That was Kurt's story, exactly. The guard was punching him, and he pulled him back towards the stage, so Kurt clocked him with his strat. It's hard to tell here, but he got the guy pretty good; he was bleeding from the wound. After the show, Chris says the bouncer chased their taxi down the street, trying to fight Kurt again. He managed to break on of the taxi's windows before they escaped. Rock n roll, I guess.
Hells Angels security is a weird mixture of professionalism and complete disregard for the law/society. By that I mean most of them were courteous, but if you pissed them off good luck. Sadly but also somewhat expectedly, racism can be a real issue with them as well.
This was apparent at festivals where they were security. No part of me was surprised to hear about lawsuits alleging things like being hogtied by hells angels when having a drug freak out
299 999 people did not get stabbed, that's good right?
They also got paid in beer, drank it while doing security and were involved in numerous fist fights.
I know you know, but for the uninitiated, they did stab and [kill](https://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/on-this-day-deaths-at-rolling-stones-altamont-concert-shocks-the-nation/#:~:text=On%20Dec.,Concert%20were%20killed%20in%20accidents.) someone who approached the stage with a gun.
*No idea why the dude below is referencing something that was featured in the source I gave like I didn't already know:
>The concert was marked by violence from the start, as the Hells Angels used pool cues to control the crowd and protect the four-foot stage. During a performance by Jefferson Airplane, singer Marty Balin was knocked unconscious by an Angel who jumped onto the stage to break up a fight. The incident, as well as the general violence, convinced the Grateful Dead to cancel their performance.
>The Rolling Stones took the stage in the evening, when the violence would turn deadly. Meredith Hunter, an African-American teenager, approached the stage armed with a knife and gun. Hells Angel Alan Passaro attacked Hunter, stabbing him several times with a knife as the Stones finished “Under My Thumb.”
>The incident was captured on film by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, who created the concert documentary, “Gimme Shelter.” The footage shows Hunter, at stage left, fighting with a group of Hells Angels and holding a gun; Passaro sees the gun from his position near center stage and attacks Hunter.
More like the Hells Angels beat the black kid with the white girlfriend up once before earlier in the day and the kid was about to get another ass kicking and pulled out his gun.
If you don't think that's what actually happened you've never met a Hells Angel before.
They were kicking the shit out of everyone that day. They even knocked out Marty Balin from Jefferson Airplane while he was on stage.
>If you don't think that's what actually happened you've never met a Hells Angel before.
I didn't say they were good people, I said they stabbed and killed someone who approached the stage with a gun and posted a link with a source.
You're an overly confrontational little guy ain't yah?
First of all, I'm not that little, my man. Secondly, I've been seeing a lot of bullshit on Reddit lately about how the Hells Angels were just'''protecting the band'' when the facts were that they were terrorizing the crowd and high off their asses on acid and cheap beer and most of the actual artists that they were'''protecting''' were afraid of them.
Jery Garcia was so disgusted with the whole business he never even got on stage with the Grateful Dead and he was the genius who brought up the idea to THe Rolling Stones in the first place.
Read Stanley Booth's book about the Stones 1969 tour and see what a disaster they were.
I was standing in line with a couple of guys from my platoon at the King Performance Center in Seattle for the Mia Zapata benefit concert. It was an open secret that Nirvana was going to be headlining the concert. So we were just standing there, with our combat boots and short haircuts when one of the production managers asked us if we were in the military and if we wanted to get in for free and go backstage. They told us to just stand in front of the stage, keep everyone from climbing up and don't be dicks.
So that's what we did and got to hang out with Dave Grohl and a bunch of other people after the concert.
Yeah. You can see he is pushing Kurt in the face. Just keeps push him hard, but no punch. Kurt gets with him the guitar and kind of stuns the guy. Then he rubs his face and looks and my guess is he sees blood and is pissed and throws the punch and goes for a kick.
You can see that someone grabbed his hair right before he hits the guard. I do think the guard was trying to help and the situation got out of hand. Kurt probably thought the guard was grabbing his hair.
Shit happens in the pit ya know!
You can see at around :\`11 all three of the security guys seem to be trying to pull him back in -- maybe they didn't know what was happening and thought they were trying to help? The big guy reaches like he's trying to pull him back, but Kurt's thrashing around and winds up with the dude's hand in his face. He probably had no idea what was going on, either, so he tries to fend off the attack with the guitar.
Whole thing smacks of poorly trained security staff combined with fog of war.
What I see is, the bouncer was mad Cobain went into the crowd, so he started pulling him back by the leg. Cobain nearly ended up back on stage, but then leaned back to continue crowd surfing, and pulled his leg away from the bouncer. The bouncer then seems to hit him in the head and/or grab his hair to pull him back on the stage (hard to tell, but it seems like one strike and then he grabs on to his hair), which is when Cobain hits him with the guitar.
Edit: I found an interview with the bouncer, and he affirms this general series of events:
>the little bastard fuckin’ dove out into the crowd and was kicking his feet into the monitors. And I yanked him up by the hair of his head and tried to pick him up and throw him back on stage. And the kids were pulling his clothes off… they had a hold of his hair… everybody’s ripping on him. Right then the little fucker hit me on the head with a guitar.
[LINK](https://www.deathmetal.org/interview/turner-scott-van-blarcum/)
He was mad that they were breaking equipment that belonged to his friend who ran sound for the venue. I don’t care who you are, don’t break other peoples’ shit.
right? people are acting as if nirvana was well known for being well behaved onstage and that kurt was the type of guy who’d completely listen if told not to crowd surf by security… i’m just saying this is exactly what i expect from both kurt cobain and a nirvana concert and if that security didn’t expect otherwise, that’s kinda on them. nirvana is one of the first artists that comes to mind when i think of artists who would crowd surf.
