, the album contains three great songs (two originals “Blew,” “About a Girl,” and the cover “Love Buzz”) some other artists would die for, and a few fine ones (“School,” “Floyd the Barber”), which betray Cobain’s talent for writing his own original songs in a classic reference frame (later efforts weren’t that far removed from powerful pop). More of that was to come two years later, when this band would almost single-handedly (with the help of the music industry and the press of course) change our notion of “rock music”. <!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>Nevermind</strong>: Released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on Geffen Records. <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/NirvanaNevermindalbumcover.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">I bought this album in September of 1991. The band had made quite an impression at the annual Pukkelpop festival (Belgium) a month earlier, got quite some buzz, and I (young and inexperienced) wanted the album ASAP. And I liked it a lot. I thought it was a masterpiece, until I’d had enough of it suddenly, and didn’t play it for a few years. Now, a dozen years later, I still like the album, but with more reservations. It is probably a common enough story in music history that albums that appeal to almost a whole generation (like London Calling 24 years ago, or Sgt. Pepper’s 36 years ago), don’t seem to be able to live up to their reputation. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a winner, though. The guitar that introduces the song still gives me a weird feeling that sends me back in time (too bad I get this feeling less and less). It’s the ideal (teen) anthem: it rocks, it has great hooks, and it’s memorable. People have said parts of it were directly stolen from the Pixies’ “Debaser” or Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” or partly influenced by Hüsker Dü and The Police. Well, I’m not convinced. I guess some comparisons could lead to a “Yeah, it does resemble…” but it’s no more the case than loads of other songs that are influenced by their peers’ accomplishments. Also, the rest of the songs show that the band had moved much more towards ‘mainstream’ rock since Bleach: “In Bloom” has some catchy verses and a loud, sing-along verse (“Heeeeeeeeee’s the one who likes all our pretty songs…”). All this suggests that the band not only had notorious indie bands like the Wipers, Flipper, and Dinosaur Jr. as prime examples, but also more melodic rock acts such as Cheap Trick and the Beatles. Another great track is “Breed,” which has some great greasy bass work, crunchy guitars, propulsive drumming, and a killer chorus. The album’s other energy-blast is “Territorial Pissings,” which is about the only song on this album that could qualify as ‘punk’ (using the clichéd definition of “fast and aggressive rock song that speeds ahead so fast you’re ruining the seat cover”). Some mighty Hüsker Dü-guitars (the galloping part could very well come from that band’s “Turn On the News”), a drum assault by Dave Grohl, and some riveting vocals by Cobain introduce the song. “Come As You Are” and “Lithium” are, besides the first track, the most well known songs on this album, and rightly so. However, I have really heard these two tracks too much. Certainly “Come As You Are” seems a bit of an annoying song to me now. It has become somewhat of a drag to listen to. “Lithium”, however, has that “Yeah yeah yeah”-chorus that does the trick, but it could have been shorter. Or maybe I’m just forgetting we’re dealing with an anthem, and they’re supposed to go on for too long. A song everyone seems to like is “Polly”, and I can see why: the song offers a nice contrast to the powerful stuff at the beginning of the album, the lyrics aren’t very lightweight (and seem to be dealing with rape), there are some spooky backing vocals, etc., but somehow it doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Instead, I prefer the even more drugged-sounding “Something In the Way,” which is more subdued, moody and enigmatic, and is a great album closer. The rest of the songs on the album (tracks 8-11, the song order could definitely have been better) aren’t that impressive. “Drain You” is catchy and has a great middle part with a cool climax, “Lounge Act” has some nice bass work and leans more towards the folksier guitar-pop of the Lemonheads (or is that far-fetched?), “Stay Away” is raunchy, features some cool call-and-response verses, but an annoying chorus, and “On a Plain” is good, but nothing more than that. Than why the hell is this considered a classic album? Well, I don’t know for sure, but it was probably a good example of “the right album at the right time”. The album is loud enough to annoy those who hate rock (an important factor when you’re 15). At the same time it has loads of pop hooks, and an overall attitude/message of disillusion that appeals to kids looking for answers. Although the band took its energetic conviction from listening to lots of punk music, it replaced idealism with indifference. The amount of self-hatred on this album is massive, but whereas someone like Henry Rollins (whose obsession with pain, hatred and solitude must have influenced Cobain) would turn it into a life force to feed on, Cobain seems to celebrate its fatality and the uselessness of trying to change anything (we’re dealing with an album called “Nevermind”, right?). An album that is guaranteed to appeal to music fans all over the world, because of its clever mix of almost-noise (although the album sounds very ‘clean’ a dozen years after its release, leading to the presumption that the guys at DGC knew they’d just found something new) and catchy choruses, Nevermind is a very good, but somewhat uneven album that has become a classic, but not only on the basis of the quality of the music, since certainly the second part of the album suffers from some unremarkable song-writing. On the other hand, it’s not the hugely overrated album some people claim it to be now (a common backlash). Just try to forget the stories, the hype, all those delirious reviews and enjoy it for what it is: a very good album by a very good band. Note: Most copies around (not mine) seem to have a hidden track at the end, “Endless Nameless.” I heard it, and I’m glad my album ends with “Something In the Way.”