Dave Grohl: I didn't think Nirvana would follow up 'Nevermind'
Dave Grohl didn't think Nirvana would make another record after 'Nevermind'.
The 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' grunge band had a huge worldwide hit with their second album in 1991, but drummer Dave wasn't sure they would follow it up.
Speaking of how he came together with bandmates Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic in 1992, he said: "A lot of weird s**t went down after 'Nevermind', so I wasn't sure there'd be another record.
"Even though all of a sudden the world was at our feet and we had bands like U2 and Guns N' Roses asking us to do a stadium tour, Kurt started doing a lot of drugs and there was a lot of tension because of business stuff and money.
"Krist and Kurt came to my house to record a split single with The Jesus Lizard and I remember Kurt started to play the song 'Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle'.
"And it was at that point I thought, 'We're going to make another Nirvana record'. I was surprised and relieved when Kurt said he had a new song because when Nevermind happened, we stopped everything and went into hiding - it kinda fractured the band."
The band went on to make 'In Utero', a much darker album, but Dave says it was in keeping with the vision of frontman Kurt - who took his own life in 1994 - and like the music he made before Nirvana's debut, 'Bleach'.
He said: "'In Utero' isn't too far off what Kurt was doing before 'Bleach'. It wasn't a contrived change of direction from 'Nevermind' but the world around the band had changed and Kurt had a hard time processing a lot and we were focussing on the instrumentation."
Bass player Krist added: "Everyone thought we'd make a mainstream record, that we'd sell out, but we put out a record after Nevermind and it's a different record. It's darker and has an edge."
A 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of 'In Utero' is released on September 23.
