Nirvana only made three albums before the death of founding frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994, but they are all iconic. One of those albums, however, was the “uncomfortable soundtrack” of their rise to fame, according to drummer Dave Grohl.
Back in 2023, Grohl, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and late producer Steve Albini sat down with Conan O’Brien to talk about their journey from small-time band to full-blown rock stars by the time their third album, In Utero (which Albini produced), was released in 1993.
The conversation started with Conan speaking briefly about his own experience in the early 90s. In a short time, he went from a young TV comedy writer to hosting his own late-night show. In response, Grohl offered, “That’s similar to the Nirvana experience, I would imagine.”
Kurt Cobain died by suicide less than a year after ‘In Utero’ was released
“You know, at the time, when the band became popular in 1991, we were so young,” Grohl explained. “I think I was 21 or 22 [looks at Krist], and you might have been 25 or something, but we were kids.”
“When you talk about the amount of time that’s gone by, to me it’s not even so much about the years. It’s about the experiences that just kind of led one after another,” Grohl continued. “Going from three kids that were basically living or touring out of a van to then becoming a huge band,” he confessed, “and then in In Utero, becoming the uncomfortable soundtrack to that transition.”
“By 1992, 1993, we were living in a different world than we were just 16 months before,” the Foo Fighters frontman added.
Conan then dug a little deeper into the Nirvana story. “I was thinking about it today, and I was thinking the only way that you can understand the making of In Utero is to understand where you were at that time. The only way to understand that is to start with Nevermind.”
In 1991, Geffen Records released Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind. Produced by the band and Butch Vig, Conan recalled that the album “had modest expectations by the record label,” recalling, “I think they were going to be very happy if you sold 250,000 units.”
“They printed 50,000 units of the CDs,” Novoselic chimed in. Conan added, “Thinking, ‘That should do it, and if we have to make more, we will.’”
All three of Nirvana’s albums are in the top 10 best-selling grunge albums
The Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend host then shared a fascinating story he’d heard that sums up the unfathomable popularity of Nevermind. “I talked to someone who was working at Geffen at the time. They said when Nevermind hit and started to blow up, and then really blow up, at one point, they had to stop making and manufacturing all of the other CDs for the other artists on their label and turn them all over to making Nevermind.
“Which sounds like something that just doesn’t happen. It was completely unprecedented,” he added. “So that’s the good news, but with that comes all kinds of bulls***.” Watch the full interview below:
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