Nirvana Before Nevermind

in 1988 Nirvana recorded their first single a cover of shocking Blues love Buzz although not his first choice Kurt Cobain the band's frontman was thrilled by the end product so thrilled he wasn't content with just hearing it on wax instead he dropped off a copy at kcmu a local College radio station waited a few hours called them on a pay phone and requested they play it then after another half hour of waiting in the car of his girlfriend Tracy mirander they did it was amazing I never thought i' get to that point I just thought I'd be in a band and maybe make a demo but once I got a taste of it I really thought it was cool and I thought I would definitely like to hear my future recordings on the radio and be able to pay my rent with this band it would be really great it made us Step Up mentally to another level where it was a reality that we could actually live off of this this was just one of many events that cemented 1988 as a huge year for Nirvana beyond the fact that it was the year they chose the name Nirvana Curt and basis Chris noas selich had finally settled on a drummer they could tolerate Chad Channing and found a label that could support them subpop records that last one was a little odd though Kurt had spent most of the Year sending demo tapes to any record company with an inbox including 20 to touch and go only for subpop to approach them basically out of nowhere formed just two years prior and run by Bruce pavit and Jonathan pan it was a small label that had quickly made a name for itself by harnessing the power of Seattle's underground music as ponaman would call it a very aggressive very raw form of guitar driven rock and roll grunge essentially and with plenty of talent in mud honey Tad sound garden and more they were quickly becoming the central focus of the late 80s indie rock scene Nirvana had found a comfortable home there was one catch though or 50 the most obvious being that subpop didn't do contracts so Nirvana signing with them in May was mostly symbolic factoring that their company was often on the verge of bankruptcy and poman once called Kurt trying to borrow 200 bucks and this quickly became more of a shitty friendship than a professional Arrangement still after the fruits of their first partnership love Buzz sold remarkably well paman let Kurt know that the label would be willing to distribute a full album this was great news it was what Cobain had wanted all along but again there was a catch Nirvana had to cover the recording costs yeah that's not normal still it was a dream come true for the band and while they did a few shows in December all to Great Fanfare it was mostly a month of Hardcore practicing by the end of the year they pretty much had the whole album planned out except for one bit the lyrics don't worry just most of them Kurt pieced together a lot of it the night before they started recording handling the rest on the drive to the studio and although many fans and critics have tried to attribute some meaning to Kurt's shrieks on this album to quote the man himself not much much thought went into them at all Nirvana's first session for their first album was held on Christmas Eve and while it laid a pretty strong foundation for the project most progress would be made the following year 1989 studio time aside the band knew this was going to be another big year mostly because they were finally finished getting pushed around by subpop that's right they meaning Chris because Kurt was scared marched right down to Bruce pavitt's house banged on his door and demanded a contract Bruce likely intimidated accepted and drafted one which guaranteed the band a steady stream of income and albums it was entirely positive it went into effect January 1st 1989 and the band would never regret it everything was going the way we wanted it to it was cool I think those were the best times may have been for them too I don't know the album was finished on January 24th 1989 and high on their many successes at this point and some other things Nirvana decided to embark on their first proper tour they kept their Ambitions in check hugging the west coast and Performing just a week of shows but as would soon prove to be a pattern with the band's early tours the further they got from home the worse they were received more demoralizing was the fact that Nirvana was touring with Kurt's Idols the Melvin and even they weren't a big enough draw to bring people to their shows with obviously no support from subpop this meant they were hemorrhaging money gas shelter food it was getting scarce as Nirvana biographer Charles cross put it there were seven people in the band's Entourage and among them they couldn't afford a burrito desperate they found a local soup kitchen but Kurt couldn't stomach one bite it was a massive ego check and just a few days after they returned from the disastrous tour Nirvana became a four-piece is there any correlation between these two events well their new fourth member was guitarist Jason Everman a friend of Chad's who had paid for Nirvana's