Before "Teen Spirit": Witnessing Nirvana's Final Club Show in 1991
A 19-year-old college student recounts hearing early versions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Breed," and "Drain You" at Nirvana's pivotal 1991 concert, just before their meteoric rise.
In the summer of 1991, I was a 19-year-old college kid who couldn’t stop thinking about the new songs I’d heard Nirvana perform live: “Breed,” with its driving power; the Beatlesque “Drain You”; and especially the bombastic anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which I’d seen them debut at Seattle’s packed, tiny OK Hotel that April. Nevermind wasn’t out yet, but I knew the song titles because I’d seen Nirvana again in June and swiped the handwritten setlist from the stage, just below Kurt Cobain's mic stand. I was sure new music was coming soon, and I was desperate to hear it. I searched record stores, scoured tiny mail-order ads in record collector magazines, and bought bootleg 7" singles, hoping one might contain what I was looking for. Nothing did, and I spent the entire summer feeling like the song repeating in my head was the best-kept secret in the world.
The post Nirvana’s Last Night As A Regular Band appeared first on Stereogum .
_Originally reported by [Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2511376/nirvanas-last-night-as-a-regular-band/columns/sounding-board/)._
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