Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic recently recalled an incident when he knocked himself out. It happened when he threw his own bass in the air during the ’92 MTV music awards, and how it led to him casually socializing with the Queen guitar great Brian May.
Krist Novoselic recounts the incident
Taking place during the peak of the Seattle giants’ popularity, the 1992 MTV Music Awards were a triumphant event for Nirvana, as the band’s classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” won them two prestigious awards – one for Best New Artist in a Video and another for Best Alternative video.
At the same time, the event was also the subject of some controversy for the Kurt Cobain-fronted band due to an intense backstage beefing sesh between Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana sparked by Courtney Love’s comments, during which Duff McKagan and Krist Novoselic nearly came to blows.
And while no KOs occurred backstage, the Nirvana bassist did manage to whack himself on the head after a bass toss went wrong. Novoselic commented on the event during an interview with Bass Player:
“Oh, that was mega! We started playing this song and my amp just didn’t work. So I thought, ‘I’m gonna do this bass toss and walk off’. Well, the bass got caught in the TV lights, and then boom! It fell on my head.
“So I storm off stage, and these paramedics come and take a look at me and put a bandage on and I had to sign all these release forms so I’m not gonna sue anybody. It was in front of 200 million people, right?”
After the paramedics took care of the bassist, he found himself in front of none other than Brian May, looking slightly concerned with a glass of champagne in his hands:
“So I’m all annoyed, right, and I’m like ‘What the hell!’ and behind them there is this amazing fellow, with a glass of champagne. It’s Brian May! Just standing there politely. He says ‘Here you are, my good man’ and he hands me this glass of champagne.
“I was like ‘You’re Brian May! How are you?’ and he said, ‘More importantly, how are you?’ Moments later Dave Grohl burst in. He’d been looking all over for me, only to find me enjoying a calm glass of bubbly with Mr. May.”