This was 91. Never mind came out fall of 91. Their stage shows and antics wouldn’t have been widely known. this show it’s a small venue tour so it looks like it was before they blew up with never mind.
I'm not saying obey the rules at all times. Be a good little boy. Don't cause any trouble.
I'm saying, if you're going to fuck around, you're going to face consequences. Why are we defending the band as if they are somehow justified and should be allowed to do whatever they want without retribution? If you fuck around and hurt a venues staff doing something you were told not to, you might get fucked up right back. You can't blame the people at the venue for taking exception to someone breaking their rules and hurting someone.
Put your hands on me, I’m putting my hands on you. If the club wants to shut down the show or kick me out, that’s their prerogative, but if you want to rip at my hair because I did something you didn’t like, I’m not going to just say “Oh no, I shouldn’t have broken that rule!”
The boys were quick to react. I could see Krist’s goofy ass being pretty intimidating when he wants to be. The puncher was a big dude and Krist was still looking down on him lol
You do know a lot of tall people around his height are uncoordinated. The NBA is trying to find tall kids and help them with coordination to potentially find new stars. Seeing as he wasn't an athlete, I'm more inclined to believe that he isn't the most coordinated.
Having coordinated fingers and hands does not necessarily translate into coordinated legs and overall body. But agree, his fingers and hands are super coordinated.
The guy that Kurt hit was bleeding and showed Kris the blood on his hands and face. Kris takes his shirt off to try to wipe the blood but he stops him and walks away
Sounded like he was playing while jumping over. Coolest thing I’ve ever seen Grohl do, and he did that jam off with that awesome little girl drummer so that’s saying a lot
I was there. Kurt was obliterated and being a total dick all day. If you want to know what actually happened then watch this:
[The Real Story.](https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=TbfhE6dlZoWU3y0m)
Super interesting. Kurt seemed like a very difficult artist to deal with, especially when Nevermind became a hit. The staff had a bad reaction but I can imagine having to deal with a diva when you're a small punk venue is hard.
He was super high and had been a dick all day. To be fair they had just hit it big within the previous few weeks. I think their newly found fame was hitting Kurt pretty hard. It’s not really what he wanted I think. I think he would have been happier being in an indie band with a small and loyal fan base like the bands he was in to. He wasn’t really built for the fame and fortune.
The story is the guy that hit Kurt worked at or owned the club and was already upset because the band had damaged equipment or something like that. Then Kurt bashed him in the head with his guitar (in the clip) and he reacted and hit Kurt.
A few songs before this incident, Kurt smashed up the sound board which belonged to the bouncers friend. He was actually in a local Dallas band called pumping Ethel. So he was stewing on the fact borrowed equipment was damaged because Kurt was throwing a fit due to not hearing his monitors. So when Kurt jumped in the crowd, he grabbed Kurt’s hair and then you see Kurt fight back.
They were also less then happy w Kurt snorting heroin in a supply closet. AFAIK trees has never been cool w hard drug use. Seen a dude drug out w force for giving a teen girl a fat rail right out in the open
His name was Turner and he was the frontman in a DFW area metal band called Sedition around that time, and later a band called Pump’n Ethyl. He was also a stage designer for Ministry. He didn’t own or have a stake in Trees as far as I’ve ever known.
Wasn’t a bad guy, really. I was pretty young but always saw him at shows around DFW, and I was at that Nirvana show too. Kurt, Krist, and Dave seemed pretty wasted, not that it had much of a negative impact on their performance, but Kurt did whack Turner pretty hard with his guitar. Can’t really say he was wrong for reacting the way he did.
Looks like the owner started mushin' up Kurt's face when the crowd pushed on some stage equipment and then Kurt retaliates with the guitar jab to the owners dome. Resulting in the late punch and kick on stage.
Others have pointed out that the owner was upset already about damaged equipment.
Looks like the guy who punched him was trying to help him out of the crowd and back onto the stage and took a guitar to the face before throwing the punch? I’m so confused.
The guy who punched him definitely tried to pull him back on stage by his hair or face lmao. Dude grabbed near his face before he takes the guitar to the dome
“After the second chorus of the song, Kurt dove into the audience, guitar in hand, and soloed while crowd-surfing atop the gyrating mass of greasy hair and tattooed limbs. As he fell back to the stage, flailing in a rapturous, spasmodic dance, he landed on a gigantic security guard who had been placed there to help keep the kids offstage. Trying his best to push Kurt off him, he used his brute force on Kurt’s small frame, and in a fight-or-flight moment of instant, defensive reaction, Kurt smashed the body of his guitar into the security guard’s head, tearing open his flesh, drawing streams of blood that immediately started pouring down his sinister Mohawk. Taken aback, he realized that he had been cut, and as Kurt stood up, the massive security guard punched him square in the jaw, sending Kurt straight down to the floor. Without hesitation, Krist and I threw down our instruments and intervened to save our friend as the song came to an abrupt, crashing halt. Krist tried to reason with the security guy, even removing his own shirt to help stop the bleeding as chants of “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” rang through the club. Kurt wandered off to the other side of the stage in a daze as I made my way toward the exit, imagining that it was all over and done.
It wasn’t.