first album just the whole thing Kurt says Jason was there to thicken up the sound but but his having lots of money from an old Commercial Fishing Job surely didn't hurt finally in June of 1989 Nirvana's first album was released originally they were looking to call it too many humans but an AIDS poster Kurt saw on the band's West Coast tour changed his tune the album was titled bleach it first went on sale the day of sub poop's lame Fest where after Nirvana's set Cobain witnessed a long line of new fans waiting to buy his album bleach was a success the band expectations weren't high but that meant they were met quickly it was a subpop record made for subpop fans bought by subpop fans in the words of Kurt we purposely made that record one-dimensional more rock than it should have been he added we wanted to try to please people at first to see what would happen and the people were pleased to commemorate and promote this most Monumental of Milestones nirada embarked on their first US tour paid by you guessed it old Jason he wasn't exactly Daddy Warbucks though the band slept in their tour van and only lived in as much luxury as their fudge pack and t-shirt sales could afford them still it was an immeasurably better tour than their last one even with the shrinking Fanfare the further east they want their shows were incredible at best and good learning experiences at worst better yet the intimacy of the van brought Kurt Chris and Chad closer than ever this was the tour that cemented them as a trio us against the world as Chad put it oh hey Jason Jason Everman did not not fit in he was quiet Sullen distant he slept with groupies he headbanged he was so posy I couldn't believe it true Kurt was guilty of pretty much all these same sins except for the groupy thing but he was the frontman he had to be weird it's part of the job Jason was new and disposable so 2 weeks before the tour was set to finish Kurt decided the guitarist was out of the band how did he go about firing Jason well this is where Kurt's genius really shined he told the band The Tour was over then they packed everything up drove 3,000 M back home in silence and never spoke to Jason ever again after a certain point you got to respect Kurt's commitment to non-confrontation now back home Cobain sought a remedy for his second biggest touring pain the one in his stomach ctt's tummy had first started tormenting him back in 1987 but it was during the summer of 1989 that it became impossible to ignore for the first time he was forced to seek medical help all of it coming back inconclusive there were more tests available at the time but he refused to take them why they wanted to take some blood and I hate needles so I left foreshadowing aside the present was defined by the recording of a new EP it was the blue EP that's not an EP and this joke is forced get out get out don't want you get out get out shoot shoot although featuring The soon Tobe iconic Ben a sun and Polly as well as a top 40 drum sound that Kurt fought hard for the EP would be best remembered for the now Infamous European tour it kicked off it [ __ ] sucked Nirvana's first European tour was such a disaster it probably deserves its own video it was shared with Tad fronted by the 300lb Tad Doyle which was abnormal in the '90s then there were Tad's three other members the three remaining Nirvana boys including 6'7 Chris as well as four Ries and both band's equipment in one tiny Fiat van Kurt Cobain had high hopes for this tour subpop was slowly taking off on the continent bleach had been well received in the UK and generally speaking Europe is just more receptive to up incoming Talent than the us but this was just never meant to be 37 shows 42 days 9 countries van Tad ah oh yeah don't think I'm a dick for repeatedly mentioning Tad he's a sticking point in any recollection of this story Tad Doyle would vomit and diarrhea constantly like every half hour most of the time they couldn't even find a bathroom so he'd just do it on the side of the road it was funny but not fun the tour reached Rock Bottom 5 weeks in at a show in Rome although their work was paying off and bleach was really starting to make an impact on the European Indie charts the band was hungry tired and uncomfortable and that's when Jonathan poman and Bruce pavit decided to pay them a visit there's Tad and Nirvana riding around in this crummy little van and here come the Moguls flying into Rome we thought we were lending emotional support but from their perspective I can see them thinking these arrogant sons of [ __ ] that Rome Show went terribly without getting too deep into the weeds of it Bruce pavit described Kurt's behavior on stage as a nervous breakdown he threatened to hurt himself hurt others and eventually he hurt some equipment afterwards the frontman notified everyone that he was abandoning the tour then burst into tears appears pman took Kurt for a walk but it did little to soothe his nerves or his resolve that night he decided to leave subpop Nirvana returned home in December and Kurt took the month to recuperate