Nirvana’s Last Night As A Regular Band

In the summer of 1991, I was a 19-year-old college kid who couldn’t stop thinking about the new songs I’d heard Nirvana perform live: “Breed,” with its driving power; the Beatlesque “Drain You”; and especially the bombastic anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which I’d seen them debut at Seattle’s packed, tiny OK Hotel that April. Nevermind wasn’t out yet, but I knew the song titles because I’d seen Nirvana again in June and swiped the handwritten setlist from the stage, just below Kurt Cobain's mic stand. I was sure new music was coming soon, and I was desperate to hear it. I searched record stores, scoured tiny mail-order ads in record collector magazines, and bought bootleg 7" singles, hoping one might contain what I was looking for. Nothing did, and I spent the entire summer feeling like the song repeating in my head was the best-kept secret in the world.Within a few months, everyone would know “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And by January 1992, Nirvana would be the biggest band in the world, with a number one album, a Grammy nomination, and a spot performing the song on Saturday Night Live. Four months before any of that, and 35 years ago today, I got to stand in a Seattle record st...