I posted this on Google+, but I’ll comment on Tumblr as well. Novoselic alluded to having to play the riff over and over again in the Town Hall they had on Sirius XM’s Lithium channel last night. It had Dave Grohl, Kris Novoselic, Butch Vig and was hosted by Jon Stewart.

Here’s my ticket stub from the Liberty Lunch show on 10.21.1991. It was less than a month after the album was released and 10 days before the Paramount show in Seattle that’s being featured in the new DVD. My friend, Ted Douglass, turned me on to Nirvana and all the Sub Pop bands my freshman year at UT in 1989. We’d been waiting for the release of Nevermind for over a year. 

We went to the in-store at Waterloo Records before the gig. The were supposed to have equipment that never arrived, so they did an acoustic set that included Polly and About a Girl with Dave Grohl playing a snare drum with his hands and Kurt playing a borrowed acoustic guitar. 

I was working at the Sound Warehouse at 49th and Burnet when it was released. We got one copy of the cassette and two copies of the CD (or maybe it was the other way around). I bought one of them. A month later, I think we were getting at least 50-100 copies a week.

Also, speaking of Nevermind, I’ve seen this in different places and not sure if you posted it or not. The baby from the cover, Spencer Elden, is an artist and works for Shepherd Fairey.

austinkleon:

Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” off Nevermind (1991)

From Cobain’s 1994 Rolling Stone interview:

I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it [smiles]. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band — or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.

“Teen Spirit” was such a clichéd riff. It was so close to a Boston riff or “Louie, Louie.” When I came up with the guitar part, Krist looked at me and said, “That is so ridiculous.” I made the band play it for an hour and a half.

20 years old. Dang. (But I’m with Kurt: “Drain You” is a better song.”)