mentally 1989 was massive for the band to put it in perspective according to live Nirvana from their formation to the end of 1988 the band had only played 33 shows in 1989 alone they played 82 January of 1990 marked one year since the band's contract with subpop went into effect which meant it was time to start working on a new album although they were able to get one studio session done by April of 1990 their first time working with the ever talented Butch Vig it was clear their label was slowing them down this time the issue stemmed less from disrespect or distrust and more from mismanagement subpop had officially gone from broke to dead dead broke they simply couldn't afford to pay for Nirvana's next album hell they couldn't even afford to promote their last album the fact that the band got any interviews or bleach sold any copies was a miracle stemming exclusively from the quality of their music even other subpop bands were taking notice of the Injustice Matt Lucan explained I saw how long Bruce had been promising to put out another record for them and he kept putting them off they got put on the back burner soon Kurt's impulsive internal decision to leave subpop became very external the rest of the band agreed and again Chris was the one to deliver the final word to the label it was over now this would have been a very simple and straightforward matter for any other band working with subpop you just walk away but Nirvana had one thing they didn't a contract you remember the contract right you remember how I said the band would never regret it I lied now they couldn't just run off and partner with another Indie label they needed a major label to buy them out of subpop luckily the band had more clout now than they did when Kurt was spamming tapes a year prior finding the right label would be less about begging and more about bargaining this was not only because of the band's steadily growing dedicated fan base all across the Northwest but because their music was evolving much to the horror of those on the more stuck up side of the Indie scene Kurt was starting to write songs that were gulp catchy I had finally got to the point where I was mixing pop music and the heavy side of us in the right formula it was working really well mostly because of the reports from our friends and other bands everyone was saying that it was really good I could tell that it was definitely more advanced than bleach there was a weak Link in the chain though and his name was Chad now Nirvana's drummer for 2 years he felt comfortable enough to start pitching his own music for the band's newest album Curt and Chris did not appreciate that mostly Kurt plus it didn't help that the frontman was really starting to Tire of Chad's drumming by this point it came down to two recurring complaints he really had bad timing and he wasn't a very powerful drummer the founding members decided the time had finally come to give Chad the boot but again this breakup wouldn't be so easy as I mentioned Channing had been in the band for 2 years at this point pretty much since they formed in nnest he wasn't just some local schmuck goober they could ghost he was their friend so maybe for that reason alone this was the first time Kurt actually broke the news himself I felt like I'd just killed somebody Chad felt like he had just quit the band good for you Chad Kurt also took this sudden wave of change as an excuse to leave another struggling relationship the one with his girlfriend Tracy mirander truthfully I probably should have mentioned her more than just one other time in this video they were together for 3 years and much of what we know about Kurt comes from interviews with her [ __ ] about a girl was written about her but hey I had to fit in that Tad Doyal diarrhea anecdote so sorry Tracy Kurt started dating fellow musician Toby Veil soon after and she would soon leave a much more obvious footprint on Nirvana 1990 was a pretty messy year compared to 1989 the band had no definitive drummer and no definitive label so most of the Year revolved around solving those problems while performing whenever possible that meant a lot of meetings with lawyers awkward encounters with A&R representatives and a couple of temp drummers finally near the end of the year the band would find two remedies the first was drummer Dave Gro I made a whole video about Dave's time with Nirvana but to summarize Gro had been performing as drummer for the band Scream since he was 17 he had already toured the US and Europe several times by September of 1990 when the band's basist suddenly quit leaving scream in limbo luckily Dave had made plenty of Connections in the Indie scene including a friendship with the Melvin's Buzz Osborne Buzz told Dave about Nirvana Dave called Chris and after one audition he was in we knew in 2 minutes that he was the red drummer he was a hard hitter he was really Dynamic he was so bright so hot so vital he rocked Dave quickly moved into Kurt's Olympia apartment and for a while they lived happily together gr would wash the frontman's clothes teach