Everybody Loves Our Town_ An Oral History of Grunge - Mark Yarm [213]
MATT LUKIN Touring with Nirvana was a downer. They were really bummed that they were even there, it seemed like. Kurt was busy, I was busy. Sometimes we’d be in the same room, but we didn’t actually hang out very often. Same with Krist. We would hang out a bit, but it wasn’t, Hey, old brothers from Aberdeen hanging out! It was more like, they had their shit, we had our shit.
MARK ARM Kurt and I were on the bus between Davenport, Iowa, and Chicago, and Kurt said something like, “I don’t know how you do it.” At this point, I wasn’t doing drugs at all. The one thing I think that really helped me out in terms of stopping was that we went on tour an awful lot, so I was used to quitting, I was used to getting dope sick. I chipped until the summer of ’93, at which point I started going out with Emily—who has put up with me ever since—and she asked me if I was ever going to do heroin again. I was all wishy-washy: “Well … you never know what the future holds.” She said, “If you ever do it again, I’m outta here.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” That was enough of a push for me to finally walk away from that shit.
Kurt was just fuckin’ loaded on pills, and I said something like, “You just gotta want to do it bad enough.” What I regret not saying is, “You need to dump your junkie wife, because you’re not going to be able to do this while you’re in a partnership with someone who’s also an enthusiast.”
ALEX COLETTI Nirvana had agreed to do Unplugged, and the first meeting where I give the spiel about what I allow, what I don’t allow, was after their show somewhere outside of Boston. When the show was over, we went back into the band room. I was sat next to Kurt. I said, “I just wanted to talk about the show real quick.” I had just brought some set drawings and I showed it to him. He had asked for stargazer lilies. He said, “I want more, I want more.”
I said, “What’s the vibe you’re goin’ for?”
He said, “You know, like a funeral.” But it wasn’t like, bummm, heavy music plays and foreshadowing.
AMY FINNERTY The day of the Unplugged show, they were all nervous. I went to Kurt’s hotel before the show and he told me that he felt nervous and uncomfortable with the idea that people had to sit down the whole time and I said, “What would make you feel more comfortable?” He said, “I’d really like to meet some of the kids first.” So I bring him to the venue and he came into the studio where we were shooting and went around and he met the kids and hugged them before the performance, which was really sweet.
ALEX COLETTI Word had trickled down beforehand that they’re gonna bring guests, and I think that, in our naiveté and my missing the point, it was like, “Oh, he’s gonna bring Eddie Vedder out ’cause they’re all grunge buddies and they hang out at that one bar in Seattle and it’s gonna be great!” It’s like, “No. We’re bringin’ the Meat Puppets.” Oh great, I smell ratings! But that was never the point of it, so you trust the artist.
AARON STAUFFER I was in New York, and I got on the list for the Unplugged taping. Before the show, I ran into Dave and I told him, “I came to see you guys play.” And he kind of gave this face and groaned: “It’s not going to be good.” It hadn’t been good in rehearsal. I was like, “I saw Bob Dylan this week unplugged, so hopefully you guys can live up to that.” And he totally gave this look of horror, just like, That is never going to happen. But it turned out to be an amazing performance. It brought tears to my eyes.
AMY FINNERTY Everybody there was completely aware that we were witnessing history. I mean there was something about the coolness in the air of the studio, and the set was beautiful, and you could feel the anticipation and excitement not only from the crowd but from the band, as well. Every time they finished a song, you could kind of see this sense of relief on their faces.
ALEX COLETTI They closed with Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?,” and the ending is possibly the most memorable moment in Unplugged history. Kurt screams out the final “shiver” with that battery-acid