This is a Call (57 page)
Authors: Paul Brannigan
On the evening of 15 April 2011, the night before the exhibition opened to the public, Novoselic spoke in moving, emotional terms to an invited audience about the impact that this musical community had upon his own life, and the life of his closest friend, Kurt Cobain. He then paid tribute to old friends in Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle, and thanked Dale Crover’s mother for putting up with the presence of the Cling-Ons at her home at 609 West Second Street. And he also gave a special shout-out to Dave Grohl.
‘I love Dave,’ said Novoselic. ‘He released a new record this week … and it rocks. Dave’s out there, and he works hard, and he’s never lost focus. He’s carrying the flame …’
There’s a certain irony in Seattle’s music scene luminaries getting misty-eyed over the music of their youth – didn’t Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Eddie Vedder join forces with Mike Watt to decry such nostalgia as ‘
someone else’s sentimentality
’ – but then in visiting the Emerald City in 2011 one might wonder if grunge ever really left its streets. Some of the scene’s iconic venues may have disappeared – The Vogue is now a hair salon called Vain, the site of the OK Hotel is now home to chic waterfront apartments and art studios – but its key players continue to thrive: Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Melvins all have gigs and tours lined up for the latter half of 2011. As
Nevermind
turns 20, punk rock kids in dirty Black Flag and Dead Kennedys T-shirts still gather noisily outside Starbucks on the corner of 4th and Pine Street, and the Crocodile Café and Central Tavern still play host to gangs of dissolute teens with bad attitudes, shitty equipment and dreams of escape. Quite what these youngsters made of 20-year-old Casey Abrams’s performance of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ on manufactured pop talent show
American Idol
in March 2011 is anyone’s guess, but Kurt Cobain would doubtless have enjoyed the delicious mind-warping irony of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler saluting Abrams as ‘crazy’ for his take on grunge’s most iconoclastic anthem.
In December 2010 Dave Grohl indulged in a little grunge nostalgia of his own. On the day he was due to wrap the mixing of
Wasting Light
with Alan Moulder, Grohl booked Foo Fighters a surprise show at the tiny Paladino’s club in Tarzana, California to première songs from the album. He decided to invite Krist Novoselic along to play ‘Marigold’, the
Pocketwatch
track which became the B-side of Nirvana’s
Heart-Shaped Box
single, for a performance which would reunite the surviving members of Nirvana onstage for the first time since Foo Fighters’ Bumbershoot festival appearance in 1997.
The day before the show Grohl, Novoselic and Pat Smear got together in a Hollywood rehearsal room to run through the song. Once satisfied, Novoselic asked his two friends if they wanted to run through some ‘mouldy oldies’ for old time’s sake: he suggested they might tackle ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. And so, some sixteen years after he last played the song, Dave Grohl beat out the song’s iconic opening tattoo once more.
Halfway through the performance, the studio manager opened the rehearsal room door and watched in silence for a few moments.
‘That sounded pretty good,’ he said finally. ‘You guys should keep that.’
Grohl, Novoselic and Smear exchanged amused looks and burst out laughing. As the door of the room slammed shut again, Grohl picked up his drumsticks once more. As memories of days gone by rushed to his head, he composed himself and smiled. Then he looked at his friends, nodded and loudly counted in another song …
Sources
Quotations
All quotations are taken from the author’s interviews, except as noted below:
Chapter 1
‘It’s kinda funny for a while …’ Neil Kulkarni, ‘I Fucking Hated Hollywood’,
Metal Hammer
, December 1999.
‘Porn stars become grocery clerks …’ Ben Mitchell, ‘A Life Less Ordinary’,
Q
, December 2005.
‘You and I are a lot alike …’ Andy Gray and Darcie Loreno, ‘Rocker Talks to Alley Painters’,
Warren Tribune Chronicle
, 2 August 2009.
‘Just because you’re born here …’ Sarah Poulton, ‘Music Is Art: Warren Celebrates a Music Superstar’,
www.valley24.com
, 25 July 2009.
‘Pretty much at other ends …’ Michael Azerrad,
Come AsYou Are
, Main Street Books, 1993.
‘You’re thinking “This can’t be the United States of America …”’ Charles Colson, ‘Nixon: A Presidency Revealed’, History Channel documentary, February 2007.
‘15 minutes from chicken farmers, and 15 minutes from the White House.’ Austin Scaggs, ‘On a Honor Roll’,
Rolling Stone
, 28 July 2005.
‘Of course it caused a lot of pain and it caused a lot of struggle …’ Tom Doyle, ‘I Wanted to Take Acid and Smash Stuff ’,
Q
, July 2007.
