25 Things You Should Know About Nirvana267ShareRoger Cormierfiled under:music

IMAGE CREDIT:GETTY IMAGESLIKE US ON FACEBOOKIn April, Nirvana was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame; the ceremony aired last week on HBO, and you can watch ithere. Here are a few things you should know about the group.1. KURT COBAIN DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, THEN WORKED THERE AS A JANITOR.

Getty ImagesEven though he was by all accounts a slob, Cobainworked as a janitor at Weatherwax High School, not long after dropping out of that very school. The dancing janitor in the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video was an inside joke for Kurt, bassist Krist Novoselic, and only a select few others that knew of Cobain's old job.Cobain had a rough childhoodhe was homeless as a teenager, living for a while in the waiting room of a hospital. However, the story he often told about living under the Young Street bridge over the Wishkah Riveralluded to in the song "Something In The Way"wasn't true.2. THE TITLE FOR "ABOUT A GIRL" CAME ABOUT IN AN UNSURPRISINGLY QUICK WAY.Chad Channing, one of Nirvana's drummers before Dave Grohl,claimed that one dayhe asked Cobain what the song was about. "About a girl," was Cobain's reply. "Why don't you just call it that?"The girl in question was Cobain's girlfriend Tracy Marander, who asked why he wrote about everythingincluding Floyd the Barber fromThe Andy Griffith Showbut her. Marander didn't even realize that she was the "girl" until she read the official biography of the band,Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, four years later.3. THERE WERE AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT DRUMMERS IN THE BAND BEFORE DAVE GROHL.Cobain and Novoselic were always members of Nirvanaformerly known as Skid Row, Pen Cap Chew, Bliss, and Ted Ed Fredbut finding a permanent drummer proved to be even harder than coming up with a decent band name. In the beginning, there was trivia answer Aaron Burckhard, who pissed off Cobain by getting Kurt's car impounded after being arrested for fighting with a police officer. Then there was Melvins drummer Dale Crover, who pounded the skins for Cobain and Novoselic on their first demo tape before moving to San Francisco. Then there was Dave Foster, who pissed off Cobain by getting arrested for assaulting the son of the mayor of Cosmopolis, Washington. Then Burckhard briefly returned before announcing he was too hungover to practice one day. Then a mutual friend introducedCobain and Novoselicto Chad Channing, who managed to not get arrested and hung around for two years before the group's co-founders decided he wasn't cutting it anymore. Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters played on the "Sliver" single. Back in Washington, Dale Crover performed with Cobain and Novoselic on a seven date tour with Sonic Youth in August 1990, before Dave Grohl's band Scream broke up and Melvins frontman Buzz Osbourne introduced Grohl toCobain and Novoselic, ending the vicious cycle of shattered cars and bones of authority and its offspring.4. NIRVANA'S FIRST SINGLE WAS WRITTEN BY A MEMBER OF THE BAND THAT BROUGHT US "VENUS."Nirvana's first official release wasa cover of "Love Buzz"by the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue. You know Shocking Blue not by "Love Buzz" but by their classic song "Venus," which reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970 and sold 7.5 million copies. A 1986 Bananarama cover also topped the charts. "Love Buzz" however did neither of those things, for either Shocking Blue or Nirvana.5. NIRVANA'S FIRST ALBUM WAS FINANCED BY JASON EVERMAN FOR $606.17.Jason Everman didn't even play onBleach, but was added to the band to add a second guitar to the mix soon after. He was a leading candidate to foot the bill because he was the only person in the band to have an actual paying job. Unfortunately for Everman, his withdrawn attitude clashed with Cobain's similar disposition while on tour, resulting in a lot of long, silent driving and a severe lack of band chemistry, and he was not asked to play with the group again soon after. Everman failed upward, becoming the bass player for Soundgarden, the Seattle band projected to become the biggest outfit in the world. He would be canned from that gig after one tour, again, before Soundgarden took advantage of the spotlight from the increasingly famous grunge scene. Everman's life after near-stardomwas profiled in theNew York Times Magazinein 2013, where it was reported that Jason joined the Army 2nd Ranger Battalion and the Special Forces, serving tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Columbia University. There was no mention if he has been reimbursed.6. "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" WAS INSPIRED BY COBAIN'S GIRLFRIEND'S DEODORANT. AND ALCOHOL.After a night of drinking, Kurt Cobain and then roommate Dave Grohl were joined by Bikini Kill songwriter/vocalist Kathleen Hanna and drummer Tobi Vail at their humble pre-fame abode. The party continued, and eventually Hanna spraypainted "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on Cobain's wall, a reference to the deodorant VailCobain's girlfriend at the timeused to smell pleasantwithout any white residue.As the rest of the legend goes, Kurt loved the phrasing and wrote the song without knowing of the Teen Spirit