‘The John Robb Tapes’ is a new series which unearths the incredible archive of old interviews that music journalist John Robb has amassed over the years. In this first episode, John interviews Nirvana in 1989, in a hot claustrophobic flat in New York City, the night after the band had played to 10 people at Maxwells, Hoboken.
The interview captures a young Kurt Cobain talking about the creative process, the intensity needed to reach the peak of his Nirvana songs on stage and… also… a hint… of a song he had just written, that we think might have gone on to become… Smells Like Teen Spirit. In the interview, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic discussed the epic long hair of Chris Cornell and Soundgarden.
Kurt Cobain said, “We’re definitely not jumping on the bandwagon.”
Krist Novoselic said, “Hair is weird. I was reading in some magazine that says, ‘This long haired band is the next Soundgarden. Most of them have long hair.’ It’s weird. I put this record on, hmmmm, they have a lot of hair!”
Cobain had an idea to not get caught up in the Soundgarden and Seattle long hair bubble like mentioned in the magazine.
“Maybe we’ll have to make sure you be the token punk rocker and get it short, you’ll have it really long, I’ll have it at the Mudhoney cut off half length, and one will get a mohawk.”
