The 1975 album Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic calls his favourite of all time
In 1994, when Krist Novoselic was delivering a eulogy to his late Nirvana bandmate, Kurt Cobain, he happened upon a line that sounded something like the group’s defining ethos, “If you’ve got a guitar and a lot of soul, just bang something out and mean it.”
This outlook was distinctly punk-like in its fortitude and favouring of passion over technicality, but the rather more emotive note of having “a lot of soul” set it apart from the sneering 1970s with a sense of tenderness. That’s what made Nirvana so unique and so beloved, in turn.
However, while they might have been original, they were not without their influences, and the first album that ever grabbed Novoselic has stayed with him. Of course, the idea of a “favourite album” is a transient one. Music can experience peaks and troughs throughout our lives, and what resonated as an angsty teen may not seem so important when you’re 50 and have your own rebellious adolescent to deal with.
However, it would seem, for Novoselic, the album that first stirred his rock and roll soul is still the most important. To some extent, he might even feel indebted to it, not just because of the career that it helped to inspire, but even approaches bass playing in the same melodic, lead guitar-like manner that Novoselic would frequently adopt.
It’s not a big leap to suggest that without this record, Novoselic may never have found his interest in rock music and his friendship with Kurt Cobain never blossomed, leaving an entire generation of kids without their bastions of rebellion, Nirvana. It’s something Novoselic muses upon when contributing for Vinyl Writers. “I was recently talking about Sabotage by Black Sabbath again,” opens the bassist, pointing to the 1975 record as the album that changed his life.
“I always wonder if there had been Nirvana without this album,” he muses before answering, “Probably not. It’s everywhere in Nirvana’s music. This is the music that I loved when I was 15 or 16 years old. I had the album on cassette, and I listen to it every day. I think it was the riffs that attracted me, maybe also the album’s occult touch.”
Before calling ‘Symptom Of The Univers’ a “monster song”, he notes the album as irreproachable, “It is simply what it is. It is an untouchable album.” It found Sabbath six albums in, full of confidence, and battling against their management and label who they thought were constantly trying to “sabotage” them. So, they swung from the hip, hence the unmistakable, near-reckless sound that Novoselic adored.
It wasn’t Nirvana bassist’s first introduction to the band, as he continues, “I knew Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules because they were just being released at the time. I discovered Sabotage with an according delay. It was claimed that Nirvana done away with a lot of the metal, but that never applied to Black Sabbath.”
Adding, “Sure, we were snotty punks who wanted to get rid of all that ’80s rock, but I’m older and wiser now. You cannot do away with Black Sabbath anyway, because this band is for eternity.” Their stunning uniqueness has pretty much confirmed that. They remain the root of the tree for entire sub-genres.
It’s true, Nirvana were seen as the caustic bleach of a new generation, ready to wipe off the stink of hair metal and over-accentuate crotch padding, but like any great band, they still knew the foundations of rock and roll were deep. “Black Sabbath is immortal,” Novoselic continues, “nobody can do any harm to them. And if you look at the rock music timeline, they are simply above Nirvana. They are part of us because we descended from Black Sabbath, just as Black Sabbath descended from The Beatles.”
It’s an unusual proposition to pit the literal Prince of Darkness, the dastardly Ozzy Osbourne, against the mop-topped Paul McCartney, but it’s true. Ozzy has always said how the Fab Four opened up his world, and Novoselic completes the sentiment, “The Beatles opened the gate for all of us, nobody can do anything about this truth.”
Concluding, “And when I played with Paul McCartney years ago, it was like coming full circle.” It was a fitting pairing given that the Fab Four were always a firm part of Nirvana’s oeuvre, too.
Like George Harrison before him, Krist Novoselic may well be the quieter member of Nirvana. His fame may have somewhat subsided outside of muso circles. However, he’s clear in his position in the annals of rock history, as well as everybody else’s.
