It’s raining nostalgia in Seattle these days and many of us who live in or near the city are having conversations that begin: “Do you remember where you were when?...”
You see, it was exactly 20 years ago that a then only-locally-known group called “Nirvana” released its “Nevermind” album, a recording that some now call “historic” in the world of rock and roll. And it was on Halloween night, 1991, that Nirvana -- singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl -- performed in Seattle’s Paramount Theater, as “Nevermind” was about to go viral.
That was the first time I had seen the band, the first time I heard the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a song that in the 20 years since has become an iconic anthem of rock and roll. I was a photographer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the paper assigned me to cover the concert. Thus, when my friends and neighbors now remember back to 1991, trading stories about those days and about first hearing that music, I can say: “I was there. In front of the stage, wedged in between Kurt Cobain and the fans flopping into the mosh pit. I was there.”
As a newspaper photographer, one of the incredible side-benefits of my job was that I was often paid to be places where I’d witness amazing things...and that concert was certainly An Experience. I remember that it made me crazy, trying to photograph Cobain as he sang, because his hair was in his face and I wanted to get an image of his expressiveness, but there was all that hair...and I remember too that I really liked the music I was hearing, which surprised me because I had assumed “grunge” wouldn’t be my thing.
The day after I photographed that concert at the Paramount, I went to Tower Records (remember back when we bought recordings in stores?) and bought the “Nevermind” CD. My musical tastes are eclectic, ranging from classical to rock -- I have, for example, a CD of Bizet’s opera “Pearl Fishers, ” and also a recording of a live concert by Pearl Jam.
Nirvana went on to sell 30 million copies of “Nevermind,” and about a year after the Paramount performance, I photographed Nirvana in concert again (photo below.) That assignment also was fun, but in my mind there was no doubt that it was that first show in the Paramount that was history-in-the-making.
Here's a link to a video of the Paramount performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtx3hw-kISQ&feature=related
Both photos above copyright Seattle Post-Intelligencer
