Public Enemy’s Chuck D presented the surviving members of Nirvana — Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear — with MTV‘s Video Vanguard Award on Sunday. Only Novoselic spoke, and there was no performance. “I don’t think there’s ever been a band exactly
like Nirvana,” Chuck D said in his speech. “This award brings back so many memories of making those videos,” Novoselic said. “The ideas for those videos all grew out of the vision of one of the greatest artists of all time, Kurt Cobain. Kurt was one of one … Nirvana continues to resonate so deeply because people are still hungry for authenticity. Or something real, something uncompromising. something that tells you it’s OK to come as you are. Kurt would have loved that legacy.” MTV announced the band was receiving the award on the 34th anniversary of Nirvana’s unforgettable performance of Nevermind’s “Lithium” at the 1992 VMAs, when Kurt Cobain also teased the opening chords to the then-unreleased In Utero song, “Rape Me,” apparently to irritate network censors. The Video Vanguard Award recognizes artists’ legacies as music video innovators.
Nirvana filmed seven music videos, including memorable clips for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come as You Are,” “In Bloom,” and “Heart-Shaped Box,” before Cobain’s 1994 death. Videos for “You Know You’re Right” and “Dumb” came out in 2002 and 2023, respectively. They also filmed a legendary episode of MTV Unplugged.
Though they did not perform on Sunday, the surviving members of Nirvana have played together a handful of times since Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994. It first happened Aug. 29, 1997, when the Foo Fighters played Bumbershoot in Seattle, and Krist Novoselic joined the group, which included Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear, for Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown.”
Thirteen years later, on Dec. 21, 2010, the trio of Dave Grohl, Novoselic, and Smear played “Marigold,” which appeared as the B side to Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” at a secret Foo Fighters club show in Los Angeles. And in 2012, they recorded the new song “Cut Me Some Slack” with Paul McCartney (a project they jokingly dubbed “Sirvana”), which they included on the soundtrack to the documentary Sound City. They also played it live at the 12-12-12 benefit and on Saturday Night Live.
But they didn’t actually perform any Cobain-penned Nirvana songs until April 10, 2014, when Nirvana were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “We didn’t even start talking about playing until about eight weeks ago,” Grohl told Rolling Stone just the day after the big night. “It just seemed practically impossible. It was hard to imagine jumping onstage and playing those songs. It takes a little bit of musical preparation, and a lot of emotional preparation.”
They initially reached out to a group of what Grohl called “A-list male rock stars,” but they all turned them down since the task felt so daunting. But once Joan Jett agreed to sing “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” they decided to only invite women for the other songs. Before long, Kim Gordon, St. Vincent, and Lorde all signed on. “Kim Gordon, from Sonic Youth, was this beacon of light in the predominantly macho, male underground punk rock scene,” said Grohl at the time. “St. Vincent is a wicked musician that’s pushing boundaries now. And Lorde has an incredible future ahead of her as a writer, performer, and vocalist.” That night, they performed with more singers at a private club show. They did it again at Cal Jam in 2018, this time with Jett and Deer Tick’s John J. McCauley.
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