Watch some super rare footage of Dave Grohl playing with Nirvana for the first time back in 1990.
Nirvana‘s allure is the sum of three parts: Kurt Cobain’s raw energy, Krist Novoselic’s buoyant fastidiousness, and of course, the primitive power of Dave Grohl behind the drum kit.
It’s hard to imagine the band without the latter. His long reach and flailing locks are almost as iconic as Kurt’s snarl and hulking stage presence. However, Grohl only joined Nirvana in 1990, a little over a year after the band released their debut, Bleach.
On September 25, 1990, Grohl, whose band Scream had recently dissolved, replaced drummer Chad Channing (and Dale Crover, who’d been filling in since Channing left). Novoselic later remembered the first time they heard Dave play, saying, “We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer.”
His first gig with Nirvana was October 11, 1990, at the North Shore Surf Club in Olympia, Washington. Straight off the bat, the performance is pure Nirvana as we now know them.
Check out some rare footage of the performance below, including Bleach classics Love Buzz and Sliver. Even in 1990, Dave Grohl beat the absolute hell out of whichever drum kit was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
