On September 25, 1990, rock ‘n’ roll—and the lives of Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic—irrevocably changed when Grohl successfully auditioned for Nirvana. In stark contrast to the fame this grunge trio would soon achieve, the musicians’ paths crossed in a series of unfortunate events that co-occurred up and down the West Coast.
The story of Dave Grohl joining Nirvana involves an impromptu frenzied flight to Seattle and…a nightly battle with a turtle. As the old adage goes, when one door closes, another one opens—this time, to a tiny Pacific Northwest apartment.
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How Dave Grohl Came To Join Nirvana
Dave Grohl was performing with a band called Scream in southern California when a friend told him that Nirvana was looking for a drummer. In a 2020 presentation at the Ford Theater, Grohl recalled his initial impression of the group: “Their first record, Bleach, was a f***ing masterpiece. Dissonant, crazy, noisy, heavy, amazing, punk rock, classic rock, whatever the f*** it was.” Frustrated by his living arrangement in SoCal and fueled by his love of Nirvana (and a motivational phone call from his mom), Grohl decided to pursue the callout for a drummer.
Grohl called Krist Novoselic. Nirvana had found a drummer already. They hung up, and Grohl assumed that was the end of the road. However, the drummer Nirvana had found was already playing in a different Seattle band, Mudhoney, and Kurt Cobain and Novoselic felt guilty pulling the musician from his other project. So, Novoselic calls Grohl back. “He says, ‘You know what—you should call Kurt,” the multi-instrumentalist recalled.
“So, I called Kurt. We talk about our love of music, we love Creedence Clearwater Revival, we love Public Enemy, we love the Dead Kennedys. He said, ‘If you can get up here, let’s jam.’” So, that’s what Grohl did. With makeshift plywood drum cases in tow, Grohl got on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle to meet his future bandmates. Grohl and Cobain hit it off immediately, and Grohl moved into Cobain’s tiny apartment. It was decidedly un-glamorous. Grohl’s six-foot frame slept on a five-foot couch next to Cobain’s turtle terrarium, where he was kept up each night by the turtle banging its head against the glass.
But of course, these humble beginnings would prove to be more successful than any of the three musicians could have imagined.
The Band Had Instant Chemistry
In a 2022 interview with Rick Beato, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described the early days of Dave Grohl’s introduction to the band. “We picked [Dave] up at the Seattle airport, and the next night, we started playing,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is really good.’ Then we played another night. I don’t know, but it all came together, and he just never left.”
And indeed, that instant chemistry would go on to establish one of the most influential grunge bands of all time. Grohl’s first studio appearance with Nirvana was their 1991 smash success Nevermind, which included iconic cuts like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come as You Are,” and “Lithium.” Theirs was a musical collaboration that would go on to shape rock ‘n’ roll for years to come, all because of a life-changing game of phone tag.
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