‘By the time I got a hold of the situation …’ Dave Everley, ‘I Was a Teenage Punk Rocker’,
Kerrang!
, 2 August 1997.
‘To me that was just the best sound …’ Anon, ‘I Saw the Light’,
NME
, 1999.
‘To this day [it’s] still one of the most amazing songs …’ Anon, ‘Songs in the Key of Life’,
NME
, 1999.
‘I had a chair that was next to my bed …’ Ken Micallef, ‘Returning to His Roots’,
Modern Drummer
, June 2004.
‘They always said the same thing …’ Dave Everley, ‘I was a teenage punk rocker”,
Kerrang!
, 2 August 1997.
‘Those guitars! Two strings! How cool! *…’ Anon, ‘Rebellious Jukebox’,
Melody Maker
, 1997.
Chapter 2
‘The term “punk” is bandied about an awful lot these days …’ Mick Houghton, ‘White Punks on Coke’,
Let It Rock
, December 1975
‘This band hates you …’ Charles M. Young, ‘Rock Is Sick and Living in London’,
Rolling Stone
, 20 October 1977.
‘Kids destroyed schools …’ Charles M. Young, ‘Rock Is Sick and Living In London’,
Rolling Stone
, 20 October 1977
‘I’m working Monday through Friday …’ Paul Rachman and Steve Blush,
American Hardcore
, Sony Pictures, 2006.
‘I stood there and thought “I could do this … ”’ Paul Connolley, ‘Rock Warriors’,
The Times
, November 2002.
‘I talked to the singer and I jumped on someone’s head …’ Stevie Chick, ‘Everyone Has Their Dark Side’,
MOJO
, May 2005.
‘It took me about a year before I finally found it …’ Stevie Chick, ‘Everyone Has Their Dark Side’,
MOJO
, May 2005.
‘Ian’s the only one who ever did the punk thing right …’ Brendan Mullen, ‘This Band Could Be His Life’,
L.A.Weekly
, 10 March 2005.
‘They were detonating every song …’ Don Letts,
Punk:Attitude
, Freemantle Media, 2005.
‘There was no music scene in Washington …’ Peter Hepburn, ‘Ian MacKaye’,
www.cokemachineglow.com
, 2 October 2004.
‘Bad Brains influenced us incredibly …’ Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins,
Dance of Days:Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital
, Soft Skull Press, 2001.
‘HR was the energizer …’ Nardwuar, ‘Narwuar vs Ian of Fugazi’,
www.nardwuar.com
, 7 July 2001.
‘From the very beginning of the label we were told …’ Peter Hepburn, ‘Ian MacKaye’,
www.cokemachineglow.com
, 2 October 2004.
‘We like to play out of town …’ Al Flipside, ‘Black Flag’,
Flipside
, December 1980.
‘We think everybody should be subjected to us …’ John Kezdy, ‘Black Flag’,
The Coolest Retard
, 1981.
‘There’s more impact in playing for people …’ Steve Stiph, ‘Black Flag’,
Outcry
, 1980.
‘In the middle of the show, I took a knife …’ Henry Rollins,
Get in the Van
, 2.13.61, 1994.
‘Punk rock has more asshole …’ Vic Bondi, ‘Vic, Ian and Dave’,
maximumrocknroll
, September 1983.
‘I have some really great practice tapes …’ Nardwuar, ‘Narwuar vs Ian of Fugazi’,
www.nardwuar.com
, 7 July 2001.
‘It’s sad, all those little kids that were on skateboards …’ Bill Bartell, ‘Black Market Baby’,
Flipside
, August 1984.
Chapter 3
‘But nobody else blew me away as much as Bad Brains …’ Anon, ‘The 100 Greatest Albums You’ve Never Heard’,
NME
, 28 December 2010.
‘It was a time when hardcore bands were these skinny white guys …’ Anon, ‘The Greatest Gig I Ever Saw’,
Melody Maker
, 1999.
‘For me, punk rock was an escape …’ Anon, ‘Page + Plant + Grohl’,
Raygun
, 1998.
‘There was some Nirvana book that glorified my parents’ divorce …’ Ben Mitchell, ‘A Life Less Ordinary’
Q
, November 2005.
‘Imagine the lectures I’d get if I fucked up …’ Paul Connolly, ‘Rock Warriors’,
The Times
, November 2002.
‘He thought that unless you practised for six hours a day …’ Paul Connolly, ‘Rock Warriors’,
The Times
, November 2002.
‘We all decided that this is it, Revolution Summer …’ Al Quint, ‘Fugazi’,
Suburban Voice
, 1990 (Issue 29).