deodorant's existence until after it was recorded. It's a little hard to believe that Cobain never came across the commercial once. Mennen successfully promoted Teen Spiritwhich for a time "established a market niche" with teen girlssince early 1991.7. THE SONG'S RIFF WAS A "RIP OFF" OF THE PIXIES. AND "MORE THAN A FEELING."The Pixies are universally credited with inventing the loud-quiet dynamic in 1987 with their debut EPCome on Pilgrim. It wouldn't be until 1990one year after Nirvana's debut albumBleachthat Cobain's affection for the band would heavily influence his songwriting, and through that lens, "Spirit" pretty much sounds like a Pixies parody. Cobainadmitted to trying to rip off the group from Boston, and at a big 1992 concert in Reading, he would alsoacknowledge the song's passing resemblance to the band Boston's "More Than A Feeling."8. WHEN COBAIN SAW HIMSELF ON TV FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE CALLED HIS MOTHER.The music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" premiered on MTV's alternative music show120 Minuteson Sunday, September 29, 1991. Cobain watched himself in a hotel room at The Roger Smith Hotel in New York City and called his mother."There's me," he gleefully said."There's me again," he said when he reappeared on screen, and every time thereafter throughout the video. That anecdote is of course already enshrined in the Adorable Hall of Fame.9. NIRVANA WAS ACCUSED OF PLAGIARISM ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION.It all began in 1989, when Nirvana's"Negative Creep"featured the chorus "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more," which reminded a lot of the band's early listeners of grunge pioneer Mudhoney's "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More." Nothing came of it, but years later Cobain might have had that in mind when he warned Nirvana's co-manager Danny Goldberg about making "Come As You Are" the next single after "Teen Spirit." "Kurt was nervous about 'Come as You Are' because it was too similar to a Killing Joke song ['Eighties'], but we all thought it was still the better song to go with. And, he was right, Killing Joke later did complain about it." But that's all they did: complain.Killing Joke never took the extra step of actually taking the band to court over the similarities to their 1984 song due to "personal and financial reasons," and possibly because "Eighties" itself sounds an awful lot likeThe Damned's 1982 song "Life Goes On."Shrugging and muttering to themselves that good artists borrow and great artists steal, Killing Jokewelcomed Dave Grohl behind the drum kit to play on their 2003 album.The only time that someone actually sued Nirvana was director Kevin Kerslake, who alleged that Kurt Cobain used some of his ideas for the "Heart Shaped Box" music video. The case was settled out of court.10. THE ORIGINAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR "IN BLOOM" IS FROM 1990 AND SET IN NEW YORK CITY."In Bloom"along with otherNevermindsongs "Breed," "Lithium," and "Polly"was a song intended for a 1990 album with Sub Pop, the band's initial record label. At first, Sub Pop seemed to be up to the task, paying for a recording session and releasing a music video showing the band performing the intended first single at a couple of different shows, traversing around David Dinkins-era lower Manhattan. Because nobody told Novoselic about continuity, he appears in parts of the video completely baldthe bassist thought his playing was so bad at one gig that he shaved his head to appease the bass gods. The drummer is the aforementioned song title author Chad Channing.Sub Pop however would prove to be on the verge of bankruptcy, and would only be saved by the deal they made with Geffen Records to receive some royalties fromNevermind. Helping to keep the cash flowing was "In Bloom," the album's fourth single, promoted by a much more professional looking and thought out video with the bandperforming on an oldEd Sullivan Showtype of program.11. THE ORIGINAL LITHIUM VIDEO CONCEPT WAS A CARTOON.Initially, Kurt Cobain and director Kevin Kerslake agreed on Cobain's ideaan animated story about a girl named Prego who discovers some eggs that hatch. Unfortunately, the two discovered too late that the animation would take four months to produce and decided to just use footage from a couple of live performances. Kerslake did his best tomake things interestingby using video of the band at its most vibrant, manic moments during the quiet parts of the song, and vice versa.12.NEVERMIND'S "CANDYASS" SOUND WAS THANKS IN PART TO JOHN LENNON.Nevermindproducer Butch Vig really wanted Kurt Cobain to double track his vocals to make the songs sound "fuller," "richer," and not have the record label spend a lot of money to purposely sound lo-fi. Cobain thought that would just be another indication of the band losing its indie, punk credibility (even though he was already recording a major label album). Vig knew that Cobain was a big John Lennon fan, so whenever Kurt would initially not agree to sing along with himself, Butch would say"John Lennon did it."It worked, every time.Cobain would later claim to resent the mainstream, radio-friendly production of the hugely successful album, poetically and timelessly describing it in 1993 as"candyass."13. "DRAIN YOU," "LOUNGE ACT," AND PARTS OF MOST SONGS ONNEVERMINDARE ABOUT TOBI VAIL.