<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>Insecticide</strong>: The album was released on December 14, 1992 in Europe, and December 15, 1992 in the U.S.. It was released on Geffen records. <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Nirvana-Incesticide.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">Originally intended as a stopgap record following the massive success of Nirvana's Nevermind, the archival Incesticide album has taken on an added significance in light of subsequent events.What’s the use of releasing a rarities-compilation after only two studio albums? Well, it’s a way to make easy money of course, and released during the band’s popularity peak it’s guaranteed to sell because of all those fans eager to complete their collection. I have this feeling this might be one of the best-selling (non-singles) compilations ever because of that. The material gathered here can be roughly divided into three sections: early releases (single and ep-stuff), BBC radio sessions (of early material and a few covers), and early recordings never before released. “Dive” and “Sliver” (a single released between Bleach and Nevermind) both are prime Nirvana songs hesitating between the dragging grunge of the debut and the crispy melodic punk pop of the classic album. “Stain,” originally on the Blew ep, could’ve been on the debut album too, plodding sludgy along while Cobain repeats his “And he never…” over and over again. The song also features a chaotic, distorted but cool guitar solo. The BBC-sessions feature “Been a Son,” an unpolished early pop-gem (also from the Blew ep), and a speedy electric version of “Polly” that sounds as if the early Meat Puppets are playing it. There’s also a version of “Aneurysm,” one of the best songs the band ever recorded, which is not very different from the original studio version (added to the “Smells Like Teen Spirit”-single), but remains a classic nevertheless. The covers the band chose are quite surprising and work very well; there’s a jerky version of Devo’s “Turnaround” (which sounds rawer, but also as geeky as the original song), and two sublime cover versions of “Molly’s Lips” and “Son of a Gun”, songs written by Scottish band the Vaselines. Both are incredibly infectious (how can you not sing along to “Kiss kiss Molly’s Lips”?) and are given a suitably raw and sober treatment. Maybe this is also the right moment to point at that Cobain’s support of other bands was admirable. Even after he’d achieved true star status he kept pushing many of his beloved bands/artists (the Raincoats, Daniel Johnston, Dinosaur Jr., Flipper, etc.), some of which were also important influences. The rest of the album consists of songs recorded before and during the Bleach-session (all of them with Dale Crover on drums). After hearing those it’s easy to understand why these songs (except for “Downer”) never made it to the album. Apart from a few good ideas that are scattered around, these songs aren’t very appealing, as they seem underdeveloped, lack imagination or wallow in their own tuneless impenetrability. Suffering from the same problem as Bleach, Incesticide shows that not everything the band touched turned into gold. On the one hand it’s very frustrating that the excellent first half of compilation isn’t maintained throughout the rest album. On the other hand, a compilation like this shows the band progressed with gigantic leaps and bounds at a time. The question remains who’s interested in sub-par stuff when there’s no time to waste. <!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>In Utero</strong>: Released on September 13, 1993 by Geffen Records. <img src="http://www.solarnavigator.net/music/music_images/Nirvana_In_Utero_album_cover.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">This is the way Nirvana's Kurt Cobain spells success: s-u-c-k-s-e-g-g-s. Never in the history of rock & roll overnight sensations has an artist, with the possible exception of John Lennon, been so emotionally overwhelmed by his sudden good fortune, despised it with such devilish vigor and exorcised his discontent on record with such bristling, bull's-eye candor. In Utero is rife with gibes – some hilariously droll, others viciously direct – at life in the post-Nevermind fast lane, at the moneychangers who milked the grunge tit dry in record time and at the bandwagon sheep in the mosh pit who never caught on to the desperate irony of "Here we are now, entertain us." The very first words out of Cobain's mouth in "Serve the Servants," In Utero's petulant, bludgeoning opener, are "Teenage angst has served me well/Now I'm bored and old," sung in an irritated, marble-mouthed snarl that immediately derails any lingering expectations for a son of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It gets better. In "Very Ape," a two-minute corker cut from the same atomic-fuzz cloth as the band's 1989 debut album, Bleach, Cobain gets right down to brass tacks, against a burning-rubber lead guitar squeal and the mantric rumble of bassist Chris Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl: "I am buried up to my neck in/Contradictionary lies." (Nice pun, that.) The kiss-off quickly follows: "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate/To ask someone else first." Cobain slightly overplays his hand with the title of "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter." Nirvana have been called many things over the past two years; that, as far as I can tell, is not one of them. But Cobain cuts right to the heart of the mire with a torrent of death-throe guitar feedback and a brilliant metaphor for the head-turning speed with which one man can suddenly sire a nation: "This had nothing to do with what you think/If you ever think at all.... All of a sudden my water broke."