Timeline



Nirvana: From Beginning To End

1965

May 16: Krist Anthony Novoselic born in Compton, California, to Croatian immigrant
parents, who separate in his teens. Novoselic means "new settler" in Croatian.

1967

Jan 31: Chad Channing born in Santa Rosa, California. Nirvana's first permanent drummer,
he's also the product of a broken home.

Feb 20: Kurt Donald Cobain born in Aberdeen, Washington. His parents divorce when he's eight
years old.

1969

Jan 14: David Eric Grohl born in Warren, Ohio. His parents divorce when he's six.

1984

Summer: Buzz Osborne introduces Kurt to punk rock with tapes of Black Flag and Flipper. A novice
guitarist, Kurt auditions for Buzz's band, The Melvins but dries up.

1985

May: Kurt drops out of art school weeks short of graduation.

Winter: Kurt gets together with Greg Hokanson on drums and Dale Crover (now-
in the Melvins) on bass. They call the band Fecal Matter. They play the odd show supporting The Melvins, 
and record a demo. Titles include "Sound Of Dentage" and "Laminated Effect". The band soon splits.

1986

Summer: Kurt experiments with heroin for the first time.
He's already tried everything else.

Winter: Chris Novoselic had been introduced to Kurt several years ago
by Buzz, and since the previous winter, he's been receiving  copies of the 
Fecal Matter tape from Kurt. They start rehearsing together with a sort-of friend called
Bob McFadden who, conveniently, owns a drum kit. It only lasts a month.

1987

April: Cobain, Novoselic and new drummer Aaron Burckard begin gigging Kurt's material,
including "Floyd The Barber", "Aero Zeppelin" and "Beeswax", plus their cover
of "Love Buzz". They Call themselves - of all things - Skid Row. A live recording for local
KAOS radio station becomes their first demo. They go through many names -Ted Ed Fred, Bliss, Throat
Oyster, Pen Cap Chew, Windowpane - before settling on Nirvana

1988

Jan 28: Kurt and Chris, with Dale Crover on drums, make a demo in Seattle for $152.44 at Jack Endino's
studio, Reciprocal Recording. They record ten tracks, several of which will appear unaltered on the bands
debut LP. Four others eventually appear on "Incesticide"

Spring: Kurt sends the tape to US punk labels like SST, Touch & Go and Alternative Tentacles, but Endino passes
on a copy to Sub Pop bosses Bruce Pavitt and Jonathon Poneman, who attend a Nirvana Show at Seattle's Central
Tavern. They arrange a meeting with Crhis and Kurt.

May: Chad Channing becomes the group's drummer, after they place an ad in local paper Rocket: "Heavy, light punk,
rock band: Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers. Seeks Drummer."

June 11: "Love Buzz" and "Big Cheese", plus a couple of other songs recorded with Endino at Recipricol.

Sept 27: "Spank Thru" recorded for the label's varied but genre-defining "Sub Pop 200" compilation.

Oct 30: Kurt destroys his first guitar at a Seattle gig.

Nov: "Love Buzz"/"Big Cheese" eventually released on Sub Pop as a hand-numbered limited edition of 1,000.

Dec 24: first recording sessions for "Bleach".

1989

Jan 24: "Bleach" sessions concluded. Studio costs were a paltry $606.17, paid for by pal Jason Everman. The LP's
release is delayed when Sub Pop demand resequencing of tracks, and the inclusion of old versions of "Paper Cuts" and
"Floyd The Barber" from the demo with Dale Crover.

Feb: Everman joins as second guitarist to beef up the band's sound on their first major tour.He didn't play on the LP,
but is credited as thanks for supplying the cash.

June: "Bleach" released in the US on Sub Pop. 

22: the band's first proper US tour begins at the Covered Wagon, San Francisco. Average pay: $100 and a crate of beer.

July 18: Everman plays his last show, New York. He joins Soundgarden instead. The rest of the tour is cancelled.

Aug/Sept: "Bleach" released in Europe on Tupelo. Nirvana play US dates as a three-piece and record the "Blew EP"
with producer Steve Fisk.

Oct23:Nirvana's first European tour, a double-header with Seattle heavy-weights Tad kicks off at Newcastle Riverside.
Fee for the two bands: �500.

27: The show at London's School of Oriental & African Studies is nearly pulled when fire officers realize an audience 
of twice the fire limit is squashed inside.

Nov: The tour becomes fraught and kurt's stomach complaints become a problem. At the Rome gig, he scales the PA and threatens 
to jump off.