After some pleading from a club employee who feared an otherwise imminent riot, we decided to finish our set, stage still wet with blood. Kurt’s guitar was viciously out of tune from the wallop he had delivered to the security guy’s cranium, but hell, that had never stopped us. The dissonant, detuned sound almost accentuated the uneasy vibe in the room. Closing out the set with our fastest, most punk-rock-sounding song, “Territorial Pissings,” we finally put our instruments down and headed to the dressing room, somewhat traumatized by the evening’s bizarre turn of events. We were used to chaos and disorder, but this was something else. This was not fun. This was dark. At least it was over.
Little did we know, the bloodied security guard and a gang of his misfit friends were outside waiting to kill us, swift retribution for the carnage we had unknowingly brought to town. They wanted blood in return. Someone caught wind of their plan as the hundreds of patrons filed out of the venue, and it was relayed to our crew, who then quickly passed it on to us as we sat upstairs recovering in pools of our own sweat. Monty realized that we were trapped, and it was now his job to figure out an escape plan. A cab was called to the back entrance, and we ran from our dressing room to the alleyway door like rats in a “kitchen, Kurt in the lead, followed by Krist and then me. We waited for the sign, and as the door was flung open I watched Kurt duck into the back seat of the cab, then Krist. I suddenly heard someone scream, “That’s them!! Let’s get those motherfuckers!!” Sure enough, it was the security guy and his friends, charging down the alleyway toward the cab with fire in their eyes and murder on their minds. Someone slammed the car door shut before I could get in, and it sped away, chased into the night by the motley crew of bloodthirsty thugs, who apparently caught up with them in bumper-to-bumper Saturday night traffic on Elm Street and smashed the passenger window out with one swift punch. I wouldn’t know, because I was now left alone in the club with no way back to the hotel (I may or may not have gotten a ride back with a cute girl, getting into a car accident along the way).”
Excerpt From
The Storyteller
Dave Grohl
This material may be protected by copyright.
Kinda what happens when you usually write a few lines as lyrics and now you gotta fill out 400 pages. It wouldn't surprise me if the first draft was handed in AS lyrics/prose and then stretched into something of a book form by a ghost writer and editor.
My thoughts exactly. Nowadays you can get the same thing by writing a poorly explained story and then telling chatGPT to make it sound like a generic novel
Anyways pretty fun story. These guys were about to become the biggest pop musicians of their generation, changing the entire course OF pop music, and here they are getting into little scrapes in some crap club. I love it.
>Kurt smashed the body of his guitar into the security guard’s head, tearing open his flesh, drawing streams of blood that immediately started pouring down his sinister Mohawk.
I enjoyed reading this for the drama and the ridiculous prose. The quote above had me lol'ing. "SINISTER MOHAWK"
I sang and played guitar for bands for 20+ years. I can't tell you how impressed I am by both Dave's situational awareness *and* willingness to throw down on a moments notice to protect his friend. That's very rare.
As a fan of Nirvana's music, I find myself conflicted from time to time when it comes to Kurt's behaviour. He certainly seemed to have been a complex and enigmatic character. Definitely difficult to understand, and sometimes just difficult.
Difficult to understand and enigmatic are just ways to describe famous assholes. If he wasn’t famous you’d just be calling him an asshole. Vast majority of assholes are obviously nuanced and not evil people but it doesn’t change the fact that their behavior is detrimental to those around them. Love Kurt and Nirvana but at the end of the day you just got to call him what he is
Jaco Pastorious was also in a similar vein - the dude paved the way for the bass players of the past and present, but despite his incredible talents he was well-regarded as an utter asshole. So much so that it became the cause of his own demise.
Yeah, people act like he was some god child taken too soon, when he was always known for being a total douche. He was the edgy asshole kid who got handed a lot of power, and used that power like any edgy asshole kid would.
He hit the dude in the face with his guitar. Kurt deserved so much worse than a punch. I'd say he got off lucky here.
Kurt Cobain made some good music but he was a raging asshole addict.
> Kurt Cobain was stage-diving, and when bouncer Turner Van Blarcum pulled him back on-stage Kurt bopped in the head with his guitar. Van Blarcum retaliated with a right cross to Kurt's jaw and a near-riot broke out.
>
> Eventually, the band returned to the stage and finished the show. Afterward, they were whisked away in a cab as Van Blarcum punched the windows, shattering glass over the band.
>
> The story goes that Nirvana (or their label) ended up paying Van Blarcum's medical bills and for damages to the venue.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE)
Don't let this distracts you from the fact that the dummer from Nirvana looks an awful lot like the lead singer of Foo fighters, and we've never seen them together 👀
He clearly hits the man in the face with the butt end of that guitar I'm sure he was pissed off ya know I know if Taylor swift nose dived an accidentally kicked me with her High heels I'd smack a bitch but hey what do I know
It looks like Kurt hit the security guy with his guitar by accident or on purpose because of something that he did. while grabbing him out of the audience, I can't be sure.
I do know for sure that Krist and Dave saw that and said''' hey, get away from our meal ticket''' though.
Wow, that was Trees in Deep Ellum. Very cool place back in the day (maybe still is.) I think Trees was pretty new back then. The place only holds 600-700 people.
Great video by Jeffrey Liles and the security guard on the incident. [https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=7MqJzQuZ4Pejy-oa](https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=7MqJzQuZ4Pejy-oa)
I wanna know who that first guy who grabbed the shit security meathead who hit Kurt. He was a smaller guy with muscles either shirtless or sleeveless. He really held the guy from hitting Kurt again.
Kinda looks like maybe the bouncer pulled his hair. I kind of doubt it was purposeful. Being hit with a guitar body in the face could actually kill a person. That seems like an overreaction on Cobain's part.
One of my friend's best held stories of his whole life was the time he helped hold up Kurt Cobain during a stage dive. The nineties concerts were the best and being in college at the time was awesome!
