History Yesterday in Grunge
posted by on February 8 at 13:55 PM
Hot on the heels of Megan’s interrogation of Tad from TAD I bring you another slice of grunge history.
It was mid-April of 1991 and Nirvana was playing the OK Hotel, debuting songs from their forthcoming second album (which ended up being the culture-shifting Nevermind). My friends and I had no idea history was about to be made. We were just pumped to see another Nirvana show and to hear some new songs.
Across Alaskan Way there was a film shoot going on in a giant warehouse on one of the piers. Apparently it was for a big “rock show” scene from a movie being made “about the Seattle Scene” and that Matt Dillon was in it. That movie turned out to be “Singles.” Thankfully we missed the cattle call to be extras in the movie and ended up where the real deal was going down. (When I finally saw “Singles” about a decade later I was amazed how bad it was. Barely a notch above “Reality Bites.” Barely.)
Anyway, back at the OK Kurt came out with pink hair and did a solo vesion of Polly. Not quite what we were expecting. Then Chris came onstage with his arms outstretched, nearly spanning the width of the stage, and so tall his head was almost grazing the ceiling. Plus they had their new drummer who was a fucking powerhouse. Then all hell broke loose.
I’m the kid who starts crowd-surfing at the 2:20 mark.
Nice. So good.
Mullet at 4:40!
Awesome. Did you see the free show at Peaches when Nevermind came out? That was off the hook too. I hated that pole in the middle of the floor at the OK Hotel. I cracked my head on it during a Poison Idea show.
I was at that show! I remember the Peaches show and the following band interview on KCMU, but couldn't get there for some reason I can't remember.
Come to think of it, was that the show Bikini Kill opened? Me thinks it was...
Nirvana was not that good and I was 5 when this happened. Not as good as Falloutboy or Against Me and true ROCK bands.
thank you for posting this.
fuck, my mom wouldn't let me go to that show because it was a school night. :(
I saw Nirvana in Olympia, but I never got to see them do Teen Spirit. Lame.
Legendary show for good reason. Thanks for the reminder, Dan.
I sure miss that bouncy back room at the OK Hotel. It was a great place to see a show.
When the OK Hotel closed there was like 2 sentences in the Stranger.
What's up with that?
Like half of this city probably cried themselves to sleep knowing we couldn't hang out there anymore.
That looks like an awesome show. I wish I'd been there. And actually, I could have been there; my office was just a stone's throw away, but I was in a different state of mind then. My loss, definitely.
It's fun to see you kids getting nostalgic and reminiscing like you're oldsters, though.
Um...I grew up in Alaska and was also way too young to be a true Nirvana fan or go to any of their shows for that matter. Plus, I preferred an older style of punk. What I am trying to say is that didn't any of you notice that Dan spelled Krist wrong? I suppose being there was better than remembering how to spell one of the band members names...just sayin.
@12 You were too young to remember, but in 1991 that was how Krist spelled his name.
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