<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>MTV Unplugged in New York</strong>: Released half a year after Cobain’s suicide, Unplugged in New York was the document that proved once and for all that the band could play their instruments, and that they could turn in quite some great stuff that also works well in an acoustic setting. <img src="http://images.bluebeat.com/an/6/1/0/4/l4016.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">Released half a year after Cobain’s suicide, Unplugged in New York was the document that proved once and for all that the band could play their instruments, and that they could turn in quite some great stuff that also works well in an acoustic setting. Nevermind and In Utero already contained their share of quieter and more introspective moments, but if it weren’t for this unplugged-craze (I often really regret someone ever started this), we might never have heard this side of Nirvana. So, thank you MTV and David Geffen (yes, this is the first and last time I’m going to say that) for providing us with this satisfying and often remarkably intense collection of songs, consisting of eight originals (one from Bleach, four from Nevermind, and three from In Utero) and six remarkable covers. A faithful version of “About a Girl” sets off the album and benefits from a very nice sound, with especially the guitar and the bass very full and warm, and the drums suitably muted. Most of the songs taken from Nevermind are quieter songs in the first place, so these versions aren’t all that different. “Come As you Are” still benefits from that watery guitar sound, “Polly” and “Something In the Way” stay as creepy as before, and a calmer version of “On a Plain” perhaps even surpasses the studio version. For some reason, I do enjoy the In Utero-songs even more in these acoustic versions: Cobain gives a solo performance of “Pennyroyal Tea” (quite a drag to listen to in the studio version) and succeeds in making it more directly emotional, without loosing the morbid tone underlying the song. Both “Dumb” (is that the bass line of The Rolling Stones’ “Live With Me” at the end of the song?) and “All Apologies” are given superior treatments here, and benefit immensely from the cello (played by Lori Goldston) that adds some more drama, and are as good as any other unplugged performance I’ve heard so far. Early during the set, the band plays covers of The Vaselines’ “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” and David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” (with Cobain mumbling before the song “I guarantee you I will screw this song up”). Both are sublime versions and album highlights. Novoselic makes the first one (which I never heard before) with even more melancholy on accordian, while the second one, with a sweeping combination of electric (!) guitar and cello, is nothing short of stunning (personally I think it surpasses Bowie’s original). Cris and Curt Kirkwood join the band for three songs from their own second album Meat Puppets II, and while these songs are certainly satisfying (certainly “Lake of Fire”) they are not album highlights, though they probably gave the Meat Puppets quite a boost for a while (which is a nice gesture of the hosts). The album’s masterpiece is undoubtedly their version of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” with which they finish the set. Cobain had already contributed to a version of that song on Mark Lanegan’s debut album, The Winding Sheet (1990), but this version eclipses it, as it is turned into an incredibly emotional and harrowing tale of adultery and defeat, with Cobain giving the performance of his career during the song’s climactic ending. A strong overall collection, with a few outstanding tracks and no misses, Unplugged in New York doesn’t offer any new insights or amazing Nirvana-tracks we hadn’t heard yet, but it’s a nice document nevertheless, that proves that the band not only could create an immense racket if they wanted, but also some moments of sheer beauty.<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>From the Muddy Banks of the Whishkah</strong>: Released in 1996 <img src="http://2.music.bigpond-images.com/images/AlbumCoverArt/168/XXL/From-The-Muddy-Banks-Of-The-Wishkah.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">After the release of Unplugged In New York, there was still one element missing in the Nirvana-output: a regular live album by the band that would satisfy both those who’d witnessed them on stage and those waiting to catch a glimpse of the band in its messy live magnificence. It took several quarrels and two years to come up with the requested album, but the result is quite satisfying. The sound isn’t always top-notch. The guitars and bass sometimes sound all too samey, and the vocals come and go, but that wasn’t a prerequisite in the first place. It ain’t Steely Dan we’re dealing with. Muddy Banks does offer confirmation that the band was a very competent live outfit and took no prisoners on stage. Much more ragged and raw than the Nevermind-recordings, this album sounds exactly like what you would expect after listening to In Utero. It’s a good thing that the performances gathered aren’t just live versions of a best of-compilation. Several of the band’s most famous songs are indeed missing from