Dave Grohl reflected on Nirvana‘s legacy and the years following Kurt Cobain‘s death in an appearance on the Broken Record Podcast. He said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “The Nirvana experience was — I don’t even know what the word is for it. It was just something else — in all the best and worst ways. And when you go through something like that with a small group of people, you’re forever connected by that. We’re a big family, all of the people that were there, and we all do love each other.”
The Foo Fighters frontman described how music pulled him through the loss: “When Nirvana ended, I kind of knew… Well, at first it was hard for me to get through it. And then I realized that music is the thing that’s going to get me through it.”
Grohl also spoke at length about his bond with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic: “Krist has such a gigantic heart and such a brilliant, amazing mind. And Krist sees the world through an entirely different lens than anyone you’ve ever met, in the most beautiful way. He’s an artist. And he’s a writer. And he’s the same. The first day I ever met him, he had not changed. And so the experience that we had together in Nirvana, we’ll be connected by that forever. And just as we all continue to move forward in life and live life, it’s like, we’re still beautiful, loving friends. And whenever I see him, it’s a trip… So, yeah, he’s amazing.”
In a separate interview with Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe, Grohl described the search for safety in music right after Nirvana ended: “I think that we all wound up in places that felt… I don’t want to say comfortable, but safe. When I went into the studio and recorded that stuff by myself, I felt safe there. And I can’t speak for Krist, but I think at that time it was like we were just trying to get our feet back on the ground. For me, that’s something that I thought, ‘Okay, well, music is the thing that’s going to rescue me.'”
He talked about what it felt like to approach the old material again in the years that followed: “It’s such a weird thing to feel afraid to play songs. And for a long time, it’s like I was even afraid just to sit down at a drum set and play the opening riff to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. It just seemed sort of forbidden. And so the few times that Krist and Pat [Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear] and I have gotten together to do it, it’s a trip… The noise that the three of us make together, you don’t really get that noise anywhere else. The way that Krist strums his bass lines, the bass that he uses, the equipment he uses, his sense of feel and time, it’s like all of those things, combined with Pat, with that crazy Germs/Pat Smear guitar thing. And then some loud-ass drums, when it happens, you’re just, like, ‘Oh, fuck, I remember this. Shit, I haven’t heard this in 35 years.’ It’s a really beautiful sound and a beautiful feeling.”
Grohl was equally direct on Cobain‘s stature as a songwriter: “The songs that he wrote, I think he wrote them to be heard. I think that most songwriters, when they write songs, want them to be heard or you want them to be felt or you want — not necessarily validation, but you want someone to feel what you feel, just as a listener wants to feel what the artist feels.
“I don’t know what the exact intention was, but I do know that Kurt was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. And it was inevitable that his songs would be recognized as some of the greatest songs of all time.”
Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, introduced by R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe. Grohl, Novoselic, and Smear performed four tracks at the ceremony with guest vocalists including St. Vincent, Lorde, Sonic Youth‘s Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett.
