There was never any plan for Nirvana to become one of the biggest bands in the world. While Kurt Cobain may have liked the idea of being a rockstar that his peers respected, no one could have predicted that he would change the landscape of rock and roll overnight, bringing grunge to the masses in a way few artists were able to. Even though Dave Grohl was happy to sit behind the drumkit half the time, he knew one show was the defining moment for the trio’s career.
Then again, Nirvana was always a bit of a mess whenever they took to the stage. Before Grohl had even joined the band, the Seattle group was known for being either a trainwreck or a spectacle depending on the night they were having, featuring Cobain jettisoning himself into the drumkit when something wasn’t to his satisfaction.
After working with original drummer Chad Channing for years, Cobain thought that they needed more power, drafting in Grohl from his work with the hardcore band Scream. Providing a John Bonham-style backbeat to every track, Grohl brought a lot more chops to the band’s shows and impressive backing vocals behind Cobain’s wail.
As the band settled in to record Nevermind, they knew they were onto something big when they started performing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. From their first show debuting the song at the OK Hotel in Seattle, it’s palpable feeling the tension in the room as the band eventually explodes into the future rock anthem.
Once the group started to see mainstream success through their single, Cobain began to withdraw, with many of the band’s shows getting cancelled due to how rapturous the venues were getting. After spending time playing various theatres and punk squats, though, the band finally made it to the big leagues when they were asked to play at the Reading Festival in 1992.
While the performance is known to be one of the most dynamic shows the band had ever put on, Grohl was questioning whether the band would even be performing at all. After various press releases claiming that Cobain was entering rehab for heroin addiction, Grohl showed up the day of their performance with tense nerves.
Discussing the song with BBC years later, Grohl recalled, “The night before that, we had rehearsed for the first time in a long time. [The] rehearsal didn’t feel great. We weren’t prepared to play this show…and we got up onstage, and it was one of the most triumphant moments for the band”.
Although the band walked away from the show as leaders of the new guard of rock music, the next few years would see Cobain start to withdraw from making music. Despite the massive success of In Utero, Cobain would loathe going on tour to support the record in stadiums, eventually overdosing on the road before his untimely suicide in 1994. Every part of Nirvana’s career involved them walking on eggshells, but for that brief hour on the Reading stage, no other band could touch them.