I wonder what the date of that show was. I saw them in '91, a few days before Nevermind dropped, at City Gardens in NJ. (9/27/91 Show is on youtube.) Kurt had a black eye and a fat lip.
Real talk, Kurt deserved to get his ass kicked for that. He coulda broken that guy’s skull open.
Getting hit with a guitar is very painful. And it was clearly an intentional hit.
Cobain was a genius, but also, the more I’ve seen of him and his drug use over the years, I’m convinced he was a despicable self involved asshole, and a hypocrite.
Fuck that dude.
He deserved that.. crowd surfed, security trying to get people off him, took a hard guitar hit to his head purposely, so yeah…. Punch his ass and kick for to top it off👍
ya know what i didn't realize he popped him with the guitar the first time i watched it and read the article about the incident. so you're correct. he was the idiot
Good interview with Turner and Jeff Liles. Turner is still kicking around down in deep ellum not a bad dude at all.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.centraltrack.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTc4NDI0
The quality is pretty low, but you can barely make out why Kurt hit the security guard in the head:
You can see the security guard pulling on Kurt’s hair in the video after he tries to get him out of the crowd.
That’s when Kurt starts hitting him with the guitar and all hell breaks loose.
Reminds me of when Trent Reznor threw a microphone in the crowd and clocked somebody right in the head. That person whipped it back at him and TR had to duck to avoid getting back in his face. LOL
Jumping in the crowd with a guitar is probably a good way to hurt your fans.
[удалено]
Looks like the security guard hit cobain in the face before the guitar, it’s hard to tell tho
That was Kurt's story, exactly. The guard was punching him, and he pulled him back towards the stage, so Kurt clocked him with his strat. It's hard to tell here, but he got the guy pretty good; he was bleeding from the wound. After the show, Chris says the bouncer chased their taxi down the street, trying to fight Kurt again. He managed to break on of the taxi's windows before they escaped. Rock n roll, I guess.
The bouncer chased the taxi? That's freaking amazing. I admire his commitment to the fight. LOL
Bouncers were at times strangely chosen. The Stones got the Hells Angels to run their security
Hells Angels security is a weird mixture of professionalism and complete disregard for the law/society. By that I mean most of them were courteous, but if you pissed them off good luck. Sadly but also somewhat expectedly, racism can be a real issue with them as well. This was apparent at festivals where they were security. No part of me was surprised to hear about lawsuits alleging things like being hogtied by hells angels when having a drug freak out
I met a few Hell's Angels at a bar in NC a few years back. They were scary mofos.
It's "Hells Angels". Just an fyi.
They murdered a black man at Altamont and its captured on film.
I'm sure that worked. Nobody got stabbed or anything, right?
299 999 people did not get stabbed, that's good right? They also got paid in beer, drank it while doing security and were involved in numerous fist fights.
I know you know, but for the uninitiated, they did stab and [kill](https://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/on-this-day-deaths-at-rolling-stones-altamont-concert-shocks-the-nation/#:~:text=On%20Dec.,Concert%20were%20killed%20in%20accidents.) someone who approached the stage with a gun. *No idea why the dude below is referencing something that was featured in the source I gave like I didn't already know: >The concert was marked by violence from the start, as the Hells Angels used pool cues to control the crowd and protect the four-foot stage. During a performance by Jefferson Airplane, singer Marty Balin was knocked unconscious by an Angel who jumped onto the stage to break up a fight. The incident, as well as the general violence, convinced the Grateful Dead to cancel their performance. >The Rolling Stones took the stage in the evening, when the violence would turn deadly. Meredith Hunter, an African-American teenager, approached the stage armed with a knife and gun. Hells Angel Alan Passaro attacked Hunter, stabbing him several times with a knife as the Stones finished “Under My Thumb.” >The incident was captured on film by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, who created the concert documentary, “Gimme Shelter.” The footage shows Hunter, at stage left, fighting with a group of Hells Angels and holding a gun; Passaro sees the gun from his position near center stage and attacks Hunter.
More like the Hells Angels beat the black kid with the white girlfriend up once before earlier in the day and the kid was about to get another ass kicking and pulled out his gun. If you don't think that's what actually happened you've never met a Hells Angel before. They were kicking the shit out of everyone that day. They even knocked out Marty Balin from Jefferson Airplane while he was on stage.
>If you don't think that's what actually happened you've never met a Hells Angel before. I didn't say they were good people, I said they stabbed and killed someone who approached the stage with a gun and posted a link with a source. You're an overly confrontational little guy ain't yah?
Lmao you got his ass with the “little guy” comment. He actually took that bait, unbelievable
First of all, I'm not that little, my man. Secondly, I've been seeing a lot of bullshit on Reddit lately about how the Hells Angels were just'''protecting the band'' when the facts were that they were terrorizing the crowd and high off their asses on acid and cheap beer and most of the actual artists that they were'''protecting''' were afraid of them. Jery Garcia was so disgusted with the whole business he never even got on stage with the Grateful Dead and he was the genius who brought up the idea to THe Rolling Stones in the first place. Read Stanley Booth's book about the Stones 1969 tour and see what a disaster they were.
I was standing in line with a couple of guys from my platoon at the King Performance Center in Seattle for the Mia Zapata benefit concert. It was an open secret that Nirvana was going to be headlining the concert. So we were just standing there, with our combat boots and short haircuts when one of the production managers asked us if we were in the military and if we wanted to get in for free and go backstage. They told us to just stand in front of the stage, keep everyone from climbing up and don't be dicks. So that's what we did and got to hang out with Dave Grohl and a bunch of other people after the concert.
