August 26, 2021 • 17 mins
In 1991, Nirvana changed the face of music, busting the door wide open for underground bands to break out into the mainstream. In 2014, REM’s Michael Stipe inducted the grunge trio into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He summed up their impact: “Nirvana defined a moment, a movement for outsiders.”
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yah Welcome to Induction Vault, a production of I Heart
Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. M
(00:29):
Nirvana changed the face of music, busting the door wide
open for underground bands to break out into the mainstream
r e ms. Michael Stipe inducted the Grunge Trio into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He summed up
their impact with this quote, Nirvana defined a moment, a
movement for outsiders, ever the advocates for women. The band
(00:52):
invited four female powerhouses to stand in for the late
Kurt Cobain during their performance. Guitar Goddess Joan Jet, Riot
Girl Kim Gordon, along with the Evacuative State, Vincit and
Lord help Nirvana blow the moof off the arena with
that same palpable energy that spoke to and for a
generation of outcasts. YEA, when an artist offers an idea,
(01:20):
a perspective, it helps us all to see who we are.
It wakes us up, and it pushes us forward towards
our collective and individual potential. It makes us, each of
us able to see who we are more clearly. It's
progression and progressive movement. It is the future staring us
down in the present and saying, come on, let's get
(01:44):
on with it here we are now, and purposely using
the word artists rather than musician because the band Nirvana
were artists in every sense of the word. It is
the highest calling for an artist, as well as the
greatest possible privilege, to capture a moment, to find the zeitgeist,
(02:08):
to expose our struggles, our aspirations, our desires, to embrace
and define their time. That is my definition of an artist.
Nirvana captured lightning in a bottle, and now I will
quote Urban Dictionary off the Internet in defining lightning in
a bottle as capturing something powerful and elusive and then
(02:31):
being able to hold it and show it to the world.
Kurt Cobain, Chris nova Selik, and Dave Grohl were Nirvana.
The potency and the power of their defining moment has
become for us indelible. Like my band r M, Nirvana
(02:54):
came from a most unlikely place, not a cultural city
center like London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or even New
York or Brooklyn, but from Aberdeen, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest,
a largely blue collar town just outside of Seattle. Chris
nova Selik said, Nirvana came out of the American hardcore
(03:15):
scene of the nineteen eighties. This was a true underground.
It was punk rock that the mini bands and musical
styles were eclectic. We were a product of a community
of youth looking for a connection away from the mainstream.
The community built structures outside of the corporate governmental sphere,
independent and decentralized media connected through the copy machine. A
(03:40):
decade before the Internet as we know it came to be.
This was social networking with a face. Dave Grohl said,
we were dropouts making minimum wage, listening to Vinyl, emulating
our heroes, Ian Mackay, Little Richard, getting high, sleeping in bands,
never expecting the world to notice. Solo artists almost have
(04:06):
it easier than bands. Bands are not easy. You find
yourself in a group of people. We rub each other
the wrong way and exactly the right way, and you
have chemistry, zeitgeist, lightning in a bottle, and a collective
voice to help pinpoint a moment, to understand what it
is that we're going through. You see, this is about community,
(04:27):
cross inspiration, pushing ourselves. Nirvana tapped into a voice that
was yearning to be heard keep in mind the times.
This was the late eighties early nineties America. The idea
of a hopeful democratic country had been practically dismantled by
Iran contra, by aids by the Reagan Bush senior administrations.
(04:51):
But with their music, their attitude, their voice. By acknowledging
the political machinations of petty but broad reaching political arguments,
movements and position that had held us culturally back, Nirvana
blasted through all that with crystalline nuclear rage and fury.