Author Charles R. Crossbacked with access to Cobain's private journals and pages of unrecorded lyricstheorized in his 2001 Kurt Cobain biographyHeavier Than HeaventhatNevermindisfull of references to Tobi Vail, who broke up with Cobain months before the album's recording. The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" lyric that talks about a woman being over-bored and self-assured was likely to be about the ex. "Drain You" begins with the line "One baby to another said 'I'm lucky to have met you,'" quoting what Vail had once told Cobain. "Lounge Act" in particular was unequivocally about the Bikini Kill drummer, confirmed by Novoselic and by Cobain himself in an unwritten letter to Vail that Cross read. Cobain wrote: "Every song on this record [In Utero] is not about you. No, I am not your boyfriend. No, I don't write songs about you, except for 'Lounge Act,' which I do not play, except when my wife is not around."14. "POLLY" WAS ABOUT AN ACTUAL RAPE.Kurt Cobain wrote "Polly" in 1987 after readingan articleabout the torture and rape of a 14 year old girl. Cobain chose to write the songfrom the perspective of the girl, inventing the name "Polly" to aid in a consistent, innocent enough sounding bird metaphor. After hearing this song Bob Dylan was prompted to remark of Cobain, "That kid has heart."Unfortunately, after the song was officially released four years later, Cobain found himself writing the following as part of the liner notes forIncesticide, a B-sides and rarities collection: "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly.' I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience. Sorry to be so anally PC, but that's how I feel." Healso wrote thathomophobes, racists, and misogynists were not welcome at Nirvana concerts or to purchase Nirvana albums.15. THE BAND WAS THROWN OUT OF THEIR OWN RECORD RELEASE PARTY.On a Friday the 13th, Geffen threw the band a record release party with invitations that read, "Nevermind Triskaidekaphobia, it's Nirvana." To fight any bad luck spirits, Cobain started a full fledged food fight when he threw ranch dressing at Novoselic, and a bouncer responded by grabbing the two and Grohl and throwing them out. The band then stood in the alley behind the club and talked to their friends through the window, before moving the party to a friend's place, where Cobain shot a fire extinguisher and the place had to be evacuated. At the next venue, Kurt completed the destruction trifecta by tossing a gold record plaque by the group Nelson into a microwave after proclaiming it an "affront to humankind."16. "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC ASKED FOR NIRVANA'S PERMISSION TO WRITE "SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA" IN THEIRSATURDAY NIGHT LIVEDRESSING ROOM.Three events on January 11, 1992 proved that Nirvana had completely made the unprecedented transition from underground punk band to universally beloved, national sensation supergroup, and there was no turning back:Nevermindwas #1 for the first time onthat day's edition of theBillboard 200albums chart; the band made theirSNLdebut performing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Territorial Pissings" on the Rob Morrow-hosted late night show. To the joy of Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl, they got a phone call from "Weird Al" Yankovic.Grohl remembered the moment in 2011: "That was the craziest weekend because we get there, and the first time you see theSNLstudio, it's tiny. You imagine it being this big thing but honestly it's tiny, it's so small. The energy is crazy and people are running around and it goes so quickly, and one of the cast members comes up and says, 'Hey I'm friends with Weird Al Yankovic and he wants to talk to you about doing one of your songs.' And so I think we talked to him in the dressing room ofSNL. He called the phone. You know you've arrived when Weird Al...it was pretty huge. And he did a good job."17. YES,IN UTEROWAS INITIALLY GOING TO BE TITLEDI HATE MYSELF AND I WANT TO DIE.