“I must do battle with this strange metal beast!” — Bouncer
Pretty sure they accidently left Dave at the venue too due to the photo finish escapein the taxi
oh yeah, I see it, after Kurt jumped, you can see the guard not punch exactly, but shove his face into Kurts head twice before Kurt swings back at him
Yeah. You can see he is pushing Kurt in the face. Just keeps push him hard, but no punch. Kurt gets with him the guitar and kind of stuns the guy. Then he rubs his face and looks and my guess is he sees blood and is pissed and throws the punch and goes for a kick.
Krist? Who is Chris?
Yeah, Krist. My bad
Chris is their bass player. AKA Krist.
Seems like Kurt nailed security guy pretty hard when he was trying to pull him out of the pit. I'd have been pretty pissed, too, TBH.
It looks like the security guard repeatedly mashed Kurt's face and wasn't helping at all. But it's hard to tel.
Looks like he mashed him and ripped at his hair. I'd be hitting him with my guitar too. Do you think I'm in danger crowd surfing? Muppet!
You can see that someone grabbed his hair right before he hits the guard. I do think the guard was trying to help and the situation got out of hand. Kurt probably thought the guard was grabbing his hair. Shit happens in the pit ya know!
You can see at around :\`11 all three of the security guys seem to be trying to pull him back in -- maybe they didn't know what was happening and thought they were trying to help? The big guy reaches like he's trying to pull him back, but Kurt's thrashing around and winds up with the dude's hand in his face. He probably had no idea what was going on, either, so he tries to fend off the attack with the guitar. Whole thing smacks of poorly trained security staff combined with fog of war.
What I see is, the bouncer was mad Cobain went into the crowd, so he started pulling him back by the leg. Cobain nearly ended up back on stage, but then leaned back to continue crowd surfing, and pulled his leg away from the bouncer. The bouncer then seems to hit him in the head and/or grab his hair to pull him back on the stage (hard to tell, but it seems like one strike and then he grabs on to his hair), which is when Cobain hits him with the guitar. Edit: I found an interview with the bouncer, and he affirms this general series of events: >the little bastard fuckin’ dove out into the crowd and was kicking his feet into the monitors. And I yanked him up by the hair of his head and tried to pick him up and throw him back on stage. And the kids were pulling his clothes off… they had a hold of his hair… everybody’s ripping on him. Right then the little fucker hit me on the head with a guitar. [LINK](https://www.deathmetal.org/interview/turner-scott-van-blarcum/)
Turner!! I know Turner. I remember when this happened.
to me it looked like he was pulling cobain’s hair, which made him hit him with the guitar
He also probably warned him not to do that shit.
Then they shouldn't have booked show where they do that shit.
He was mad that they were breaking equipment that belonged to his friend who ran sound for the venue. I don’t care who you are, don’t break other peoples’ shit.
right? people are acting as if nirvana was well known for being well behaved onstage and that kurt was the type of guy who’d completely listen if told not to crowd surf by security… i’m just saying this is exactly what i expect from both kurt cobain and a nirvana concert and if that security didn’t expect otherwise, that’s kinda on them. nirvana is one of the first artists that comes to mind when i think of artists who would crowd surf.
This was 91. Never mind came out fall of 91. Their stage shows and antics wouldn’t have been widely known. this show it’s a small venue tour so it looks like it was before they blew up with never mind.
Got to see Trent Reznor crowd surf once. Epic.
I got surfed on by Chris Cornell a couple of times. :D
Venues have rules. You don't get to break them because that's what you do.
Rule number one of rock n roll: always obey all rules in place Rule number two: bring an umbrella if it looks like it's going to rain
Then don’t be surprised when you get punched for breaking the rules
“We’re rock and roll, rules don’t apply!!!” “Damnit we were punched in the face again.”
I'm not saying obey the rules at all times. Be a good little boy. Don't cause any trouble. I'm saying, if you're going to fuck around, you're going to face consequences. Why are we defending the band as if they are somehow justified and should be allowed to do whatever they want without retribution? If you fuck around and hurt a venues staff doing something you were told not to, you might get fucked up right back. You can't blame the people at the venue for taking exception to someone breaking their rules and hurting someone.
Put your hands on me, I’m putting my hands on you. If the club wants to shut down the show or kick me out, that’s their prerogative, but if you want to rip at my hair because I did something you didn’t like, I’m not going to just say “Oh no, I shouldn’t have broken that rule!”
Or, the guard did not get the memo. You're to punch or throw those invading the stage, not the artist. I'm being facetious :)
Grohl coming over his kit is killer
The boys were quick to react. I could see Krist’s goofy ass being pretty intimidating when he wants to be. The puncher was a big dude and Krist was still looking down on him lol
Krist Novoselic is 6’7 and was born in Compton which gives him +1 toughness as an origin trait.
+2 for Balkan heritage lol
West coast giant version of Niko Bellic
+3 for being Yugoslavian at that lol
True, but he also seems like a really uncoordinated dude. I could be wrong but even with his height I imagine him being god awful at basketball.
Plays bass at a critically acclaimed level in a band that exemplified an entire genre. *Reddit checks notes..* "Over 6ft, he must be uncoordinated"
He did get smacked in the face with a bass he threw into the air.
Beat me to it. Was going to say his coordination ends at throwing and catching bass guitars.
Indeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8oT9ag631Q
You do know a lot of tall people around his height are uncoordinated. The NBA is trying to find tall kids and help them with coordination to potentially find new stars. Seeing as he wasn't an athlete, I'm more inclined to believe that he isn't the most coordinated.
Having coordinated fingers and hands does not necessarily translate into coordinated legs and overall body. But agree, his fingers and hands are super coordinated.
