The bloody tampon that divided Reading Festival in 1992: “I wasn’t having a good time”
Not that anyone expected it, but the American grunge scene came to a triumphant climax in the humble outskirts of Reading.
The quaintly named Little John’s Farm near the River Thames welcomed in a string of high-profile acts for the annual Reading Festival, in the hopes that something iconic would take place inside its gates. Public Enemy, Nick Cave and Manic Street Preachers were all worthy candidates in that regard, with a glittering back catalogue that was custom-made for a newsworthy moment.
But the real seminal moment came at the hands of Nirvana, the poster boys of the Seattle grunge movement, who stepped onstage and delivered a set that is still widely talked about amongst music aficionados as one of the most iconic live moments of all time. It saw the band who had been faced with intense scrutiny thanks to their growing fame, rise from the ashes and deliver something of a resurgence and prove to the world just how captivating their live show really was.
It set the tone for a weekend that embodied the feeling of musical catharsis, with many of the other artists following suit in their own, bizarre ways. But grunge was the most palpable genre on the ground that weekend. Benefitting from the slipstream of Nirvana, who by ‘92 were near enough the biggest band in the world, was a generation of bands following closely behind.
One of which were L7, the LA rockers who had formed in the midway point of the ‘80s and earned a fierce reputation for a live show that gave both barrels to the audience. They joined their grunge compatriots on the Sunday of the line-up, along with The Melvins, Screaming Trees and Mudhoney, and so buoyed by the anti-authoritarian energy of their beloved genre, took to the stage with a fierce intent to make an impact.
The band entered the lion’s den, as thousands of rock-hungry fans began exercising their demons long before Nirvana took the stage. Mud was reportedly thrown at the band, along with at Mudhoney during their set, at which point, war was waged on the band. L7 were adamant to stand up to this fury, toying with the clumps of mud being flung, taunting the fans and their efforts, before vocalist Donita Sparks furiously yelled back, “Eat my tampon, fuckers!”
Making good on her promise, she swung it between her fingers and then threw it into the chaotic crowd, shouting: “Watch out for tuberculosis!” Someone eventually threw it back from the crowd, where the band left it on the stage before storming off from their set and allowing the dust to settle.
“I wanted to do something that would amuse me because I wasn’t having a good time,” Sparks remembered. It was a no-holds-barred approach that could have shocked the band to the very top of the pops, but instead it marked something of a downward spiral for not only them, but the grunge genre as a whole.
That day in Reading was the very peak of grunge culture, as Nirvana never reached those heights again, and in fact, two years later, Cobain was dead, and grunge was nothing but a distant memory, replaced by the bright new Britpop movement.