Nirvana were kicking against the system, bringing complete susdain for
the music industry and their definition of corporate mainstream America
(05:15):
to show a suite and beautiful which fed up fury,
coupled with howling vulnerability, lyrically exposing our frailty, our frustrations
are shortcomings, singing a retreat and acceptance of our triumphs
of an outsider community with such immense possibility, stimied or ignored,
but not held down or held back by the stupidity
(05:38):
and political pettiness of the times. They spoke truth and
a lot of people listened. They picked up the mant
on in that particular battle. But they were singular and
loud and melodic and deeply original, and that voice, that voice, Kurt,
(06:01):
we miss you, I miss you. Nirvana defined a moment,
a movement for outsiders, for the fags and the fat girls,
and the broken toys, and the shy nerds and the
goth kids from Tennessee and Kentucky, for the rockers and
the awkward and the fed up and the two smart
kids and the bullied. We were a community, a generation,
(06:23):
in Nirvana's case, several generations, and the echo chamber of
that collective. How and Ellen Ginsburg would have been very
proud here. That moment and that voice reverberated into music
and film, into politics, into worldview, into poetry, into fashion,
into art, into spiritualism, and the beginning of the Internet,
and so many fields, in so many ways and in
(06:44):
our lives. And this is not just pop music. This
is something much greater than that. These are a few
artists who rubbed each other the wrong way and exactly
the right way at the right time, Nirvana, it is
my honor to call to the stage Chris nov Selik
(07:05):
and Dave Bold. After the break, we'll hear Nirvana's acceptance
speeches on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Vault I was the quiet one in Nirvana. I was
(07:32):
the drummer, but most of you don't know that I
was the fifth drummer of Nirvana. For whatever reason, I
got to be the luckiest person in the world and
also be in Nirvana. But I have to give credit
to all of the other drummers that came before me.
(07:58):
Aaron Burkhardt, thank you very much. Dale Krover from the
Melvin's who is my absolute drumming hero. Chad Shanning, who
was the drummer of Nirvana. Chad, where are you? I
know that you're here somewhere. I think you're here. Isn't
(08:18):
Chad here somewhere? Where's Chad? Chad's around here? Isn't it?
Are you over there? Chad? Hey? Chad? So here's the thing.
Guess what Chad's responsible for. If you listen to a
song like in Bloom There banan it bock cuckoo, that's Chad.
(08:39):
When I joined the band, I had the honor of
playing Chad's parts. So, Chad, thank you very much for
allowing me to play your drum parts. I appreciate that
very very much. Dan Peters from mud Huddey, who got
to play one show with Nirvana. Thank you, Danny. But
there's a lot of bowl that made this possible, people
(09:03):
that you might not know, people that I grew up
with in Springfield, Virginia. Like Michael said, really you could
afford the train. We came from this underground punk rock
scene where there really were no awards or ceremonies or trophies.
(09:26):
It was all about doing it for real, and the
reward was doing it right and doing it for real
and sharing the community of music, helping other musicians and
inspiring people. And so I got really lucky to grow
up in the Washington, d C. Punk rock scene where
(09:46):
I was inspired by all these amazing people. Too many
the list, but everyone from Chris Page to Ralph to
Dave Smith, to Ruben Ratting, to Pete Stall and France
Stall and Skeeter Thompson, all the people that I've ever
played music with, Barrett Jones, I have to thank all
(10:07):
of you, because I wouldn't be here. I'm also lucky
that when we first started out, we didn't know anything
about business. We were in a fucking van, you know,
buying corner dogs from T shirts that we had sold,
and we were lucky that we met a manager named
(10:28):
John Silva, and we met an accountant named Lee Johnson.
And I'm happy to say that I've never ever strayed
from those two people in my life. That's like twenty
five years, John Cutcliffe and Michael Maisel, And I mean,
(10:50):
it's a long list of people that I'm gonna forget
most of them. But most of all, I have to
thank my family because I was lucky enough to grow
up in a musical family, in an environment that encouraged music.
Parents that never told me not to listen to fucking Slayer,
you know what I mean. I listened to some really
(11:16):
really fucked up ship, but my parents never told me
not to because I was finding myself. So Mom, thanks,
thanks for letting me drop out of high school. Can't
(11:38):
stay in school, don't do drugs. It's about a deal.
I have to thank my beautiful wife, Jordan's and my
two daughters that I hope grow up to inspire people,
just like every musician I grew up inspired by. Because
I think that's the deal, is that you look up
to your heroes and you shouldn't be intimidated by them,
(12:01):
you should be inspired by them. Don't look at the
poster on your wall. And think funk I could never
do that, look at the poster on the wall and say, fuck,
I'm gonna do that, and then you do this. Thank
(12:23):
you Michael for that great induction and uh the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. And I want to thank
all the Nirvana fans whom Vona fans walk up to
me every day and say thank you for the music
(12:46):
and when I hear when I hear that, and that
reminds me of Kurt Cobain, Okay, So I want to
say thank you Kurt Cobain. And I wish Kurt was
here tonight, okay. And that music means so much to
so many people, and it's and there's new generations and
(13:07):
new fans coming up, and it's really powerful. And Kurt
was a was an intense artist and uh he really
connected with a lot of with a lot of people.