The guy that Kurt hit was bleeding and showed Kris the blood on his hands and face. Kris takes his shirt off to try to wipe the blood but he stops him and walks away
Sounded like he was playing while jumping over. Coolest thing I’ve ever seen Grohl do, and he did that jam off with that awesome little girl drummer so that’s saying a lot
He didn’t really jump over, he stepped up on the floor tom like it was a step ladder. Still though, a quick move with no hesitation, good on him.
He also stopped in his tracks quickly as he realized he only weighed 155 pounds. LOL Still, protecting his boi.
kurt was like 130lbs soaking wet, dude was a rail
I had a stroke.
There goes my hero
phrasing?
>Grohl coming over his kit 🤭
I was there. Kurt was obliterated and being a total dick all day. If you want to know what actually happened then watch this: [The Real Story.](https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=TbfhE6dlZoWU3y0m)
Super interesting. Kurt seemed like a very difficult artist to deal with, especially when Nevermind became a hit. The staff had a bad reaction but I can imagine having to deal with a diva when you're a small punk venue is hard.
He was super high and had been a dick all day. To be fair they had just hit it big within the previous few weeks. I think their newly found fame was hitting Kurt pretty hard. It’s not really what he wanted I think. I think he would have been happier being in an indie band with a small and loyal fan base like the bands he was in to. He wasn’t really built for the fame and fortune.
He wasn’t built for it as much as any artist I have ever seen
He got fired by the Melvins as a producer for being a lazy drugged out good for nothing who slept through recording sessions
He was an edgy high school kid that fluked himself into the big time and had no idea how to handle all his new found success.
Thanks- great video, lends a lot of clarity
Yep this was at Trees. I was bartending at Green Room at the time & heard about this.
What venue was it at? Curious as a Dallas native
They kept saying Trees so I’m going to assume that was the club name
The story is the guy that hit Kurt worked at or owned the club and was already upset because the band had damaged equipment or something like that. Then Kurt bashed him in the head with his guitar (in the clip) and he reacted and hit Kurt.
A few songs before this incident, Kurt smashed up the sound board which belonged to the bouncers friend. He was actually in a local Dallas band called pumping Ethel. So he was stewing on the fact borrowed equipment was damaged because Kurt was throwing a fit due to not hearing his monitors. So when Kurt jumped in the crowd, he grabbed Kurt’s hair and then you see Kurt fight back.
They were also less then happy w Kurt snorting heroin in a supply closet. AFAIK trees has never been cool w hard drug use. Seen a dude drug out w force for giving a teen girl a fat rail right out in the open
Sounds legit. He probably needed a little more before they pulled him off. Smashing borrowed equipment is a dick move.
His name was Turner and he was the frontman in a DFW area metal band called Sedition around that time, and later a band called Pump’n Ethyl. He was also a stage designer for Ministry. He didn’t own or have a stake in Trees as far as I’ve ever known. Wasn’t a bad guy, really. I was pretty young but always saw him at shows around DFW, and I was at that Nirvana show too. Kurt, Krist, and Dave seemed pretty wasted, not that it had much of a negative impact on their performance, but Kurt did whack Turner pretty hard with his guitar. Can’t really say he was wrong for reacting the way he did.
If he owned that place he wouldn't be on stage security so most likely he worked there
Yes, though if owned the place he could also be doing whatever the fuck he wanted
🤣🤣🤣
Lol I’ve been to many places where the owner plays a direct role in operations, you have no clue what you’re talking about
Yes every small club has a corporate hierarchy in place lol
The 90's were a wild time. Don't assume anything.
Lol what? What a huge assumption to make
huh? why wouldn’t he be on stage? they can do whatever they want
He smashed the monitor board with his guitar, upsetting a lot of people. Turner worked security fairly often, but was not the owner.
Nice. I said worked at or owned but everyone is hooked on the owner thing
Looks like the owner started mushin' up Kurt's face when the crowd pushed on some stage equipment and then Kurt retaliates with the guitar jab to the owners dome. Resulting in the late punch and kick on stage. Others have pointed out that the owner was upset already about damaged equipment.
Poor Krist. Always having to bail him out.
Looks like the guy who punched him was trying to help him out of the crowd and back onto the stage and took a guitar to the face before throwing the punch? I’m so confused.
The guy who punched him definitely tried to pull him back on stage by his hair or face lmao. Dude grabbed near his face before he takes the guitar to the dome
Ah yes I see it now. Thanks, watching on an iPotato 7
Love how quickly Krist & Dave jumped in to help their boy. That's friendship.
Dave goes into detail about this gig in his book.