this album, while few ‘obscure’ ones replace them. The album contains three tracks from the muddy Bleach: “School,” “Blew,” and “Negative Creep”. Especially the latter is given an exciting treatment, easily surpassing the studio version with an extra shot of adrenaline. From the classic Nevermind, “Drain You,” and “Lithium” are given a faithful version, while “Smells Like Teen Spirit” stands proudly among the rest of the tracks. “Polly” and “Breed” are taken from a gig recorded in December of 1989, and are thus versions that pre-date the studio takes with more than a year. And while “Breed” proves the band had started honing its sound before the nineties, the mediocre version of “Polly” shows they also knew how to get a maximum result from a song. The songs that are taken from In Utero are, apart from “Heart-Shaped Box,” about the loudest on the album: both “Scentless Apprentice” and “Milk It” sound as aggressive as their studio versions, but suffer a bit from the production. “Tourette’s” (announced as “The Eagle Has Landed”), on the other hand, recorded during the 1992 Reading festival (UK), sounds as utterly deranged and wild as it’s supposed to be. Also on the album are the melodic “Been a Son,” the early Nirvana-classic “Sliver,” the exciting b-side “Aneurysm,” and, for the completists, the garagey “Spank Thru,” one of the band’s earliest songs, and the album’s only ‘unknown’ song. Although I mentioned the songs from each album, they’re not grouped like that (although the non-album tracks are in the first half, and all of the In Utero-tracks in the second half). Instead they’re all mixed up, and the performances are taken from ten (10!) different shows, recorded between December of 1989 and January of 1994, spanning the largest part of the band’s history. Therefore, the album lacks a certain homogeny. However, the songs are sequenced and pasted in a clever way, so that you’ll never be really bothered by this. From The Muddy Banks Of The Whishkah might be a blast to those who worship the band, but more neutral and unbiased listeners are given proof of what they already knew: Nirvana were a damn good band with loads of unfulfilled potential. Please resign, Phil Collins.<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>With The Lights Out Box Set</strong>: Released in 2004, Tracked bands musical evolution through various unheard and also familiar tracks. <img src="http://www.nirvanaitalia.it/WTLOesterno.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br>[color= blue]If we did not have chemicals, you wouldn’t be writing my death certificate…”Halfway through the unreleased jam ‘The Other Improv’ – recorded at one of Nirvana’s last ever recording sessions, in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, as they worked out the songs that would become ‘In Utero’ – Kurt mumbles a confession. But was it a tortured genius accidentally caught in a moment of emotional nakedness, or a man known for mocking the public perception of his life taking the piss? Remember, just six months previously he had appeared at the Reading festival, in what was to be the band’s final UK show, in a wheelchair and white surgical gown. So does the release of ‘With The Lights Out’ shed any new light on the Nirvana myth? Does it explain why it ended like it did? Does it add to, or take away from the cult of Kurt which has grown since his grisly suicide in April 1994? People may have been clamouring for this stuff but, as with the recent publication of Kurt’s personal diaries, it should be questioned if many of the songs on ‘With The Lights Out’ should ever have been allowed into the public domain at all. Entire swathes of ‘With The Lights Out’ are so personal, it’s like peering into Kurt’s private journals and selfishly ripping out a page for yourself. Sometimes it’s fascinating, but over the course of more than three hours and 81 songs it occasionally feels like you’re discovering secrets better left untold. The release last year of the ‘lost’ ‘You Know You’re Right’ was something of a red herring for those who may think that the vaults are heaving with quality unreleased Nirvana songs. ‘With The Lights Out’ features numerous different mixes and alternative versions of already famous tracks, but in terms of actual new material it’s relatively slim pickings. But what there is here is brilliant. Highlights include ‘Old Age’, an outtake from the ‘Nevermind’ sessions which Kurt then gave to Courtney, who recorded it with Hole. Then there’s the psychedelic ‘Do Re Mi’ (known in some circles as ‘Me And My IV’), a pretty acoustic demo reminiscent of something from The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ – a song which would have been recorded and released on an EP for their aborted appearance on Lollapalooza in 1994. But, of course, the band never made the tour. What is revealed, though, is that the way Kurt wrote songs never changed. From the earliest rehearsals in 1988, when Nirvana were playing in bassist Krist Novoselic’s mum’s house, through to ‘Do Re Mi’ (committed to tape just weeks before he killed himself), Kurt worked through his ideas and lyrics on a simple acoustic guitar, often recording on anything he found nearby – boombox, tape recorder or four-track. It didn’t matter that the guitar was flat or maybe even missing a string. Listening now, ten years later, to this DIY approach, it’s charming to think that these sketches became ‘Rape Me’, ‘Pennyroyal Tea’, ‘All Apologies’ and ‘Sliver’. But it’s often frustrating because what could have been a thrilling document of the best songwriter since John Lennon is masked behind hiss and noise. CD1 deals with the band around the release of ‘Bleach’, when they were little more than Led Zeppelin wannabes, trying to find a unique voice and struggling against an inability to break free of their remote location, to find a good drummer, or even somewhere permanent to rehearse. There are two Zeppelin covers, in fact, on the first disc, a pretty faithful run-through of ‘Heartbreaker’ and a workmanlike ‘Moby Dick’. There are three Leadbelly songs recorded at a 1989 studio session in Seattle (predating ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ on ‘MTV Unplugged...’ by four years) and live versions of some of the best moments from ‘Bleach’: ‘Downer’ and ‘Floyd The Barber’. In truth, a lot of what’s on CD1 sets foundations for what’s to follow. Despite the fact that many of the tracks are swamped in feedback, even in the late-’80s Cobain, try as he might, couldn’t mask his love of bands like The Beatles – it comes through in the early demos of ‘Polly’ and ‘About A Girl’. But as the decade turned, something changed. If on the early demos Cobain wanted to celebrate his heroes by covering their songs, as Nirvana developed Kurt found the confidence to embrace melody, take a song he liked and perform it in his own style. And in doing so he found his voice. CD2 features different mixes of some of the songs which took Nirvana to the top of the US album charts and shook rock music to its core. There’s an embryonic demo of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, plus alternative mixes of ‘Stay Away’ (renamed as ‘Pay To Play’), ‘Breed’ and ‘Lithium’. It’s Nirvana at their most mainstream and sugar-coated; polished pop songs that sound as fresh today as they did in 1991. But somewhere in the middle of these sits an acoustic demo. It’s of ‘Dumb’. And it’s the first real hint that Kurt’s struggling to come to terms with his success and is crippled by his addiction to heroin. It opens the door to the most harrowing moments on the entire compilation. By late 1992 and into 1993 it’s obvious that Kurt doesn’t want to be a pop star anymore, and it’s eating away into his songwriting. CD3 opens with two different versions of ‘Rape Me’, the first on acoustic guitar, the latter with the full band. On the acoustic version there’s a child, presumably his daughter Frances Bean, screaming in the background. As Kurt sings, the screaming doesn’t die down; if anything, it gets worse. It’s impossible to say if it’s there intentionally to give the song more power, but it’s not like it’s needed. That’s followed with a nine-minute version of ‘Scentless Apprentice’. Even against the backdrop of one of the most uncompromising albums ever, the finished version can hardly be described as one of the more radio-friendly moments on ‘In Utero’, but this is something else. Grohl came up with the drums and riff and you can almost hear him teaching them what to do. Three minutes in, there’s a wall of feedback; by four it starts to take shape. Kurt doesn’t have any lyrics; he’s searching for a melody but none comes. Six minutes in, he’s screaming his lungs out and the band just get louder and louder. It’s awesome, one of the best things on the box-set. Then comes ‘Heart Shaped Box’. Again, completely different from the unit-shifter released as the first single from ‘In Utero’, this comes from the same sessions in Rio as ‘The Other Improv’. The guitar solo in the chorus is replaced with a wall of feedback, a metaphor for the reaction against the monster Kurt perceived he’d created. CD3 ends with an undated solo demo of ‘All Apologies’ so bleak to makes the version on ‘MTV Unplugged...’ sound like ‘Hey Ya!’ . The DVD adds more insight, with brilliant rehearsal and live footage, from the ropey fuzz of Shocking Blue’s ‘Love Buzz’ up to the Rio studio’s strangely touching recording of insipid ’70s ballad ‘Seasons In The Sun’. Ten years on, ‘With The Lights Out’ is the ideal last statement. With three studio albums, an unplugged, a live album, a greatest hits and now this, those close to Kurt and Nirvana have handled what must have been years of horrific decisions with true dignity. But now, there’s nothing of any quality left. Kurt wasn’t alive long enough for those around him to keep returning to the vaults time after time and finding lost gems. Ultimately, if you’re looking for answers, you’ll get more questions. What was that reference to a death certificate about? Anything at all? Did he see himself as following in the footsteps of the bluesmen like Leadbelly? Or continuing a rock lineage that snakes back to The Beatles? Or both? And if you’re after better versions of classic songs, think again. But as a humanising, comprehensive and often heartbreaking document of a man who, in five years, changed the face of music, almost by accident, it’s essential.[/color]<!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>Sliver</strong>: The Best of the Box, Released in 2005. Compilation of songs from With The Lights out bow, but with 3 additional songs. <img src="http://www.nirvanaclub.com/news/sliver_big.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">There’s no use speculating whether Kurt Cobain would have wanted his sketches, throwaways, pranks and duds entered into the public record; the dead don’t get to speak for themselves, and suicides in particular renounce their right to self-representation. So this just-in-time-for-Christmas collection unashamedly summarizes last year’s just-in-time-for-Christmas With the Lights Out, adding three demos withheld from the box. Unless you’re thrilled by the moment when Cobain coughs in the 1985 gag “Spank Thru,” these crusty discards add little to understanding his life or music. He was a genius, but he needed focus and motivation to balance his urge to be sloppy and offhand. And he needed Dave Grohl on drums. Here, he rarely has any of those. Judging from the cover art—a mess of cassettes with demos, riffs and “funny noises”—this could go on for years. DOWNLOAD: “Oh the Guilt,” “Blandest”<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <span style="color:blue"><u><strong>Brief Band Member Histories</strong></u><!