LIVE NIRVANA INTERVIEW ARCHIVE October 16, 1991 - St. Louis, MO, US
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Tim Fowler
- Claire Newbern
- Interviewee(s)
- Kurt Cobain
- Krist Novoselic
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| Sample #3 | I Saw Nirvana | Yes |
| KWUR Radio 90.3 FM | TBC | TBC |
| Zoë Finkelstein's Vimeo Channel | KWUR Nirvana Interview | Yes |
| Sample | KWUR Meets Nirvana – 1991 | TBC |
Transcript
For well over a month all the djs I know were buzzing about NIRVANA coming to St. Louis: "Finally a good band comes our way and doesn't look us over by just playing Chicago" and “Oh God, I can't wait!” Requests to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” were made at the station every few hours, making Nirvana practically number one on KWUR every week. Anticipation was killing us. We would play the record over and over again, trying to figure out what this “new sound” for Nirvana could possibly mean.
“There's new hairs cropping up all over our bodies. We're having wet dreams. We're just overreacting to our parents. My mom told me to take out the garbage and I just… I went crazy. I popped a zit on her. I went and hung out with my friends and smoked cigarettes, listened to Metallica, smoked pot, didn't change my diapers for a week.”
–Kurt Cobain, Nirvana guitarist/vocalist
The diehards among us kept “Bleach,” the first Nirvana lp, cranked for days on end, counting on the band to deliver the favorites. There was some paranoia: “what if they only play songs from the new album?” And of course, the statisticians: “they have to play “School,” and then of course “Paper Cuts…”
KWUR pride was pumped. As sponsors for the show, we knew Nirvana would bring in the fans. Sure enough, October 18, 1991, we're at Mississippi Nights and the show's sold out, with two fortunate KWUR djs snatching up the last pair of tickets.
And here comes sickness, rather, Big Ben, the ultimate “fan.” Not quite Tad-sized, but ugly enough, Big Ben pushed his way to the front of the stage. He showed no regard for all the grunge-hungry fans that had firmly marked out their square-foot spots for the main event during the Urge Overkill set. Heaving his body weight around, Big Ben enjoyed crushing and smothering the ten of fifteen remaining kids ahead of him.
“They [the fans] have a lot bigger egos. We try to say something and they go “puuh, you're half the man.” They scoff and spit and pull up their pants and shake their fingers at us. They give us the shame-shame finger. Egomaniacs— they're vain.”
–bassist Chis Novoselic on Nirvana's fans
Big Ben wasn't the only vicious, uncontrollable, violent, excited and pleased as hell fan in The Pit. As veterans of some really “physical” shows, we'd say that the pit was harder than Ministry, scarier than Fugazi, and just plain brutal for the first half of the show. It was no shock that kids were being thrown out for stage diving. Nirvana was pissed at the bouncers; the bouncers were pissed at Nirvana. I was pissed at Big Ben and 500 kids were bathed in sweat. Despite the roughhousing, we were all having fun, because Nirvana played hard. We got “School,” “Sliver” and “Love Buzz” back to back; and plenty of new stuff including “Lithium.”
One fan too many was thrown out, however, sparking a tiff between Kurt and a bouncer. The singer patted the kid on the back, and in an outburst of stupidity called for everyone to get on stage. More than half the kids responded, bringing the show nearly to riot, something that the band really enjoys, according to Mississippi Nights personnel. They start a riot almost everywhere they go, apparently. The bassist, showing an adolescent punk rock attitude, began to unreel all kinds of ideal political freedom verbiage while the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” drum beat played comically in background.
“We have some pretty lively political discussions. It's just bound to seep through. I've gone through my PC stage. I'm on my PCP stage. I try, I get all cranky about us driving around burning up petro-chemicals.”
But, Chris's message, however poorly ad libbed, did speak for one thing, elaborated on after the show.
“America, liberty, people coming together who believe in one thing— the undeniable spirit of democracy. Every crumb for himself! This country was founded two hundred years ago with the ideals that every man was created equal. We still had slaves.” But maybe it's best not to get these guys started “Killing people is wrong no matter what mask you put on it. I could only fight in a Civil War in the United States. To take over the Man.”
Well, it was an entertaining intermission for the younger folks, but a little upsetting for the rest of us. We didn't want the show to end prematurely. Miraculously, not one person got hurt, and after the band placated the bouncers and Mississippi Nights management, we got another 25 minutes of Nirvana sound. They belted out “Negative Creep” and “Territorial Pissings,” and the crowd was more euphoric. Anyone could stage dive now, without the fear of being thrown out. There was a change in the pit. The crowd was much more sympathetic to falling over kids. People helped each other up, stopped dragging unwilling people into the pit and were genuinely a lot more considerate. Reason: no one wanted the show to end. But when it finally did, like all good things, no one needed an encore. Nirvana had given us the version of “Teen Spirit” that we all needed to hear.
NIRVANA DIRT
1. Nirvana's approach to covering a Kiss song for the Hard To Believe compilation: “We drank a big jug of red wine, Ernest & Julio Gallo, and tweaked on our guitars for a while. It took us ten minutes to learn the song and we just belched it out.” No, they don't feel they should have tried harder.
2. Jason Everman, Nirvana's transient guitarist, who left the band to play with Soundgarden for a little while is “a nomad, a musical whore, a camel,” according to the band.
3. Nirvan thinks Mudhoney videos are great and likes the Nine Inch Nails video too. Their own video, for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, however, is “really embarassing”.
© Michelle Provenzano, 1991
Transcript
TBC
© Claire Newbern & Tim Fowler, 1991
Transcript
KWUR: Do you work in any other, like- You do music, but do you do any other type of art?
Kurt Cobain: Yeah, I'm a full-fledged bohemian. I paint, draw, write poetry, and do interpretive dancing.
KWUR: So are you gonna put all that in the stage-show?
Kurt Cobain: One of these days…
KWUR: Do a little poetry and interpretive dance with a guitar? Sure?
Kurt Cobain: Maybe, I don't know [laughs]
KWUR: What was the other question I was gonna ask?
Kurt Cobain: That's how most of the lyrics are written, anyhow. It's just pieces of my poetry. I don't ever start on a song with a theme, you know? I just use all these pieces from poetry as a last resort, because I can't think of anything else.
© Claire Newbern & Tim Fowler, 1991
Transcript
TBC
© Claire Newbern & Tim Fowler, 1991