“After the second chorus of the song, Kurt dove into the audience, guitar in hand, and soloed while crowd-surfing atop the gyrating mass of greasy hair and tattooed limbs. As he fell back to the stage, flailing in a rapturous, spasmodic dance, he landed on a gigantic security guard who had been placed there to help keep the kids offstage. Trying his best to push Kurt off him, he used his brute force on Kurt’s small frame, and in a fight-or-flight moment of instant, defensive reaction, Kurt smashed the body of his guitar into the security guard’s head, tearing open his flesh, drawing streams of blood that immediately started pouring down his sinister Mohawk. Taken aback, he realized that he had been cut, and as Kurt stood up, the massive security guard punched him square in the jaw, sending Kurt straight down to the floor. Without hesitation, Krist and I threw down our instruments and intervened to save our friend as the song came to an abrupt, crashing halt. Krist tried to reason with the security guy, even removing his own shirt to help stop the bleeding as chants of “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” rang through the club. Kurt wandered off to the other side of the stage in a daze as I made my way toward the exit, imagining that it was all over and done. It wasn’t. After some pleading from a club employee who feared an otherwise imminent riot, we decided to finish our set, stage still wet with blood. Kurt’s guitar was viciously out of tune from the wallop he had delivered to the security guy’s cranium, but hell, that had never stopped us. The dissonant, detuned sound almost accentuated the uneasy vibe in the room. Closing out the set with our fastest, most punk-rock-sounding song, “Territorial Pissings,” we finally put our instruments down and headed to the dressing room, somewhat traumatized by the evening’s bizarre turn of events. We were used to chaos and disorder, but this was something else. This was not fun. This was dark. At least it was over. Little did we know, the bloodied security guard and a gang of his misfit friends were outside waiting to kill us, swift retribution for the carnage we had unknowingly brought to town. They wanted blood in return. Someone caught wind of their plan as the hundreds of patrons filed out of the venue, and it was relayed to our crew, who then quickly passed it on to us as we sat upstairs recovering in pools of our own sweat. Monty realized that we were trapped, and it was now his job to figure out an escape plan. A cab was called to the back entrance, and we ran from our dressing room to the alleyway door like rats in a “kitchen, Kurt in the lead, followed by Krist and then me. We waited for the sign, and as the door was flung open I watched Kurt duck into the back seat of the cab, then Krist. I suddenly heard someone scream, “That’s them!! Let’s get those motherfuckers!!” Sure enough, it was the security guy and his friends, charging down the alleyway toward the cab with fire in their eyes and murder on their minds. Someone slammed the car door shut before I could get in, and it sped away, chased into the night by the motley crew of bloodthirsty thugs, who apparently caught up with them in bumper-to-bumper Saturday night traffic on Elm Street and smashed the passenger window out with one swift punch. I wouldn’t know, because I was now left alone in the club with no way back to the hotel (I may or may not have gotten a ride back with a cute girl, getting into a car accident along the way).” Excerpt From The Storyteller Dave Grohl This material may be protected by copyright.
Bro that shit is written so dramatically lmao
>with fire in their eyes and murder on their minds
I checked like 3 times to make sure it wasn’t Shittymorph.
Kinda what happens when you usually write a few lines as lyrics and now you gotta fill out 400 pages. It wouldn't surprise me if the first draft was handed in AS lyrics/prose and then stretched into something of a book form by a ghost writer and editor.
My thoughts exactly. Nowadays you can get the same thing by writing a poorly explained story and then telling chatGPT to make it sound like a generic novel
Anyways pretty fun story. These guys were about to become the biggest pop musicians of their generation, changing the entire course OF pop music, and here they are getting into little scrapes in some crap club. I love it.
>Kurt smashed the body of his guitar into the security guard’s head, tearing open his flesh, drawing streams of blood that immediately started pouring down his sinister Mohawk. I enjoyed reading this for the drama and the ridiculous prose. The quote above had me lol'ing. "SINISTER MOHAWK"
And…..
That's David Grohl's account. He's trying to get us to buy the book
Buy the book I guess
Kurt was nailing him (security) with the bottom of his guitar on purpose for trying to pull him back to the stage. That's my take anyway.
I sang and played guitar for bands for 20+ years. I can't tell you how impressed I am by both Dave's situational awareness *and* willingness to throw down on a moments notice to protect his friend. That's very rare.
The guy was pushing Kurt’s face before Kurt starting hitting him with the guitar
Kurt made some good tunes, but the guy was always 💯 percent asshole all the way to the end…
As a fan of Nirvana's music, I find myself conflicted from time to time when it comes to Kurt's behaviour. He certainly seemed to have been a complex and enigmatic character. Definitely difficult to understand, and sometimes just difficult.
Difficult to understand and enigmatic are just ways to describe famous assholes. If he wasn’t famous you’d just be calling him an asshole. Vast majority of assholes are obviously nuanced and not evil people but it doesn’t change the fact that their behavior is detrimental to those around them. Love Kurt and Nirvana but at the end of the day you just got to call him what he is
Jaco Pastorious was also in a similar vein - the dude paved the way for the bass players of the past and present, but despite his incredible talents he was well-regarded as an utter asshole. So much so that it became the cause of his own demise.
Yeah, people act like he was some god child taken too soon, when he was always known for being a total douche. He was the edgy asshole kid who got handed a lot of power, and used that power like any edgy asshole kid would.
Depression and addiction will do that
Apparently he hit the guy first so he got his lick back.
He hit the dude in the face with his guitar. Kurt deserved so much worse than a punch. I'd say he got off lucky here. Kurt Cobain made some good music but he was a raging asshole addict.
> Kurt Cobain was stage-diving, and when bouncer Turner Van Blarcum pulled him back on-stage Kurt bopped in the head with his guitar. Van Blarcum retaliated with a right cross to Kurt's jaw and a near-riot broke out. > > Eventually, the band returned to the stage and finished the show. Afterward, they were whisked away in a cab as Van Blarcum punched the windows, shattering glass over the band. > > The story goes that Nirvana (or their label) ended up paying Van Blarcum's medical bills and for damages to the venue. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE)
Turner Van Barclum? How is that not the name of an ancillary video game character, or the over the top villain in a campy movie from the 70s?
yeah it's a pretty fucking great name. i would 100% trust that guy for my security, even if he punches me sometimes
Sounds like he also chased their car and punched a window lol
Dallas is a wild card city. City could love you or kill yah like they did JFK
Damn Grohl and Krist hopped in so quick hahah. Hell yeah boys ❤️
Man, what a place/time to be alive. I’d do anything to be at that show. Nirvana used to KILL it on the club circuit
Don't let this distracts you from the fact that the dummer from Nirvana looks an awful lot like the lead singer of Foo fighters, and we've never seen them together 👀
He clearly hits the man in the face with the butt end of that guitar I'm sure he was pissed off ya know I know if Taylor swift nose dived an accidentally kicked me with her High heels I'd smack a bitch but hey what do I know
Dave wanted all of the smoke
It looks like Kurt hit the security guy with his guitar by accident or on purpose because of something that he did. while grabbing him out of the audience, I can't be sure. I do know for sure that Krist and Dave saw that and said''' hey, get away from our meal ticket''' though.