Dec 3: For the Euro-tour's final date, Nirvana foot the bill of Sub Pop's Lamefest at the London Astoria, below Tad and
Mudhoney. At the end, Kurt throws his guitar at Chris.

30: Chris marries his girlfriend Shelli in Tacoma, Washington.

1990

Jan: "Blew EP" out in Europe on Tupelo. The band tour the US for the next few months. When they play New York's Pyramid
Club, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, recently signed to Geffen, bring A&R man Gary Gersh to the show.

April: early in the month, Nirvana demo seven songs at Smart Studios in Wisconsin with Butch Vig. Sub Pop nears bankruptcy, while 
Nirvana are courted by several majors.

June: not fitting in with the demo's poppy buy heavy direction, Chad Channing is sacked.

July 11: "Sliver" recorded in an hour for a Sub Pop single, with Mudhoney's Dan Peters on drums.

Aug: seven-date West-Coast tour with Crover standing in on drums. At his request, no gear is trashed.

Sept 22: Peters plays his only gig with Nirvana, in Seattle. Dave Grohl, previously in Washington DC hardcore band "Scream" 
is in the audience. By October, Peters has been sacked and Grohl is in.

Oct/Nov: Dave plays his first gig at Olympia's North Shore Surf Club. Then the new-look Nirvana tour the UK and Europe with L7.
On their return, at Sonic Youth's investigation, they sign with Gold Mountain management.

Dec: "Sliver"/"Dive" released in Europe on Tupelo. Kurt has another flirtation with heroin.

1991

Jan 4: contracts are prepared for Nirvana's signing with Geffen. They receive an advance of $287,000, which barely covers debts, but
will receive an excellent royalties rate. The band are broke for some months. Geffen suggest several producers for their album - Scott
Litt, David Briggs, Don Dixon - but the band hold out for Butch Vig.

April 30: contracts are formally signed with Geffen.

May/June: Nirvana record "Nevermind" with Vig at Sound City Studios in LA. Having met once before at a Nirvana show the previous year in 
Portland, Oregon, Kurt and Courtney Love (a friend of Grohl's) run into each other at a Butthole Surfers show at the LA Palladium. They're
seen wrestling on the floor. Vig is too tired to do the final mix on "Nevermind". Geffen get in Andy Wallace for a polish-up. 

Aug: Nirvana join Sonic Youth on a festival tour of Europe, (See The Year That Punk Broke).

23: The first seeds of Nirvana fever in Britain are sewn after the band's crunching appearance at the US-dominated Friday at Reading. Kurt 
concludes the set by jumping into Grohl's drum kit, dislocating his shoulder. That day, Kurt has another encounter with Courtney, who's 
in the UK with her boyfriend at the time, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.

Sept: In Rotterdam, on the final night of the tour, Chris takes a swing at the promoter knocking him to his feet. 

10: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" released.

20: Nirvana on six-week US tour, continually besieged by fans and press. 

24: "Nevermind" released on Geffen.

Oct 12: "Nevermind" debuts in the Billboard chart at 144. (teehee they don't know what there in for) That night, at the lig after their show at
Chicago's Cabaret Metro, Kurt and Courtney get it together, allegedly copulating against the bar. Courtney is present for much for much
of the tour.

29: With the "Teen Spirit" video on MTV's heavy-rotation list, "Nevermind" goes gold in the US.

31: homecoming gig at Seattle Paramount

Nov 2: Nirvana leave for Europe. 

3: first date, at the Bristol Bierkeller, is completely oversold. Kurt suffers from chronic stomach flu for the whole tour, staved off with drugs and
alcohol.

22: Nirvana do "Teen Spirit" live on The Word, beginning with the dedication, "I'd just like to say that Courtney Love of the pop group Hole, is the 
best fuck in the world!" Hole are on tour in Europe. Kurt and Courtney meet up in Amsterdam and do heroin together for the first time.

28: With the album in the Top Ten in America, and the single at Number 7 in the UK, Nirvana appear on the Top Of The Pops. Kurt changes opening line to 
"Load up on drugs and kill your friends" and performs the song in a scary Eldritch-style groan.

Dec 5: tour winds up at the London Kilburn National. 

6: cancelling remaining dates in Scandivavia, the band return to the US. Kurt and Courtney hook up in LA and begin taking heroin together regularly.