--color--></span> <strong>Kurt Cobain</strong>: (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) <img src="http://c.getbackimages.com/uri/w514_h676_cfalse/courtney-love-and-kurt-cobain-1993/image/4/0/6/5/4065808.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties. Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquaim, a small town 140 kilometers south-west of Seattle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an auto mechanic. Cobain soon moved to nearby Aberdeen, a depressed and dying logging town. Cobain was a happy child, always smiling, not being able to wait till the next day. But then matters were made worse when Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music. After his parent's divorce Cobain found himself shuttled back and forth between various relatives and at one stage, he says, homeless living under a bridge, but this is not true. When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captivated by Britain's Sex Pistols and after their self-destruction Cobain and friend Krist Novoselic continued to listen to the wave of British bands including Joy Division the nihilistic post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality. Cobain's artistry and iconoclastic attitude didn't win many friends in high school and sometimes earned him beatings from "jocks" Cobain got even by spray painting "QUEER" on their pick-up trucks. By 1985 Aberdeen was dead and Cobain's next stop was Olympia. Cobain formed and reformed a series of bands before Nirvana came to be in 1986. Nirvana was an uneasy alliance between Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and eventually drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl. By 1988 Nirvana were playing shows and had demo tapes going around. In 1989 Nirvana recorded their rough-edged first album Bleach for local Seattle independent label Sub-Pop. In Britain Nirvana received a lot of recognition and in 1991 their contract was bought out by Geffen, they signed to the mega label, the first non-mainstream band to do so. Two and a half years after Nirvana's first C.D. Bleach was released they released Nevermind, a series of different, crunching, screaming songs that along with it's first single Smells Like Teen Spirit would propel Nirvana to mainstream stardom. Smells Like Teen Spirit became Nirvana's most highly acclaimed and instantly recognizable song. Not many people can decipher it's exact lyrics but Cobain used a seductive hook line to hook the listener. Nevermind went on to sell ten million copies and make a reported $550 million (US) leaving Nirvana overnight millionaires. Cobain was shocked at the reception of his highly personal and passionate music repeatedly telling reporters that none of the band ever, ever expected anything like this. It quickly became obvious that the obsessively sickly and sensitive 24yr old was not going to cope well with the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. "If there was a rock star 101 course, I'd really have like to take it," Cobain once observed. Cobain fell into heroin in the early 90's, he said he used it as a shield against the rigorous demands of touring and to stop the pain of stomach ulcers or an irritated bowel. Through the touring and pressure Cobain continued to write his very personal acutely focused lyrics. Cobain was distressed to find out that what he wrote and how it was interpreted could quite often be miles apart. He was appalled when he found out that Polly a heavily ironic anti-rape song had been sung by 2 men as they raped a young girl. He later appealed to fans on the Incesticide liner notes "If any of you don't like gays or women or blacks, please leave us the fuck alone." It was to no avail, Cobain found that as an overnight millionaire musician control was something he had very little of. Cobain also worried that his band had sold-out, that it was attracting the wrong kind of fans (i.e the type that used to beat him up). In February 1992 Cobain skipped off to Hawaii to marry the already pregnant Courtney Love. Later in the year Nirvana released Incesticide and in August Cobain had hospital treatment for heroin abuse. Shortly after Frances Bean Cobain was born. In early 1993 In Utero was released into the top spot on the music charts. In Utero was widely acclaimed by the music press and it contains some of Cobain's most passionate work. In Utero was a lot more open than Nirvana's previous albums. Songs like All Apologies and Heart Shaped Box detailed aspects of Cobain's sometimes shaky marriage, other songs like Scentless Apprentice detailed the agonies and struggles of Cobain's experiences. Nirvana embarked on a support tour and recorded and filmed an "unplugged" (acoustic) performance for MTV in November of 1993. Nirvana's choice to honor bands and people that had influenced them and Cobain's passionate and intense vocals especially on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"silenced many of their who had labeled Cobain talentless. Rumors circulated that the MTV Unplugged compilation would be Nirvana's last album and the band were splitting up. In the northern winter of 1993-94 Nirvana embarked on an extensive European tour. Twenty concerts into the tour Cobain developed throat problems and their schedule was interrupted while he recovered. While recovering Cobain flew to Rome to join his wife who was also preparing to tour with her own band. On March the 4th Cobain was rushed to hospital in a coma after what has been labeled an unsuccessful suicide bid in which he washed down about fifty prescription painkillers with champagne. It was officially called an accident and was not even made known to close friends and associates. Several days later he returned to Seattle. Cobain's wife, friends and managers convinced Cobain, who was still in deep distress to enter a detox program in L.A. According to a missing person's report filed by Courtney Love, pretending to be Wendy O'Connor Kurt's mother, Cobain fled after only a few days of the program. Cobain's body was found when an electrician visiting the house to install a security system was walking around outside when no one answered the front door and peered through windows. He thought he saw a mannequin sprawled on the floor until he noticed a splotch of blood by Cobain's ear. When police arrived on the scene they found Cobain with a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to Love and the couples then 19 month old daughter Frances Bean. Kurt Donald Cobain was 27.