DGCCobain tended to start his ideas of album titles free of subtletybefore reading a sign in San Francisco that said to "Bleach Your Works," Nirvana's first album was under the operating titleToo Many Humans.Nevermindstarted out asSheep, married to artwork of rows and rows of identical houses. Even though it was intended as a joke, Novoselic pointed out to Cobain that he was opening himself up to tons of potential lawsuits, and the idea was dropped.18. THE SONG "I HATE MYSELF AND I WANT TO DIE" FEATURES A JACK HANDEY "DEEP THOUGHT."Even though the threat of lawsuits stopped the band from naming an album "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die," it didn't stop them from recording a song with the title "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die," although it might be the reason that it was left off of theIn Uteroalbum. Instead, the song with the misunderstood title (it was supposed to be a joke) found a home as the opening track onThe Beavis and Butt-head Experiencecompilation album. But in the middle of the song, after helping to promote one television show,Cobain acknowledged a different, more mainstream show when he mumbled"Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer," anSNL"Deep Thought" from Jack Handey.19. ELTON JOHN SUFFERED COLLATERAL DAMAGE DUE TO NIRVANA'S WAR WITH GUNS N' ROSES.Kurt Cobain considered Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose to be a homophobe and a racist, an opinion that other people agreed with thanks to the lyrics of the GNR song "One in a Million." At the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, two pianos were set up on stage for an epic performance of "November Rain." Thinking Axl was going to play on it, Cobain spit on the keys of one of the pianos. To his horror, Kurt later found out that he had given a coat of saliva on the piano played by special guest Elton John.20. MTV REALLY DID NOT WANT NIRVANA TO PLAY "RAPE ME" AT THE VMAS.Nirvana was causing nothing but trouble at the '92 VMAs, and naturally their choice of song was one big issue. MTV told the band that they would like to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The band responded by saying that they were respectfully going to remember the clout they had earned over the past year and premiere a brand new song instead called "Rape Me" (a song that actuallymade its premiere at a Santa Cruz concert one year earlier). The network was not only scared by the title, but somewhat correctly surmised that the song was somewhat about them. The network countered that if the band played "Rape Me" on the live telecast that they would fire Amy Finnerty, an employee Cobain was close friends with, and would stop playing the band's videos. Although both parties agreed on "Lithium," MTV didn't trust Cobain, and for the second consecutive time, their paranoia proved to be well founded: When the band launched into the first few chords of "Rape Me," the control room was ready to go directly to commercial. At the last possible moment, Nirvana stopped the sneak preview to play the memorable version of "Lithium" which ended with Novoselic hitting himself in the head with his bass and Kurt and Dave sarcastically saying hello to Axl Rose.21. NOVOSELIC PLAYED A NIRVANA GIG AT THE SEATTLE CENTER COLISEUM, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS BANNED THERE FOR LIFE.Before performing at a Washington Music Industry Coalition Benefit on September 11, 1992 (two days after the VMAs), the band couldn't help but notice that a photo of Novoselic was on the wall backstage, indicating that he was banned for life due to his behavior at a Sonic Youth concert one year before.They opened the show discussing it. Novoselic has yet to be punished for the crime.22. "HEART SHAPED BOX" WAS ORIGINALLY TITLED "HEART SHAPED COFFIN."Even though the song was inspired by an actual heart shaped box sent by Courtney Love to Kurt Cobain during the beginnings of their courtship,the initial lyricsread that the narrator was "buried" in the box (as opposed to "locked"), with the "Heart Shaped Coffin" title.23. "ALL APOLOGIES" ORIGINALLY SOUNDED LIKE A BEATLES SONG.The group wrote one third of 1993'sIn Uteroin 1990. During an informal recording session on New Year's Day 1991, Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl put down anearly, jangly version of "All Apologies."Some of the verses didn't have words yet, but the refrain "Married/Buried" was more or less set, a little over one year before Cobain's wedding to Love.24. DAVE GROHL WROTE THE RIFF TO "SCENTLESS APPRENTICE."Grohl had been writing songs on his own since he joined Nirvana, even releasing a cassette album of his work in 1992 calledPocketwatch, under the pseudonym Late! It was understood that Cobain was the lone songwriter of Nirvana, but Grohl couldn't help himself and presented the group with the guitar riff and drum parts of what would turn out to be "Scentless Apprentice." Cobain said in an interview that he initially thought Grohl's riff wasn't very good but tried it out to not hurt his feelings (which of course was a nice thing to do until he revealed his thought to a reporter for Grohl to later read). Aside from "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Scentless Apprentice" was the only song from a Nirvana album that was given a "Cobain/Novoselic/Grohl" writing credit instead of Cobain receiving sole recognition.Possibly as a reward, "Color Pictures of a Marigold," one of the songs fromPocketwatch, was recorded by Grohl and Novoselic towards the end of theIn Uterosessions, andwas released as "Marigold"as a b-side to the "Heart Shaped Box" single. It would end up being the only Nirvana song that had no input from Cobain.25. COBAIN EMBELLISHED THE LEADBELLY GUITAR STORY BY ABOUT $445,000.Before his classic cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" onMTV Unplugged, Kurt Cobain was provoked by Novoselic to talk about Leadbelly's guitar. "This guy representing the Leadbelly estate wants to sell me Leadbelly's guitar for $500,000,"Cobain responded. I even asked David Geffen personally if he would buy it for me. Wouldn't do it." It's possible that Cobain was trying to pull a fast one on the CEO of his label, because a few months earlier he wondered to aNew York Timesreporter if buying the guitar for $55,000 was a "punk move" or an "anti-punk move." Separating $445,000 from David Geffen would of course be both.