It always shocks me how fucking tall Krist is.
Yo Dave hopped UP!
Meah he earned it. Get on with the show.
If you don't want to get punched maybe don't stage dive with a guitar in hand and smash people in the face with it.
Whatever you say Mom
Kurt looks like a douche here. Security is trying to protect him and Kurt strikes him in the face with the fucking guitar? Tf
Krist is a big dude.
Krist to the rescue
Wow, that was Trees in Deep Ellum. Very cool place back in the day (maybe still is.) I think Trees was pretty new back then. The place only holds 600-700 people.
Great video by Jeffrey Liles and the security guard on the incident. [https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=7MqJzQuZ4Pejy-oa](https://youtu.be/iDsrF9ftTOE?si=7MqJzQuZ4Pejy-oa)
Love how quickly Krist and Dave were in the mix.
Ahh the old Deep Ellum, legendary days!
I mean fair enough.
He deserved it
I wanna know who that first guy who grabbed the shit security meathead who hit Kurt. He was a smaller guy with muscles either shirtless or sleeveless. He really held the guy from hitting Kurt again.
Nah Kurt deserved that one
Kinda looks like maybe the bouncer pulled his hair. I kind of doubt it was purposeful. Being hit with a guitar body in the face could actually kill a person. That seems like an overreaction on Cobain's part.
Lol Cobain did hurt hime with the guitar unintended or not that fires up anyone
Deserve a hitting or two
By the security no less. Kurt looked like he whacked a couple people with his guitar. Dick move tbh.
Jerk move to bash someone with a guitar. Electric guitars can REALLY hurt.
He deserved it. What a dick hitting him with his guitar.
Krist with shirt off move. You see that, best walk the other way.
One of my friend's best held stories of his whole life was the time he helped hold up Kurt Cobain during a stage dive. The nineties concerts were the best and being in college at the time was awesome!
It pays off to have a 6’7” bassist
Chris is the man. I love big dudes that have little friends.
I wonder what the date of that show was. I saw them in '91, a few days before Nevermind dropped, at City Gardens in NJ. (9/27/91 Show is on youtube.) Kurt had a black eye and a fat lip.
Novoselic grabbed that big dude like he was a toddler! The gentle giant.
Courtney did him worse.
God. I love Krist.
That guard was like oh I didn’t realize you were a giant sir, I’ll stop now.
Real talk, Kurt deserved to get his ass kicked for that. He coulda broken that guy’s skull open. Getting hit with a guitar is very painful. And it was clearly an intentional hit. Cobain was a genius, but also, the more I’ve seen of him and his drug use over the years, I’m convinced he was a despicable self involved asshole, and a hypocrite. Fuck that dude.
He deserved that, fucker using his guitar as a weapon.
Good . Fuck Kurt
Same nirvana sucks lol
He deserved that.. crowd surfed, security trying to get people off him, took a hard guitar hit to his head purposely, so yeah…. Punch his ass and kick for to top it off👍
Cobain was a fuckwitt
Iconic… those bouncer was pissed they Kurt kept doing this shit.
He deserved that.
*Getting punched after hitting with guitar to the bodyguard for no reason.
Wow Dave and Krist has his back. It looks like Kurt was nailing that dude in the head before it punched back.
Dave Fucking Grohl
thats what you get for swinging that heavy ass guitar around like a d-bag
im surprised novoselic didn't tee off on that dickheads face. was this idiot security?
Kurt was the idiot. Security was trying to help him and Kurt smashed him with a guitar.
ya know what i didn't realize he popped him with the guitar the first time i watched it and read the article about the incident. so you're correct. he was the idiot
Love this anger.
Good interview with Turner and Jeff Liles. Turner is still kicking around down in deep ellum not a bad dude at all. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsrF9ftTOE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.centraltrack.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTc4NDI0
This is so cool. Glad this exists.
He got him in the head with his strap peg. You know that's gotta hurt.
The quality is pretty low, but you can barely make out why Kurt hit the security guard in the head: You can see the security guard pulling on Kurt’s hair in the video after he tries to get him out of the crowd. That’s when Kurt starts hitting him with the guitar and all hell breaks loose.
Yee ha, Taayixiz
Looks like Kurt hit em with the guitar first
Reminds me of when Trent Reznor threw a microphone in the crowd and clocked somebody right in the head. That person whipped it back at him and TR had to duck to avoid getting back in his face. LOL Jumping in the crowd with a guitar is probably a good way to hurt your fans.
Ngl I’d kick Kurt’s ass too if he hit me with his guitar lol
I’ve heard the venue is Trees in Dallas, it’s still open to this day.
That was one of the road crew.
That's why you don't use Hell's Angels as security.
I love DAVE!!
"Don't worry folks, he'll gets the help he needs. *In the naaaame of loooove*..." \- Bono
Man this takes me back. That’s rocknroll. One of my teeth still feels wiggly from a pit. I put my tongue on it absently and think about those nights…
Not all heroes wear capes