1992

Jan 11: Breaking off from a US tour, Nirvana go to New York to appear on NBC's Saturday Night Live.(member that one?) Kurt and Chris French-kiss in front 
of 25 million viewers. Selling 300,000 copies a week, "Nevermind" knocks Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" off the top of the Billboard album chart. Both 
nurturing a heroin habit, kurt and Courtney move into an apartment in Fairfax, LA. Courtney discovers she's pregnant. The couple go into detox before Nirvana's 
month - long tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Feb 24: Kurt and Courtney marry at a secret ceremony in Waikiki, Hawaii. Having shot up heroin beforehand to prevent withdrawal pains at his wedding, Kurt wears pajamas. 
Courtney wears a ragged old dress that used to belong to actress Frances Farmer (later immortalized on "In Utero"). Novoselic and his wife Shelli aren't invited.

March: "Come As Your Are" released. The trio scatter. A US tour planned for April/May is scrapped.

June: Nirvana play two dates in Ireland. The morning after stomach ulcer due to Kurt's penchant for junk food. It later transpires he was suffering methadone withdrawal.

July: European dates rife withtales of internal argument. At the Madrid show, Courtney - seven months pregnant -
collapses with contractions. Kurt reserves seats for her to lie down on the flight home. Hole sign to Geffen.

Aug 4: Kurt checks into Cedars-Sinai hospital to detox for 25 days. Lynn Hirschberg's article on Courtney appears in Vanity Fair(that bitch), featuring a 
picture of pregnant Courtney with the cigarette she's smoking air-brushed out. It's also implied Courtney was regularly using heroin.

18: Courtney safely gives birth to Frances Bean Cobain at Cedars. For several months, LA Dept of Children's Services will hound the couple over custody of the child, citing the Vanity 
Fair article.

30: Nirvana headline Sunday at Reading. Kurt is brought onstage in a wheelchair(he's so cool), wearing the smock he wore when his child was delivered.

Sept 5: Nirvana disuaded from performing "Rape Me" at the MTV awards. They do "Lithium" instead, but still set hearts a-flutter by opening with the first bars of "Rape Me"(bitchin).

21: In the LA Times, Kurt admits he has "a little habit".

Oct: Kurt and Courtney leave threatening messages on the Answering Machines of Britt Collins (kickass) and Victoria Clarke to disasuade them from pursuing their controversial Nirvana book.

Dec: "In Bloom" released as a single. 

15: "Incesticide", the grab-bag of out takes and rarities, released while the band finally get down to recording the follow-up to "Nevermind".
Steve Albini confirmed as producer.

29: Courtney files a suit over the leak of her medical records to LA Weekly.

1993

Jan: Nirvana play two shows in Brazil. "Oh The Guilt", out on Touch And Go, a split 45 with The Jesus Lizard.

Feb 14: booked in as The Simon Ritchie Group (an allusion to Sid Vicious), basic recording begins with Steve Albini.

March: Kurt and Courtney move into house overlooking Lake Washington (where, little more than a year later, Kurt's body will be found)

23: the Dept of Children's Services' Case against Courtney and Kurt's suitability as parents thrown out of court. (Woohoo)

April 9: Nirvana's first US show in seven months, a benefit for Bosnian rape victims, in San Franciso. The title for the LP is rumored
to be "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" or "Verse Chorus Verse". Finally confirmed as "In Utero".

May: In Entertainment Weekly, Albini accuses the band of selling out when Kurt has two tracks,
"Heart Shaped Box" and "All Apologies", remixed by Scott Litt.

June 4: Police called to the Cobains' home after a row where Courtney threw juice in Kurt's face, and he tried to throttle her. Guns are 
confiscated but later returned.

Aug: "Heart Shaped Box" released as a single. Nirvana undertake their first US tour in two years with Pat Smear, formerly of LA punk band The Germs, as second guitarist. 

Sept 8: at a show in Hollywood, Kurt and Courtney appear onstage together for the first time.

13: "In Utero" released

Nov: Withdrawn at the last minute from "In Utero", "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" is released on "Beavis & Butthead Experience" compilation.

Dec 6: "All Apologies" released.

1994

Jan: Nirvana confirmed as headliners for Lollapalooza 4.

Feb 2: Nirvana's first UK tour since Nov '91 sells out the morning tickets go on sale. (wow)

March 4: Kurt goes into a coma for 20 hours after mixing Champagne and the Rohypnol, in Rome.

18: Police called to the Cobains' home by Courtney when Kurt locks himself in a room with a gun and threatens to kill himself.

26: revised European dates are issued by the band along with a statement that Kurt is "restored to full health."

April 8: (You all know what happens on this day) -=( Kurt's body discovered at 8:40am by electrician Gary Smith. Kurt's body is cremated at a private ceremony in Seattle.








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