This page is Point of Interest page 9 of the Alternative Rock, Grunge and Seattle Tour,

click here to access the main tour page and introduction.

Re-Bar

But eventually, Kurt started a food fight when he threw ranch dressing at Nirvana bassist Krist Novaselic. A bouncer who disapproved grabbed them both and proceeded to kick them out, unaware he was ejecting the very guests of honour. Apparently, Krist had to be dragged away from a confrontation with the bouncer, but the band was laughing as they were relegated to the alleyway outside of Re-Bar. They talked to their friends through a window, but the party raged on and most were unaware that the band wasn't even there.

In the 1996 documentary Hype!, publisher and editor of Backlash Fanzine Dawn Anderson said that a lot of people thought that the Seattle music community had reached its peak, and that "we were all gonna go back to our small town utopia". But by September of 1991, Nevermind seriously change the game.

Unaware of the success that was to come, the band toured Nevermind in the United States. They ended their tour at the Paramount in Seattle on October 31st, then toured Europe until December 3rd. The European shows were dangerously oversold, television crews were constantly on stage, and Smells Like Teen Spirit was nearly omnipresent on music television and radio. When they got back, they took a break, and then toured the United States from December 28 until January 10.

January 11^th marked the historical moment when Nirvana was featured on Saturday Night Live. This was the first time that alternative rock had penetrated a mainstream national network television audience.

It was this moment when people started to realize not just how big Nirvana was getting, but alternative rock as well. American radio personality Marco Collins was at a party celebrating the event that night. He said that the moment the band launched into Smells Like Teen Spirit, "the room just got quiet, and when they were done and Saturday Night Live cut away to commercials, the room was still dead silent. It was like everybody in that roomful of people realized at that moment how big it actually was".

The same week Nirvana went on SNL, Nevermind took the number one spot on the Billboard charts, replacing Michael Jackson's Dangerous album. This was a radical event, alternative rock, or grunge as it had come to be known, had replaced the King of Pop on the top of the charts. Krist, Kurt, and Dave were now superstars, and a grunge album was now the top album in the world. In discussing Nevermind, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots stated "the record had started a tidal wave of things to come. The wave was glorious, but the tide brought destruction".

With alternative becoming mainstream through the popularization of grunge, the music had a hard time staying true to its anti-establishment origins, and towards the end of 1992, it started to turn into a ridiculous commercialized phenomenon. Big business moved into Seattle to profit off the highly profitable cultural commodity that grunge had become. No longer did the music belong solely to youth - it had been co-opted into the corporate mainstream. After Nevermind, it became clear that grunge music was a significant commercial commodity. By 1993, major record labels, the mainstream media, and even the fashion industry had all moved in on Seattle to cash in on the phenomenon.

As if you've just walked out of Re-Bar, turn left and continue walking along Howell St for a few blocks. We are heading towards El Corazon, once known as The Off Ramp, at 109 Eastlake Ave East.

Scouts for major record labels frantically tried to find the next Nirvana, or the next Pearl Jam, and all of a sudden bands were getting huge advances – even bands that had barely played live shows yet. Musicians and bands also started to flock to Seattle with the goal of becoming famous.

Cross, C. R. (2014). Heavier Than heaven: Commemorative edition. London, United Kingdom: Hodder & Stoughton

Azerrad, M. (1993). Come as you are: the story of Nirvana. New York, United States of America: Broadway Books

Helvey, S. (Producer). & Pray, D. (Director). (November 8, 1996). Hype! [Motion Picture]. USA: Lions Gate Entertainment.

List of Nirvana Concerts (2017). Retrieved (May 6, 2017) from the List of Nirvana Concerts Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nirvana_concerts

Weiland, S. (2011). Not dead and not for sale: a memoir. Simon & Schuster: New York, USA

Yarm, M. (2011). Everybody loves our town. Crown Publishing: New York, USA

This work was created by Kyle Huisman

Contact: seattlerock@outlook.com