Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [103]
The best conversation I had on the subject was in Europe with Kurt Cobain, because he had the very same experience in his small town. I would tell him about the freaks that I knew, and then he would tell me about the freaks he knew, and we’d go back and forth, talking for hours. For instance, there was this short, drunk guy I knew named Freaky Freddy who wore a purple-felt 10-gallon hat. One time when I was about 16, I was driving at night looking for him, because he would buy booze for you. I would’ve run over him had I not seen him passed out, spread-eagle, in the middle of the road. I pulled him into my car, revived him, brought him to the liquor store. He bought me booze, I let him go, and then he passed out again in the liquor store parking lot.
STEVE WIEDERHOLD (a.k.a. Steve Wied; TAD drummer) I shared a room with Kurt Cobain, just the two of us, toward the end of the tour, and he didn’t talk to me. Seemed like he had a stomachache all the time, like he was suffering.
I shared a lot of rooms with Chad Channing, laughing all night about the stupidest stuff we could think of. And I’ll tell you one thing: Me and Chad came up with this story about selling kids for food. We were joking about it: “We came up with this really funny story last night, and it was about selling kids for food!” And it’s probably because of us that line ended up in a Nirvana song.
CRAIG MONTGOMERY The guy you didn’t want to room with was Tad because he snored really loud. So people were like, “Ohh, I roomed with Tad last night.”
KURT DANIELSON When we took the ferry over from England, we used that opportunity to get blind drunk, at least Krist and I did. When we got to the hotel in Holland, Krist was just lying there on the floor of their lobby; he wouldn’t move. He said something like, “Hey, you faggots!” to the proprietors. He didn’t mean it personally. Nobody knew the proprietors were gay, but they were, and they kicked us out.
STEVE WIEDERHOLD Krist would drink a whole big bottle of wine every single night. But that night was the only time he was ever really out of control. Something snapped. He ran out of the van and got up on this rooftop right above one of those canals that’s only about a foot deep, and he was gonna jump. And we’re out there for like half an hour trying to talk him down. And he’s yelling at God and the world, and he’s pissed off at everything. I’m like, “This is getting to be a headache. This guy is a lot of work!”
But by later that same night, Krist seemed to be normal again. That’s when I shared a room with Krist and Kurt. They said, “Wow, we wish we had a drummer like you.” Hinting. Hinting. It was already out that Chad wasn’t working out, you know. I said, “I can’t hear anything that Kurt Danielson’s playing on bass anyway.” That was kind of a way to say, “I wish I could play with a bass player like you.” But I didn’t say it right. They liked my drumming, so I don’t know. It could’ve happened.
KURT DANIELSON The day the Berlin Wall went down, we drove into East Berlin. The line of Trabant cars leaving East Germany was 40 kilometers long, and most of them were broken down. And the West Germans were rewarding the East Germans with baskets of fruits and bottles of champagne.
KRIST NOVOSELIC We played another show in the West, then ended up in Hamburg the next night. Hamburg is known for its entertainment district, the Reeperbahn: full of strip clubs, porno stores, and brothels. Now it was packed with little Trabants and their newly liberated owners. Oh yes, the freedoms of the West! The TAD dudes dragged me into a porno shop to show me the most disgusting porno ever. The photos had people smeared with feces having sex. I literally ran out of the shop screaming!
KURT DANIELSON I remember one night in Germany, we were staying in an old hostel that obviously had been an officers’ barracks at some point in its past. And for that reason, Krist had nightmares that he