Dave Grohl & Krist Novoselic On The Intensity Of Their Rise To Fame | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

I have a very clear memory of this uh. album coming out because I had there's I. think a three-day difference between. When In Utero drops and when I start my. late night television show oh wow uh and. I remembered the music on the uh album. because I was such a huge fan being such. a fat background music to the terror and. the weirdness of me starting a late. night show from complete obscurity in in.

uh in 1993 so that's similar to the. Nirvana experience I would imagine that. you know at the time we were when the. band became. popular um in 1991 we were so young yeah. I think I was 21 or 22 and you might. have been 25 or something but we were we. were um we were kids and so you know. when you talk about the the amount of. time um that that's gone by it's to me.

it's not even so much about the um the. years it's about the experiences um that. just kind of LED one after another going. from from three kids that were basically. living or touring out of a van to then. becoming a huge band and um and then in. Udo becoming uh the sort of the. uncomfortable soundtrack back to that.

sort of um transition I think like. that was by 1992. 1993 um we were living in a different. world than we were just 16 months before. you know I was thinking about it today. and I was thinking the only way that you. can understand the making of inudo is to. understand where you were at that time. the only way to understand that is to. start. with the never mind which had it's Gein. recer records modest Expectations by the.

record label they I think they were. going to be very happy if you sold. 250,000 units they printed 50,000 units. of the CDs 50,000 50,000 thinking that. should do it and if we have to make more. we will I talked to someone who was. working at geffin at the time they said. when never mind. hit uh and started to blow up and then. really blow up at one point they had to.

stop making and Manufacturing all of the. other CDs for the other artists on their. label and turn them all over to making. never mind which sounds like something. that just doesn't happen it was. completely. unprecedented and so that's the good. news but with that comes all kinds of. well you you mentioned time. Conan and so like personally that you.

know that was 30 years ago but that time. from when Never Mind released and then. Kurt. died what happened in that span of time. feels like it was 10 years it was so. much going there was so much intense. yeah I was just thinking like you know. for me it took my entire childhood to. prepare me for adolescence right and. then it took my entire adolescence and. young adulthood to prepare me for being. gainfully employed and independent as a.

as a person right so like you have a. long runway for like the major stages in. in your life and like Nirvana went from. being couch Surfers to being the biggest. band ever in the world in a span of. about 18 months you guys are responsible. for an industry. and the thing that occurs to me is that. Fame money success is great news for a.

lot of artists in the business a lot of. music artists if you come from the punk. world and you are religious adherence to. the punk ethos which you guys were and. Kurt. was success is tricky. because when you there's so many artists. if they make a lot of money go out get a. Bentley you know Jesus the The Beatles. were very comfortable going out and. getting a Rolls-Royce and pay either.

that or pay 90% taxes right right okay. well that's a good point I hadn't. thought of that and we're going to do a. second one we get into. taxation but what I wanted to point out. was there's a whole culture of yay we. made it and we throw money. around there's almost a shame and a trap. that's set if you're part of the punk. ethos isn't there so I want this is. something that I have run into over and. over and over again is people outside. the music seen people who are not band.

members not musicians not part of the. culture of punk at all ascribing to. punks this notion that success is bad. and this notion that if you are. successful you are somehow bad and evil. and that it is that we don't want people. to become successful I have never. experienced that genuinely from anybody. in any anyone in in the punk scene that. wasn't purely a jealousy.

an expression of jealousy right on the. whole Nirvana's fans wanted Nirvana to. become successful and S self- sustaining. and be loved there's a kind of an an a. sniping that is ascribed to people in. the music scene that didn't exist it's a. critical creation when what actually. happened was a lot of people in an. aspirational way grasping for Success. did all kinds of grotesque horish things. things to try to secure success for.

themselves material success or artistic. success or whatever and that was reacted. negatively toward by everybody who was. you know sincere about what they were. doing so I just wanted to clear the air. and say like like there was no animosity. toward Nirvana Nirvana anos I'm talking. about the band itself I'm talking about. well you know I'm talking about Kurt or. maybe you guys feeling you've got. there's a I'm talking about two feelings. immense Pride that you're the number one.

band in the world yeah and maybe a. little bit of Jesus well what the I. think what okay so. um you know before before we made the. record never. mind. um we were pretty much living in squalor. right so I was living with Kurt in this. tiny little apartment and there were. just corn do sticks and cigarettes all. over the place and it was like pretty. disgusting yeah um I would have. done anything to had to have my own.

apartment you know like and and to be. able to do that through making music for. to. actually it it also the I know that the. the transition happened really quickly. but it didn't happen you didn't just. wind up with a million dollars in your. mailbox the next day it went from being. like uh the prium went up to $15 a day I. was like oh my God that means I can get. two packs of cigarettes or whatever and. then you know when from this could. possibly get better like I'm. I honestly that way oh my gosh we're.

staying in a motel you know I'm sharing. a room with Kurt or whatever but it's. not someone's floor and then just small. things and then um from September to. December is of 1991 is when everything. really blew up and um I I didn't I. really didn't feel any I didn't feel. conflicted or any guilt or shame in. knowing like oh I just I just paid off. my mother's house yeah or I I bought my.

mother a car or um now I can afford to. you know buy a new pair of shoes or. whatever it was I didn't and I think the. reason why I I I personally didn't feel. so conflicted about everything was. because I knew that the band. um. uh hadn't done anything. outside of our our our true selves to to. get there we just did the thing that we. did and then it happened and so.

um that was just my experience. after and then I and then I got to I got. to move in with another friend and have. a house and I remember it's funny you. talk about the Bentley remember that. weird Yugoslavian car that you. bought did you own a Yugo no no what was. it didn't you get some car didn't you. buy some car that was like this tiny. thing oh the Renault dine somebody gave. it to me right wait that's that was your.

rockar moment is that someone gave you a. Rena doline which sounds like like a. shoe more than a car I barely fit in it. I got it running pretty good but yeah I. mean of course we didn't go straight to. the Bentley and stuff like that but I. mean it I I I was very happy to um have. finally been able to really support. myself as a. musician.