Kurt Cobain almost stopped Dave Grohl from playing ‘MTV Unplugged’
One of the foundational parts of Nirvana’s sound has always been the energy Dave Grohl brought to the drums. Even though Kurt Cobain might be responsible for writing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, the song doesn’t come alive until Grohl’s tremendous drum fill kicks the material into gear. Despite the amount of power that Grohl possessed, it wasn’t always suited to every Nirvana performance.
After finishing up production of In Utero, Nirvana was asked to play MTV Unplugged, which would become one of their career’s foundational shows. Although most artists treat the program like any other gig, Cobain had a certain agenda going into the show.
According to Guitar World, Cobain wanted to be seen in the same light as the other songwriters that were coming out of the grunge scene, saying, “I don’t pay attention to polls and charts, but I thumb through them every once in a while and see, like, Eddie Vedder is nominated number-one songwriter in some magazine and I’m not even listed”.
To separate this show from one of Nirvana’s usual outings, Cobain offered up different takes on their usual songs and a few covers sprinkled in for good measure. While receiving initial pushback from the network to play more hits, Nirvana showed up with their unique take on their show prepared for the night.
The only question hanging in the air was whether Grohl would play. When remembering the day of the performance, Alex Coletti recalled Cobain nearly banning Grohl from playing that night, explaining, “Up until the day of the concert, there was talk of Dave not playing at all in the show. Kurt wasn’t happy with the way rehearsals were going; he didn’t like the way Dave sounded playing drums with sticks”.
Cobain had encountered a similar problem in the studio when the band recorded Nevermind. According to Butch Vig, the recording of the song ‘Something in the Way’ was marred by Grohl always hitting too hard, recalling in Classic Albums, “It was hard to get Krist and Dave to play along to Kurt’s performance, and I think I tortured them on it. I remember when we were recording drums, I could hear Kurt coming in saying, ‘Quieter, quieter’. I think it’s in Dave’s nature to hit hard”.
When it came time for rehearsals, the band were also going through different problems with getting their sound right, with Pat Smear never being able to hit the right harmony notes on ‘Pennyroyal Tea’. While things looked bleak going into the actual taping of the show, the band ended up turning in one of the best performances of their career.
With Grohl using the brushes, his playing became far more mellow for the occasion, only giving the songs the occasional lift they needed instead of storming into the song as loud as possible. Cobain’s solo performance of ‘Pennyroyal Tea’ also became a major highlight of the night, relegating him to a guitar and his voice to carry most of the song.
Despite the phenomenal performance, it would prove to be bittersweet for the rest of the band when Cobain was found dead just a few months after the show was filmed. For many casual Nirvana fans, this became one of the last memories they had of the grunge icon still alive.
