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Nirvana · S1 E6
The Drummer Problem
Nirvana goes through drummers the way some bands go through guitar strings. Aaron Burckhard, Dale Crover, Dave Foster, Chad Channing. Nobody lasts. Kurt wants someone who hits hard enough to match the noise in his head, and nobody in Aberdeen can do it
A rehearsal space in Aberdeen, 1987. Kurt counts in, Krist hits a bass note, and the drummer loses the beat before the first chorus is over. This is the fourth drummer in six months.
Nirvana, Breed. Pure velocity. The drums on this track are the reason Nirvana fired everyone who came before Dave Grohl. Nobody else could play this fast and this hard without the whole thing falling apart.
The Drummer Graveyard
The Missing Piece
Kurt knows exactly what he wants and cannot find it: a drummer who plays like a punk but hits like John Bonham, someone who can handle the quiet parts and then detonate the chorus like a bomb going off. Every drummer in Aberdeen and Olympia auditions. None of them are right.
TAP TO REVEAL: Which Nirvana drummer played on the majority of Bleach?
“We knew what we wanted to sound like. We just couldn't find anyone who could do it behind the drums.”
— Krist Novoselic, from Michael Azerrad, "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana," Doubleday, 1993
Breed, Nirvana (1991)
One of the fastest songs on Nevermind, clocking in at just over three minutes of relentless forward motion. Dave Grohl's kick drum is the engine, driving the tempo so hard that Kurt's guitar almost has to chase it. Butch Vig tracked the drums in a single live take because Grohl nailed it every time. Compare this to the Bleach-era recordings with Chad Channing: competent, steady, but missing that physical aggression.
Chad Channing
Chad deserves more credit than he gets. He played on Bleach, toured relentlessly in the van, and contributed musical ideas that Kurt sometimes kept without acknowledgment. But the chemistry was never quite right, and when Chad left in 1990 the departure was quiet and mutual.
Floyd the Barber, Nirvana
From Bleach, and one of the three tracks where Dale Crover sits behind the kit instead of Chad Channing. Listen to the difference: Crover hits harder, looser, more recklessly. This is the sound Kurt was chasing. He just needed to find someone who could do it every night.
Which Nirvana drummer recorded the single "Sliver" before being replaced by Dave Grohl?
A tiny label in Seattle called Sub Pop Records is signing every band that plays loud and wears flannel. Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman are broke, charismatic, and about to offer Nirvana their first real record deal.
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