Charles R Cross - Nevermind: Nirvana

Copyright 1998 Jim Berkenstadt and Charles R. Cross
This edition 2012 Schirmer Trade Books
(A Division of Music Sales Limited, 1415 Berners Street, London W1T 3LJ)

EISBN: 978-0-85712-768-6

The Author hereby asserts his / her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with Sections 77 to 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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The authors would like to thank all those who helped us with the extensive research and numerous interviews required to write this book. Particularly generous with their time and help were Chad Channing, Jack Endino, Krist Novoselic, John Silva, Butch Vig, Andy Wallace, and Howie Weinberg. Special thanks to: Loren Albert; Yeda Baker; Holly; Rebecca and Bradley Berkenstadt; Lois and Edward Berkenstadt; Gene and Laurie Berkenstadt; Edon Berkenstadt; The Big 0; Janet Billig; Tom Blain; Jonas Blank; Kelsy Boyd; Jamie Brown; Lenny Burnett; Kelly Canary; Rosemary Carroll; Richard Carlin; Leo Cailleteau; Joy and Jack Charney; Marco Collins; Ernie Conner; Helen and Garvin Cremer; Scott Cremer; David Day; Carla and David DeSantis; Helen English, Esq.; Joe Ehrbar; Lisa Fancher; Scott and Lynne Faulkner; Jeff Fenster; Erik Flannigan; Deborah Frost; Gillian Gaar; Ross Garfield; Lisa Gladfelter-Bell; Clinton Heylin; Steve and Erica Hill; Bill Holdship; Daniel House; Mark Kates; Bonnie Laviron; Debbie Letterman; Darcy Little; Courtney Love; Patrick MacDonald; Leanne Martin; Guy Kenneth McArthur; Jerry McCulley; Carl Miller; Mike Musburger; Shivaun OBrien; Jacque Oldenburg; Jay Olsen; Doug Olson; Charles Peterson; Christopher Phillips; Michelle Puddester; Bill Reid; The Rocket; Jeff Ross; Pauli Ryan; Rex Rystedt; Smart Studios; James Smith; Mark Smith; Sound City Studios; Damon Stewart; Denise Sullivan; Susie Tennant; Kim Thayil; John Troutman; Jaan Uhelszki; Scott Vanderpool; Chris and Renee Vig; Patty Vig; Tess Welch, Esq.; Daryl Westmoreland; Alice Wheeler; Ellen Whitman; Mark Zappasodi; Bob Zimmerman; Mike Zirkel; and anyone whose name we forgot or who helped out at the last minute.

It was one minute before seven on the evening of September 16, 1991, and the world of rock n roll was about to change forever. The place was Seattle, Washington. The setting was a small record store in the University District named Beehive. (For years it had been called Peaches, but a recent lawsuit from a record chain in the South had forced a name change. Locals still called it Peaches). The band was a three-piece, and the lead singer had on a gray flannel shirt.

In an early draft of his song Smells Like Teen Spirit, Kurt Cobain had posed the question, Who will be the king and the queen of the out-casted teens?, and though he never sang the song with those lyrics, one can only wonder if they ran through his head that early autumn day at Beehive. The answerbeing shouted back at the three-piece band by their screaming fanswas loud and clear. It was the name of the band; it was Nirvana!

What had been planned as a low-key meet-and-greet at one of Seattles smaller record stores had turned into a crowd-control nightmare. An in-store is traditionally a small party put on by a record label to celebrate the release of a new album, and, in theory, its designed to boost sales by introducing the band to influential record-store buyers. In practice, store promotions are rarely more than opportunities for labels to butter up the bands on their roster, where the groups friends have a chance to sample a free buffet of cheese and crackers paid for by the label. Even in the burgeoning Seattle scene of 1991, it was rare for any m-store to draw more than 100 fans. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers, at the time an up-and-coming national band with a huge following in the Northwest, did an in-store at Beehive, they drew 150 fans. And though the warning signs in the case of Nirvana had been visible for some timewithin the underground post-punk world people had been talking about their upcoming major-label debut for monthsno one could have predicted what happened on that September day and what would happen in the next six months.

NirvanaKurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselicnot long after the completion of the Nevermind album.

(P HOTOGRAPH BY Y OURI L ENQUETTE /R ETNA )

Kurt Cobain during Nirvanas Nevermind in-store at Seattles Beehive Records, September 1991.

(P HOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN. )

Kids started showing up at 2 P.M. for a 7 P.M. scheduled appearance, recalls Jamie Brown, promotions manager for Beehive and organizer of the in-store. We thought there would be a big crowd, but we had no idea theyd be there all day. By 4 P.M. it was jam-packed with about three hundred kids and you couldnt get in the store. The kids just sat on the floor.

By 4:30 P.M., when the band arrived, the three members of NirvanaKurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohlfound a record store so crowded that no more people were being allowed in. There was also a crowd of two hundred people milling around outside the store in the small parking lot. The trio immediately retreated across the street to the Blue Moon Tavern to escape. Even that did not provide much privacy, as dozens of kids followed the group to the Blue Moon and stared at them through the windows (Washingtons liquor laws allowing only those twenty-one and over to enter taverns).

One wonders if, sitting there in the Blue Moon that daya tavern famous as one of the birthplaces of Seattles first countercultural revolution during the 60s, and a place where Jack Kerouac once drank the members of Nirvana had any idea what was about to happen to them. In the five years that the group had been together (thats how long Kurt Cobain had been jamming with Krist Novoselic; Dave Grohl was already the bands fifth drummer), Nirvana had witnessed a steady growth in popularity. Theyd gone from playing for twenty uninterested alcoholics at Seattles Central Tavern to headlining gigs drawing as many as a thousand people. Their first record, Bleach, had received positive reviews, and if it hadnt sold tremendously to that pointthe Sub Pop label estimates that they had sold forty thousand copies of Bleach by September 1991it had sold enough to create a buzz that fueled a major-label bidding war for their follow-up album. That album, Nevermind, was due to be released officially in eight days, but stores in the Northwest like Beehive would begin selling copies later that evening, selling them almost as fast as they could cut open the boxes. Drinking Rainier beer that day in the Blue Moon, the band could be confident that their new record would be a success by the standards of alternative rock at the time.