him how to tattoo himself shoot BB's with him graffiti the apartment walls with him they weren't exactly best friends Dave later described a lot of the time as totally silent but they got along there's even a famous story from this time when Kurt and Toby Vil started going on double dates with Dave and his then girlfriend Kathleen Hannah in an attempt to mock Cobain Kathleen took a Sharpie to the wall of his bedroom writing Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit she was trying to make reference to the deodorant brand used by Toby Veil saying Kurt smelled like her thus mocking the two of them for uh engaging in hold on let me use a Nirvana themed analogy for this no no no absolutely not no no no ew no fine love buzzing however Kurt would later insist that he had no idea about the deodorant brand and just thought it was a weird compliment basically it was a fun good time for everyone until Toby dumped Kurt in hindsight it was obviously coming for all of Cobain's Punk Tendencies he was at his core a deeply monogamous guy he had three relationships in his entire life and hardly ever slept around it often made him stand out in the artsy Circles of Olympia where the word girlfriend was frowned upon and Toby fit the Olympia stereotype pretty well always rejecting the title nevertheless the breakup hit him hard arguably harder than anything in his life so far he spiraled into a period of deep depression and self-hatred the writings in his journal became incomprehensible ramblings his artwork grew more disturbing and the music he wrote was more personal aneurism drain you Lounge act a rewrite of lithium and most notably Smells Like Teen Spirit all came in the months following the breakup all with themes and lyrics tied to Toby something else came in the months following the breakup as well something less constructive heroin it's hard to talk about subjects like these on YouTube because they still enforce the haze code so I literally need to tell you not to do drugs don't do drugs Kurt Cobain did drugs lots of them he even claimed to have tried the Big H back in Aberdine soon after high school a fact I referenced in my previous video on the band that was mostly refuted by his friends and family Kurt had a lifelong fear of needles and he often treated his use of the drug in November of 1990 as a new experience to anyone he told about it the first person he did tell was Chris and although Kurt promised never to do it again the basist was no less disapproving I remember literally telling him that he was playing with dynamite dynamite or no Cobain would break his promise frequently the Big H would become a permanent fixture in the life of the frontman this would have been the most defining moment of November of 1990 if not for a breakthrough Nirvana signed to a major label by this point there had been a andr representatives from all over the country swooning over them like desperate lovers for months as I mentioned previously Nirvana was becoming a hot commodity in the Indie scene especially with the rise of alternative rock making any record executive with half a brain see dollar signs but the band was wise beyond their years they knew better than to sign with the first chump that paid for their dinner so they waited till the right moment they were inches away from signing with Charisma records when at the last second they pivoted to dgc short for the David geffin company it was an offshoot of geff and Records which at this point had a reputation for giving bands like Sonic Youth the creative freedom Kurt was seeking at the end of the day the contract finally got Nirvana off of subpop awarding the former label $75,000 and 2% of the sales from Nirvana's next two albums ironically saving subpop more presently the contract paid Nirvana a $287,000 advance for their next album $287,000 adjusted for inflation $651,000 due to some legal chicanery the band saw very little of this money but that didn't really matter it was a message that the music industry was sending a year and a half prior a journalist for Melody Maker wrote that if Nirvana weren't doing this they would be working in a supermarket or lumber yard or fixing cars these were regular guys with the history so short it's been summarized in two 2minute videos and dgc paid them A4 million something big was coming a chapter beyond anything Nirvana could have possibly imagined but that's a story for another day if you like the video like the video if you liked me subscribe I have more videos who you should watch those videos thank you I'd like to give a special thanks to Michael azerad Charles cross and Carrie borzillo their books come as you are heavier than heaven and Kurt coob and the Nirvana years were the main sources for this video and without their hard work this would have been a 20-minute dumpster fire go by and read those books I'm going to leave now goodbye

Channel: MarcButEvil

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Id: EH0oyqdBOmY

Length: 20min 12sec (1212 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 09 2023