‘Revolution Summer is a revival …’ Anon,
Flipside
, 1985 (Issue 74).
‘The Do-It-Yourself element made everything more special …’ Ben Mitchell, unpublished extract from ‘My Brilliant Career’,
Q
, November 2007.
‘I was smoking all day long …’ Chris Marlowe, ‘I Haven’t Smoked a Joint in Six Years’,
Metal Hammer
, January 1996.
‘The first time I took acid …’ Ben Mitchell, unpublished extract from ‘A Life Less Ordinary’,
Q
, December 2005.
‘I’d never cracked a Bible in my life …’ Tom Doyle, ‘I Wanted to Take Acid and Smash Stuff!’,
Q
, July 2007.
‘To me, Zeppelin were spiritually inspirational …’ Dave Grohl, ‘Led Zeppelin: The Immortals’,
Rolling Stone
, 15 April 2004.
‘Led Zeppelin, and John Bonham’s drumming …’ Anon, ‘Sock It to ’Em JB!’,
MOJO
, 2005.
‘As a 17-year-old kid raised playing punk-rock drums …’ Anon, ‘Dave Grohl on Physical Graffiti’,
Uncut
, 2005.
‘Bonham played directly from the heart …’ Anon, ‘Sock It to ’Em JB!’,
MOJO
, 2005.
Chapter 4
‘Raised in a van by wolves …’ Charles R. Cross,
Heavier Than Heaven
, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001.
‘The first time I saw them …’ Mitch Parker, ‘Scream’,
maximumrocknroll
, May 1983.
‘When I first saw them …’ Mitch Parker, ‘Scream’,
maximumrocknroll
, May 1983.
‘This is the album where Scream went from being …’ Anon, ‘Rebellious Jukebox’,
Melody Maker
, 1997.
‘The best set of the year, so far …’ Al Quint, ‘Live Shows’,
Suburban Voice
, Summer 1985.
‘I don’t think Hüsker Dü signing to a major label …’ Bob Mould, ‘What th’ Fuck!!!!’,
maximumrocknroll
, February 1986.
‘The freaks, the fags, the fat girls …’ Sean O’Hagan, ‘Michael Stipe: I Often Find Myself at a Loss for Words’,
Observer
, 6 March 2011.
‘They started out with the ambition …’ Michael Azerrad,
Our Band Could Be Your Life
, Little, Brown & Co., 2001.
‘I said “Hallelujah. Go” …’ Donna St George, ‘For These Stars, Mom Rules’,
Washington Post
, 11 May 2008.
‘Even then, she knew me well enough …’ Donna St George, ‘For These Stars, Mom Rules’,
Washington Post
, 11 May 2008.
‘All parents want their kids to do brilliantly at school …’ Dirk Siepe, ‘Grohl Speaks’,
Visions
, September 2000.
‘The two of us were laughing so hysterically …’ Dan Silver, ‘Get in the Van’,
Metal Hammer
, 1998.
‘We were killing time between gigs …’ Anon, ‘Last Night a Record Changed My Life’,
MOJO
, 2004.
‘I always thought I knew the definition of heavy …’ Anon, ‘It Changed My Life’,
Kerrang!
, 2001.
‘He’d say, “That sounds too good … ”’ Pat Kearney, ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’,
The Stranger
, 25 April 2002.
‘Though they don’t want you to know it …’ Robert Christgau, ‘Consumer Guide Reviews: Big Black’,
www.robertchristgau.com
.
‘It’s still essentially wilderness country up here …’ Martin Aston, ‘Freak Scene’,
Nirvana and the Story of Grunge
, 2005
‘I looked at those photos, and I immediately knew …’ Jason Crock, ‘Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman’,
www.pitchfork.com
, 7 July 2008.
‘Not only did we put an emphasis on design …’ Steve Wells, ‘Expresso Way to Your Skull’,
NME
, 18 July 1992.
‘Before Seattle I’d never been exposed to rock …’ Everett True,
Nirvana: The True Story,
Omnibus, 2006.
‘Basically, this is the real thing …’ Everett True, ‘Sub Pop, Seattle: Rock City’,
Melody Maker
, 18 March 1989.
Chapter 5
‘You have to understand, for me, Nirvana is more …’ Ed Power, ‘Into the Light’,
Irish Independent
, 8 April 2011.
‘You could just say, “Hey Kurt, sing this!” …’ Gillian G. Gaar, ‘Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History of Nirvana’,
Goldmine
, 14 February 1997.
‘It just destroyed his life …’ Michael Azerrad,
Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
, Main Street Books, 1993.
‘I remember hanging out at …’ Kurt Cobain,
Journals
, Viking, 2002.