<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>Krist Novoselic</strong> (1965-present) <img src="http://photos-713.friendster.com/e1/photos/31/76/46836713/1_574039532l.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue">Musician, songwriter, activist, author. Born on May 16, 1965, in Compton, California. As the bassist of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic was a part of the music revolution that brought alternative rock to the mainstream. The son of Croatian immigrants, he spent many of his early years in Gardena, California, making mischief with his younger brother Robert.The family moved to the small logging community of Aberdeen, Washington, in 1979. Only fourteen at the time, Novoselic found the rainy northwestern town depressing and had a difficult time fitting in at school. The next year his worried parents had Novoselic go to their native Croatia to live with relatives where he discover such punk rock acts as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. After returning to Aberdeen, Novoselic began exploring his interest in music in his senior year of high school. He bought a guitar and took some lessons. Around this time, his brother Robert had a friend named Kurt Cobain that came over to their house sometimes. But Cobain did not make much of an impression on Novoselic until later. Novoselic graduated from high school in 1983 and had some surgery done on his jaw to correct a severe underbite soon after.For a time, Novoselic worked as a painter, but he was eventually laid off. He also played in a few local groups and even tried to start a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band with Cobain, according to the book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad. With his girlfriend Shelli, Novoselic moved to Arizona in 1986, but they only stayed six months. They returned to Washington, and Novoselic soon started working with Cobain on a new band.What would become Nirvana started out as trio with Novoselic, Cobain, and drummer Aaron Burckhard. In 1987, they started playing house parties and other small gigs in Olympia. Using the name Skid Row, the band played on Evergreen State College’s radio station. They toyed with a few other names before finally settling on Nirvana.The next year, Nirvana had its first single, “Love Buzz,” released by the small independent label Sub Pop Records. By this time, Burckhard was out and Chad Channing had taken over drumming duties. Nirvana’s popularity in the emerging Seattle music scene was growing, and they released their debut album, Bleach, in 1989. To promote the record, the band toured extensively, playing gigs across the United States and in Europe. That same year, Novoselic married his longtime girlfriend Shelli. Novoselic and Cobain were in search of a new drummer in 1990. That summer, Nirvana served as an opening act for Sonic Youth, an indie band they much admired. Longtime friend Dale Crover of the Melvins played the drums for the tour. They soon found a permanent replacement in Dave Grohl, who had previously played with Scream and Dain Bramage.Soon the major labels became interested in the group, offering contracts with large advances. Nirvana ended up signing with Geffen Records. Their first release with them, 1991’s Nevermind, became a huge hit, driven in part by the single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” While Kurt handled most of the songwriting duties, all three band members had worked on this track, which combined elements of punk, metal, and pop. “I remember when we first did it, it was nothing special. But after it was recorded, I thought, ‘Hey, this is really good. It really rocks,’” Novoselic told Michael Azerrad for his book, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana.The video for “Smells like Teen Spirit”—subversive take on a pep rally—got heavy play on MTV. In nearly a year’s time, Nevermind sold more than 4 million copies. Nirvana, with raw, emotional sound, helped launch what was called the grunge movement, which often captured feelings of alienation and frustration. They paved the way for other bands, such as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, to become well-known national acts. The pressures that came with all of that success weighed heavily on the group, especially Cobain who sank deeper into drug abuse. Cobain’s relationship with singer Courtney Love also put a strain on band relationships. Things were especially tense when Cobain uninvited Shelli Novoselic from his wedding to Love because he believed that she was gossiping about his wife-to-be in February 1992. As a result, Krist decided not to attend the ceremony either. “After that, I was pretty estranged from him. It was never the same,” Novoselic told Charles R. Cross in his book, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain.The band made one more studio album together, In Utero (1994). Rolling Stone called it “brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once.” While Cobain handled the lyrics, Novoselic and