If 1991 was the year that punk broke, in 1992 Nirvana exploded it. While their album Nevermind was released in late 1991, it didn't really start to catch fire in the USA until early in 1992. One of the events that propelled them to this success was their appearance on Saturday Night Live January 11th 1992, 25 years ago.
Kurt, dressed in his usual finest, was sporting an amazing home made Flipper t-shirt, with Krist Novoselic rocking an amazing L7 t-shirt, both seen above.
They started their performance with an upbeat, amazing version of Smells like teen Spirit, and for their second slot did Territorial Pissings, which ended with them thrashing all of the equipment on the stage. (SNL was hip to this, and replaced all the amps with cheap ones).
Here are the videos of the performances: Smells Like Teen Spirit:
Territorial Pissings:
Apparently, they boys saved the best for last, and at the awkward ending while the credits rolled with the entire cast assembled, Dave, Krist, and Kurt proceeded to make out with each other to "piss off the rednecks and homophobes."
Here is a video of the makeout session, which is hard to find, since SNL replaced it with a different ending on the rebroadcasts.
It was on this same day Jan 11th 1992 that the unthinkable happened: Nevermind bumped Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard pop charts, and claimed the number one spot for a grunge / punk rock band from Seattle.
In a review of Nevermind from the time, Everett True wrote that
"When Nirvana released Bleach all those years ago, the more sussed among us figured they had the potential to make an album that would blow every other contender away. My God have they proved us right."
Currently we have a limited selection of authentic vintage Nirvana shirts from the 1990s, check them out here, and thanks for stopping bye at The Captain's Vintage!
Come as you are, the third single from Nevermind, this shirt is Deadstock!
A rare Nirvana Smiley Face Crewneck Sweatshirt!
Kurt Cobain Tribute shirt, from after his death.