Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and producer Steve Albini stopped by Conan O’Brien’s podcast to discuss Nirvana, the band’s monumental success, and In Utero, which will receive a 30th anniversary reissue this Friday, October 27.
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Regarding the band’s rise, Grohl said, “When the band became popular in 1991, we were so young. I was 21 or 22…We were kids. When you talk about the amount of time that’s gone by, it’s not even so much about the years as it is about the experiences that went from three kids touring out of a van to becoming a huge band. In Utero became the uncomfortable soundtrack to that transition….By 1992 or 1993, we were living in a different world than we were just 16 months before.”
Regarding Nevermind, Novoselic recalled that Geffen Records had printed 50,000 CDs. He added, “That was 30 years ago, but that time from when Nevermind was released to when Kurt [Cobain] died felt like it was 10 years. It was so intense.”
Steve Albini added, “It took my entire childhood to prepare me for adolescence. It took my entire adolescence and young adulthood to prepare me for being gainfully employed and independent as a person. You have a long runway for the major stages in your life. Nirvana went from being couch surfers to being the biggest band ever in the world in the span of 18 months.”
Grohl also reflected on the rise of the band, explaining, “Before we made Nevermind, we were pretty much living in squalor. I was living with Kurt in this tiny little apartment and there were corn dog sticks and cigarettes all over the place. It was f_____g disgusting. I would have done anything to have had my own apartment, and to do that through making music…I know the transition happened quickly but you didn’t just wind up with $1,000,000 in your mailbox the next day. The per diem went up to $15 a day. We were staying in motels. And then, from September to December of 1991, everything blew up.”
The three Nirvana affiliates stopped by Conan to promote the 30th anniversary edition of In Utero. Geffen/UMe will celebrate the monumental event with several multi-format reissues, arriving on October 27. Configurations include a limited-edition 8LP Super Deluxe box set, 5CD Super Deluxe box set, 1 LP + 10” edition, 2CD Deluxe edition, and a Digital Super Deluxe edition.
