For me, it all started in the rear of a grotty little pub in Leeds. I spent an inordinate of time in the back room of that pub in my well-spent youth - every decent American hardcore band played there and I pretty much saw them all. It was the first place I saw Nirvana.
October 25th 1989. Nirvana come on stage as support to Sub Pop favourites Tad at the legendary Duchess of York in Leeds. And Nirvana were good. Not mind-blowingly good, not Mudhoney, but good. I loved 'Bleach' and particularly 'Blew' - they played it and I was happy. No Dave Grohl back then. And Tad were massive in more ways than one - Mr Doyle certainly didn't believe in cutting back on the carbs.
Around this time, I'm romancing the handsome climber, he's still at university, but spending most of his time following bands on tour around the country. Blondie and I are busy running the second-hand empire, so no chance of me doing the same, but the trusty purple van transports me around to hook up for joint musical/lusty pleasures (my favourite ever rendezvous earlier that year - 23rd March 1989, Kilburn National for Sonic Youth, supported by Mudhoney on their first foray to the UK, followed the next night by an astounding gig at the now-defunct Fulham Greyhound, where Mark Arm and his Mudhoney boys rocked a crowd so hard, you could barely breathe, the sweat dripping from every body and surface in the place).
Fast forward button. The next tour, October 1990, and Nirvana are building a head of steam, getting better and better - Dave Grohl has left Scream (great band, Scream - on Mr 'Fugazi' McKaye's Dischord label), and joined forces with Kurt and Krist. Supported by L7 - those girls who wanted to rock it like the boys, possibly more famous for getting their vaginas out on youth TV fiasco, The Word. Superfuzz Bigmuff indeed.
And then - 'Nevermind'. That tour, in 1991, was something else. I saw them three times in one week. It's still a personal record, unlikely to ever be broken (because now I'm old and past those larks...). They were reaching the pinnacle of their fame and it was the last time I'd see them in the flesh. I saw the MTV Unplugged again recently - it genuinely chills me to watch it, knowing that he'd be dead less than six months later.
20 years. I can't believe so much time has passed. Many bands have come and gone for me, but Nirvana (and Pixies) were the first band I felt I'd discovered for myself, right from the off, seeing them live in tiny venues, before they hit the big time, before the pressures and hell of being in the spotlight took over and crushed the life out of them. That handsome, scruffy, blonde 22 year-old boy, who played to us in a shabby little Yorkshire pub, would surely never have believed what his musical legacy would mean to a generation?
(Postscript: The Duchess Of York closed down eventually - going the way of so many small venues that couldn't afford the rent/rates on a city high street. I'm truly sad to report that one of the finest little showcase stages for underground music in the UK became...a Hugo Boss shop. Jesus.)