And uh, I want to and when Nirvana we did
are we started in Aberdeen, Washington, in Washington State, and
(13:27):
uh we had an infrastructure there to support us. There
was a music community. I want to thank Subpop Records,
um the music community in Seattle in Washington State. I
want to thank Buzz Osborne. Thank you Buzz for turning
(13:47):
us onto punk rock music. I want to thank Alan Dreyer.
Thank you Allan for being there when we really needed you.
I want to thank Jack and Dina who recorded our
first record, Steve Albinia and Butch Big for recording they're
(14:14):
taking us, recording us twice. Thank you Susan Silver for
introducing us to the music industry properly. And thank you
all again. I'm probably gonna cry. I'm already crying because
(14:39):
he'd be so proud. He'd say it wasn't Betty would be.
I just missed him so much. He was such an angel.
Thank you. Yeah, you know I have a big speech,
(15:00):
but I'm not gonna say it. Hi. We all start
bands when we're kids, and this is my family I'm
looking at right now, all of you, Brother, Michael, brother Chris, Grandma, Wendy,
(15:21):
Mr Grohl, come on, David and Christmas. That's it. I
(15:42):
just wish the Curt was here to Hugh feel this
and be this. Twenty years ago the Rock and Hall
of Fame maybe wasn't, but tonight he really would have
appreciated it. He would appreciate it. Chris and Dave and
Michael and his mother and his sister's being here, and
I just want to give this to Francis, our daughter,
who's not here because she's ill. That's it, that's all
(16:03):
I have to say. Thank you so very much, John
and the Committee. Thanks for joining us on this week's
(16:26):
episode of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault.
For more on your favorite inductees, to shop inductee merch
or to plan your trip to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, visit rock hall dot com plus Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand on
HBO Max. Our executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby Morrison,
(16:46):
and Esa Gurkey. Supervising producer is Taylor Shakogne. Research and
archival assistants from Isabel Keeper and Shannon Herb. Thanks again
for joining us on this week's episode of Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. Induction Vaull is a
production of I Heart Radio in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. Yeah. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
(17:11):
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your favorite podcasts
Yah Welcome to Induction Vault, a production of I Heart
Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. M
(00:29):
Nirvana changed the face of music, busting the door wide
open for underground bands to break out into the mainstream
r e ms. Michael Stipe inducted the Grunge Trio into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He summed up
their impact with this quote, Nirvana defined a moment, a
movement for outsiders, ever the advocates for women. The band
(00:52):
invited four female powerhouses to stand in for the late
Kurt Cobain during their performance. Guitar Goddess Joan Jet, Riot
Girl Kim Gordon, along with the Evacuative State, Vincit and
Lord help Nirvana blow the moof off the arena with
that same palpable energy that spoke to and for a
generation of outcasts. YEA, when an artist offers an idea,
(01:20):
a perspective, it helps us all to see who we are.
It wakes us up, and it pushes us forward towards
our collective and individual potential. It makes us, each of
us able to see who we are more clearly. It's
progression and progressive movement. It is the future staring us
down in the present and saying, come on, let's get
(01:44):
on with it here we are now, and purposely using
the word artists rather than musician because the band Nirvana
were artists in every sense of the word. It is
the highest calling for an artist, as well as the
greatest possible privilege, to capture a moment, to find the zeitgeist,
(02:08):
to expose our struggles, our aspirations, our desires, to embrace
and define their time. That is my definition of an artist.
Nirvana captured lightning in a bottle, and now I will
quote Urban Dictionary off the Internet in defining lightning in
a bottle as capturing something powerful and elusive and then
(02:31):
being able to hold it and show it to the world.
Kurt Cobain, Chris nova Selik, and Dave Grohl were Nirvana.
The potency and the power of their defining moment has
become for us indelible. Like my band r M, Nirvana
(02:54):
came from a most unlikely place, not a cultural city
center like London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or even New
York or Brooklyn, but from Aberdeen, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest,
a largely blue collar town just outside of Seattle. Chris
nova Selik said, Nirvana came out of the American hardcore
(03:15):
scene of the nineteen eighties. This was a true underground.
