November 28, 2008

What Really Happened: Nirvana/Guns N' Roses Clash At The 1992


So you live in Seattle, you used to play bass in a world-changing rock band, but these days you've got some time on your hands. What to do? Well, if you're Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, or Duff McKagan formerly of Guns N' Roses/currently of Velvet Revolver, the answer is clear: You blog for the Seattle Weekly. This week, Novoselic celebrated his first year of blogging by recapping the epic tale of the Nirvana/Guns N' Roses clash at the 1992 Video Music Awards.

You may remember the story: Axl Rose gets teased by Courtney Love backstage, and in response Axl steps to Courtney's husband, Kurt Cobain, to tell him to keep his lady in line. Words are exchanged! Axl challenges Kurt to get in the ring! And like every other similar challenge, it never happens.

Here's what does: Nirvana go onstage and play "Lithium," and the whole thing explodes into anarchy. Stage divers? Check! Novoselic tossing his bass 20 feet into air, failing to catch it and getting conked on the head? Check! Cobain and drummer Dave Grohl attacking their instruments? Check! It's an awesome example of what never happens on MTV anymore--but happens at M.I.A. shows all the time.

In his blog post, Novoselic talks about meeting McKagan backstage in '92, long before they were friends and blog-leagues ("I think Duff was also under the influence. He must have heard something from Rose and had a terse word for me..."), and he reveals which '70s rock god was in the green room waiting with some chilled medicine for his injury.

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