Grohl helped write the music for one track, “Scentless Apprentice.” Still Cobain was increasingly distant and became more depressed. He attempted suicide by taking a drug overdose in March 1994 in Rome while on vacation during the band’s European tour. On April 5, 1994, Cobain killed himself at his home.Novoselic mourned the passing of his once close and longtime friend along with the rest of the world. After Cobain’s death, the remaining members of Nirvana won a Grammy Award for their live acoustic recording, MTV Unplugged in New York (1994).After Nirvana, Novoselic has devoted a lot of his time to activism. He was president of the Joint Artists and Music Promotions political-action committee in the mid-1990s. The organization fought against legislation aimed at regulating music lyrics. In 2004, Novoselic’s book Of Grunge and Government: Let’s Fix This Broken Democracy! was published.While he reportedly turned down an offer to join Grohl’s band, the Foo Fighters, Novoselic has continued to be involved in the music world. After Nirvana, he formed Sweet 75, which produced one self-titled album released in 1997. Novoselic also directed and produced the film L7: The Beauty Process, which followed the travails of an all-female hardcore group. In 1999, Novoselic played with Jello Biafra, formerly the lead singer of the Dead Kennedy, and Kim Thayil, a guitarist who used to be with Soundgarden. The trio performed at a special show in Seattle as part of a protest against the World Trade Organization.In 2002, Novoselic was part of another supergroup, Eyes Adrift. The band featured Curt Kirkwood, previously with the Meat Puppets, and Bud Gaugh, the drummer of defunct band Sublime. This trio did not last long, however. They produced one self-titled album together. Novoselic currently plays with the California punk band Flipper.Novoselic and his second wife Darbury live in Washington state.<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>Dave Grohl</strong>: (1969-present) <img src="http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2008/cbb/galleries/rock_star_dads/dave_grohl.jpg" border="0"> <div class="spoiler"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.nextSibling.nextSibling.style.display='block';this.style.display='none';" value="Show spoiler"> <span class="spoiler_content" style="display:none"><input type="button" class="button" onClick="this.parentNode.style.display='none';this.parentNode.parentNode.childNodes[0].style.display='block';" value="Hide spoiler"><br><span style="color:blue"> By the age of ten, Grohl formed the H. G. Hancock Band with a friend. Not long after he was introduced to punk rock by one of his cousins. In high school, he played in a string of punk bands and started smoking pot. After dropping out in his junior year, he joined the Washington, D.C.-based hardcore band, Scream. Grohl appeared on three of the group’s albums and toured with them several times. During one tour, Grohl met up with members of the Melvins, a punk band. It was backstage at a Melvins gig that he saw Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic from Nirvana for the first time in 1990. Grohl did not talk to his future bandmates that night. But thanks to Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins, he did get to audition for Nirvana later that year. Grohl traveled to Seattle, hoping to become Nirvana’s new drummer. As soon as he played for them, both Cobain and Novoselic thought he would be perfect for their band. “He was a hard hitter. . . . so bright, so hot, so vital,” Novoselic said, according to the book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad. After joining the group, Grohl lived with Cobain for a time. He also dated Jennifer Finch from the all-female alternative band L7 around this time. Soon the major labels became interested in Nirvana, offering contracts with large advances. They ended up signing with Geffen Records. Their first release with them, 1991’s Nevermind, became a huge hit, driven in part by the single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” While Kurt handled most of the songwriting duties, all three band members had worked on this track, which combined elements of punk, metal, and pop.The pressures that came with all of that success weighed heavily on the group, especially Cobain who sank deeper into drug abuse. Cobain’s relationship with singer Courtney Love also put a strain on band relationships. Outside of the band, Grohl put together a solo project, recording a few tracks for a cassette-only release called Pocketwatch.The band made one more studio album together, In Utero (1994). Rolling Stone called it “brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once.” While Cobain handled the lyrics, Novoselic and Grohl helped write the music for the track, “Scentless Apprentice.” After Cobain’s death, the remaining members of Nirvana won a Grammy Award for their live recording on MTV called Unplugged in New York (1994).After Nirvana, Grohl formed the Foo Fighters. Initially, he was the entire band for its 1995 self-titled debut album, playing most of the instruments, singing the vocals, and using songs he had written while still with Nirvana. The recording earned positive reviews and spawned two modern rock hits, “This Is A Call” and “I’ll Stick Around,” as well as “Big Me,” which also did well on the top charts. When it came time to tour, Grohl brought along bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith (both formerly with Sunny Day Real Estate) and guitarist Pat Smear (who had been part of Nirvana’s final tour).<!--color--></span><!--spoiler--></span></div> <strong>I ran out of room!!?</strong>>_< Please remember this isn't Dave's whole bio and Chad Channing along with Pat Smear were integral to Nirvana's sound<!--center--></div><!--center--></div>