It was punk rock that the mini bands and musical
styles were eclectic. We were a product of a community
of youth looking for a connection away from the mainstream.
The community built structures outside of the corporate governmental sphere,
independent and decentralized media connected through the copy machine. A
(03:40):
decade before the Internet as we know it came to be.
This was social networking with a face. Dave Grohl said,
we were dropouts making minimum wage, listening to Vinyl, emulating
our heroes, Ian Mackay, Little Richard, getting high, sleeping in bands,
never expecting the world to notice. Solo artists almost have
(04:06):
it easier than bands. Bands are not easy. You find
yourself in a group of people. We rub each other
the wrong way and exactly the right way, and you
have chemistry, zeitgeist, lightning in a bottle, and a collective
voice to help pinpoint a moment, to understand what it
is that we're going through. You see, this is about community,
(04:27):
cross inspiration, pushing ourselves. Nirvana tapped into a voice that
was yearning to be heard keep in mind the times.
This was the late eighties early nineties America. The idea
of a hopeful democratic country had been practically dismantled by
Iran contra, by aids by the Reagan Bush senior administrations.
(04:51):
But with their music, their attitude, their voice. By acknowledging
the political machinations of petty but broad reaching political arguments,
movements and position that had held us culturally back, Nirvana
blasted through all that with crystalline nuclear rage and fury.
Nirvana were kicking against the system, bringing complete susdain for
the music industry and their definition of corporate mainstream America
(05:15):
to show a suite and beautiful which fed up fury,
coupled with howling vulnerability, lyrically exposing our frailty, our frustrations
are shortcomings, singing a retreat and acceptance of our triumphs
of an outsider community with such immense possibility, stimied or ignored,
but not held down or held back by the stupidity
(05:38):
and political pettiness of the times. They spoke truth and
a lot of people listened. They picked up the mant
on in that particular battle. But they were singular and
loud and melodic and deeply original, and that voice, that voice, Kurt,
(06:01):
we miss you, I miss you. Nirvana defined a moment,
a movement for outsiders, for the fags and the fat girls,
and the broken toys, and the shy nerds and the
goth kids from Tennessee and Kentucky, for the rockers and
the awkward and the fed up and the two smart
kids and the bullied. We were a community, a generation,
(06:23):
in Nirvana's case, several generations, and the echo chamber of
that collective. How and Ellen Ginsburg would have been very
proud here. That moment and that voice reverberated into music
and film, into politics, into worldview, into poetry, into fashion,
into art, into spiritualism, and the beginning of the Internet,
and so many fields, in so many ways and in
(06:44):
our lives. And this is not just pop music. This
is something much greater than that. These are a few
artists who rubbed each other the wrong way and exactly
the right way at the right time, Nirvana, it is
my honor to call to the stage Chris nov Selik
(07:05):
and Dave Bold. After the break, we'll hear Nirvana's acceptance
speeches on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Vault I was the quiet one in Nirvana. I was
(07:32):
the drummer, but most of you don't know that I
was the fifth drummer of Nirvana. For whatever reason, I
got to be the luckiest person in the world and
also be in Nirvana. But I have to give credit
to all of the other drummers that came before me.
(07:58):
Aaron Burkhardt, thank you very much. Dale Krover from the
Melvin's who is my absolute drumming hero. Chad Shanning, who
was the drummer of Nirvana. Chad, where are you? I
know that you're here somewhere. I think you're here. Isn't
(08:18):
Chad here somewhere? Where's Chad? Chad's around here? Isn't it?
Are you over there? Chad? Hey? Chad? So here's the thing.
Guess what Chad's responsible for. If you listen to a
song like in Bloom There banan it bock cuckoo, that's Chad.
(08:39):
When I joined the band, I had the honor of
playing Chad's parts. So, Chad, thank you very much for
allowing me to play your drum parts. I appreciate that
very very much. Dan Peters from mud Huddey, who got
to play one show with Nirvana. Thank you, Danny. But
there's a lot of bowl that made this possible, people
(09:03):
that you might not know, people that I grew up
with in Springfield, Virginia. Like Michael said, really you could
afford the train. We came from this underground punk rock
scene where there really were no awards or ceremonies or trophies.
