New Exhibit
It’s the most comprehensive look at Seattle’s grunge gods to date.
Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 14, 2011 at 09:30AM
Photo courtesy Shelli Hyrkas.
Kurt Cobain takes a break during the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video shoot in Los Angeles, Aug 18, 1991. This is just one of the dozens of candid Nirvana photos on display at EMP.
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Illustration:
Photo courtesy Shelli Hyrkas.
Kurt Cobain takes a break during the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video shoot in Los Angeles, Aug 18, 1991. This is just one of the dozens of candid Nirvana photos on display at EMP.
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Illustration:
Some of Kurt’s high school artwork is on display—all kinds of Reagan-era, post-apocalyptic sketches, including this striking A New American Gothic from 1984. It’s part of the EMP’s permanent collection.
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Original lyrics by Kurt Cobain, 1988. The majority of these songs were recorded during Nirvana’s first session at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle on Jan. 23, 1988, with producer Jack Endino.
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This Univox Hi-Flyer is the first guitar Kurt Cobain ever smashed in a show, at an Evergreen State College dorm party (dorm K208) on Oct 30, 1988. And someone kept the pieces all those years.
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Nirvana’s first demo tape, 1988.
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Photo by me.
I’m sure you’ll recognize the sweaters in there (two of Kurt’s favorites, including the green one from the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video), but the MTV Video Music Award from 1992 is even better. It’s for their “Smells Like TEAM Spirit” video.
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Illustration:
Photo courtesy Shelli Hyrkas.
Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic board a plane in Australia, cir. Feb 10, 1992.
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Illustration:
Photo by me.
Center: the TEAC reel-to-reel tape machine owned by Mari Earl, Kurt Cobain’s aunt. He used to record early tracks on it, and used the suitcase as a drum kit.
The new Nirvana exhibit at Experience Music Project doesn’t bowl you over when you first walk in. No “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blasting over the loudspeakers, no looping video of Kurt Cobain crashing into a drum kit. It’s more subdued: gray walls, dim lighting, guitars behind glass casings. It feels very Pacific Northwest, like a drizzly day driving through Aberdeen. It feels right.
Senior curator Jacob McMurray wanted to go with a more contemplative mood for Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses, and he’s certainly achieved that. The former Northwest Passage at EMP (home to the “Louie Louie” exhibit) has become a punk sanctuary. You could spend hours examining the 200-plus band artifacts and rock star ephemera—nearly half come straight from the attic of Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic—and listening to 100 oral histories about the rise of the little grunge band that could. Former Nirvana and Soundgarden producer Steve Fisk created a special soundtrack for the exhibit: the sound of a guitar reverberating, much like the lingering resonance of the band itself. “The music’s definitely not supposed to rock—no drums,” he said yesterday (as I quietly panicked that I was talking to the Steve Fisk). “It’s about an hour of music with no melody.”
It rings behind you as you peer at the candid snapshots of Kurt, Krist (back when he was Chris), and drummer Chad Channing as teens; the photo that Chad’s mom saved (and framed) of Nirvana sharing the Moore Theatre marquee with Mudhoney and Tad. There’s a shot of the band stepping onto a plane in Australia during their 1992 Rolling Stone cover shoot, waving like goofy dignitaries; of Courtney Love pregnant; of the guys doing whippets with Sonic Youth. This is the best part of the exhibit, even more so than the busted guitars, wall-sized concert photos by Charles Peterson, or the original Sub Pop album cover art. It’s a glimpse at the boys acting like smartasses, being themselves, before they exploded on the national scene with Nevermind in 1991.
And in true EMP fashion, there are hours and hours of taped conversations telling that story, by everyone from Fisk and Novoselic (he does the entire audio tour) to Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Buzz Osborne of the Melvins.There’s also a history of punk and underground music through the ’80s and early ’90s, and a selection of sounds from the Pacific Northwest (I always forget Death Cab came from Bellingham) curated by Fisk. And an In Utero angel stands atop stacked roadie trunks, guarding it all.
View the slideshow above to get a glimpse of what’s on display. Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses opens on April 16 and will stay open through April 22, 2013.
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Tags:
Seattle Center,
Museums,
Local Music,
Experience Music Project,
Nirvana
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