(09:26):
It was all about doing it for real, and the
reward was doing it right and doing it for real
and sharing the community of music, helping other musicians and
inspiring people. And so I got really lucky to grow
up in the Washington, d C. Punk rock scene where
(09:46):
I was inspired by all these amazing people. Too many
the list, but everyone from Chris Page to Ralph to
Dave Smith, to Ruben Ratting, to Pete Stall and France
Stall and Skeeter Thompson, all the people that I've ever
played music with, Barrett Jones, I have to thank all
(10:07):
of you, because I wouldn't be here. I'm also lucky
that when we first started out, we didn't know anything
about business. We were in a fucking van, you know,
buying corner dogs from T shirts that we had sold,
and we were lucky that we met a manager named
(10:28):
John Silva, and we met an accountant named Lee Johnson.
And I'm happy to say that I've never ever strayed
from those two people in my life. That's like twenty
five years, John Cutcliffe and Michael Maisel, And I mean,
(10:50):
it's a long list of people that I'm gonna forget
most of them. But most of all, I have to
thank my family because I was lucky enough to grow
up in a musical family, in an environment that encouraged music.
Parents that never told me not to listen to fucking Slayer,
you know what I mean. I listened to some really
(11:16):
really fucked up ship, but my parents never told me
not to because I was finding myself. So Mom, thanks,
thanks for letting me drop out of high school. Can't
(11:38):
stay in school, don't do drugs. It's about a deal.
I have to thank my beautiful wife, Jordan's and my
two daughters that I hope grow up to inspire people,
just like every musician I grew up inspired by. Because
I think that's the deal, is that you look up
to your heroes and you shouldn't be intimidated by them,
(12:01):
you should be inspired by them. Don't look at the
poster on your wall. And think funk I could never
do that, look at the poster on the wall and say, fuck,
I'm gonna do that, and then you do this. Thank
(12:23):
you Michael for that great induction and uh the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. And I want to thank
all the Nirvana fans whom Vona fans walk up to
me every day and say thank you for the music
(12:46):
and when I hear when I hear that, and that
reminds me of Kurt Cobain, Okay, So I want to
say thank you Kurt Cobain. And I wish Kurt was
here tonight, okay. And that music means so much to
so many people, and it's and there's new generations and
(13:07):
new fans coming up, and it's really powerful. And Kurt
was a was an intense artist and uh he really
connected with a lot of with a lot of people.
And uh, I want to and when Nirvana we did
are we started in Aberdeen, Washington, in Washington State, and
(13:27):
uh we had an infrastructure there to support us. There
was a music community. I want to thank Subpop Records,
um the music community in Seattle in Washington State. I
want to thank Buzz Osborne. Thank you Buzz for turning
(13:47):
us onto punk rock music. I want to thank Alan Dreyer.
Thank you Allan for being there when we really needed you.
I want to thank Jack and Dina who recorded our
first record, Steve Albinia and Butch Big for recording they're
(14:14):
taking us, recording us twice. Thank you Susan Silver for
introducing us to the music industry properly. And thank you
all again. I'm probably gonna cry. I'm already crying because
(14:39):
he'd be so proud. He'd say it wasn't Betty would be.
I just missed him so much. He was such an angel.
Thank you. Yeah, you know I have a big speech,
(15:00):
but I'm not gonna say it. Hi. We all start
bands when we're kids, and this is my family I'm
looking at right now, all of you, Brother, Michael, brother Chris, Grandma, Wendy,
(15:21):
Mr Grohl, come on, David and Christmas. That's it. I
(15:42):
just wish the Curt was here to Hugh feel this
and be this. Twenty years ago the Rock and Hall
of Fame maybe wasn't, but tonight he really would have
appreciated it. He would appreciate it. Chris and Dave and
Michael and his mother and his sister's being here, and
I just want to give this to Francis, our daughter,
who's not here because she's ill. That's it, that's all
(16:03):
I have to say. Thank you so very much, John
and the Committee. Thanks for joining us on this week's
(16:26):
episode of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault.
For more on your favorite inductees, to shop inductee merch
or to plan your trip to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, visit rock hall dot com plus Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand on
HBO Max. Our executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby Morrison,
(16:46):
and Esa Gurkey. Supervising producer is Taylor Shakogne. Research and
archival assistants from Isabel Keeper and Shannon Herb. Thanks again
for joining us on this week's episode of Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault. Induction Vaull is a
production of I Heart Radio in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. Yeah. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
(17:11):
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your favorite podcasts
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