Nirvana’s 1989 Swedish TV Interview

October 27, 1989 – A rare look into early Nirvana as they discuss Sub Pop Records, punk influences, and their artistic approach during their first European tour

In the autumn of 1989, just months after the release of their debut album Bleach, Nirvana sat down for a revealing interview with Swedish television that captures the band at a pivotal moment in their development. This candid conversation, featuring Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and drummer Chad Channing, provides a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of the band before worldwide fame transformed their trajectory. The interview, conducted in London during their first European tour, showcases the band’s raw authenticity and artistic philosophy that would later captivate a generation.

Origins and Context

The Swedish TV interview took place during a critical period in Nirvana’s evolution. After releasing Bleach on Sub Pop Records in June 1989, the band embarked on their first European tour, performing in small venues across the continent. This interview captures Nirvana at a moment when they were gaining recognition in the underground music scene but were still years away from the mainstream success that would arrive with Nevermind in 1991.

The timing of this interview is particularly significant as it represents one of the earliest international television appearances for the band. Chad Channing was still Nirvana’s drummer, nearly a year before Dave Grohl would join the group and complete the lineup that would change music history. These early European shows and media appearances helped establish Nirvana’s international following and would lay the groundwork for their eventual global impact.

Key Topics and Insights

Views on Sub Pop Records

One of the most revealing segments of the interview involves the band’s unfiltered thoughts on Sub Pop Records, the Seattle-based independent label that released Bleach. When asked about Sub Pop, Krist begins by emphasizing that they’re “a band before a record label,” showing their priority was always the music itself. Kurt expands on this, discussing what he perceived as “over-promotion” and questioning whether the label’s rapidly growing reputation was backed by substantive artists.

This segment reveals Nirvana’s early skepticism toward music industry marketing tactics, a perspective that would inform their approach even after signing with major label DGC Records. The band’s critical view of Sub Pop’s marketing strategies foreshadows the tension they would later experience with the mainstream music industry, even as they became one of the most commercially successful bands of their era.

Musical Influences and Artistic Philosophy

When discussing their musical influences, Kurt draws a direct line between Nirvana and pre-commercialized punk rock, specifically mentioning The Stooges and Iggy Pop. He articulates how early punk performers faced hostile audiences who were “there for their entertainment, not to really get into the music,” contrasting this with the more participatory relationship between bands and audiences that had developed by the late 1980s.

This section of the interview provides important context for understanding Nirvana’s place within the evolution of punk and alternative rock. Rather than simply recreating earlier punk movements, Kurt describes how Nirvana and their contemporaries had created something that reflected “the way punk rock should be, or the way punk rock finally has become.”

Anti-Message Stance

Perhaps most revealing is the band’s explicit rejection of delivering political or social messages through their music. When directly asked about messages in their lyrics, Kurt and Krist respond with uncharacteristic definitiveness: “We definitely don’t have a message.” Chad Channing lightheartedly adds, “That’s why we’re not punk rock,” acknowledging the political associations of traditional punk while distancing Nirvana from that aspect of the genre.

This exchange demonstrates how Nirvana distinguished themselves from message-driven bands like U2 or politically conscious folk artists like Joan Baez. Instead, Kurt emphasizes emotion, compassion, and feeling as the core of their artistic expression, describing their music as “soft and romantic, even though it seems negative and hateful.” This focus on emotional authenticity rather than explicit messaging would remain central to Nirvana’s appeal throughout their career.

Music as Therapy

The interview concludes with a remarkably candid discussion about how performing serves as emotional release and therapy for the band members. Kurt agrees without hesitation that playing with Nirvana is “a way of getting your feelings out,” while Krist adds that they “feel a lot better after you’ve put on a good show.”

Kurt extends this therapeutic metaphor to the interview itself, telling the interviewer, “You’re our analyst right now,” and admitting, “We don’t know what we are. We’re trying to figure it out.” This self-reflective uncertainty, combined with the therapeutic aspect of their performances, offers insight into how Kurt processed emotions through his art—a practice that would produce some of the most emotionally resonant music of the 1990s.

Historical Significance

This Swedish TV appearance represents much more than just another media obligation during an early European tour. It captures Nirvana at a crucial developmental stage, articulating artistic philosophies that would come to define their approach even as they achieved unprecedented success. The interview preserves the voice and perspective of Kurt Cobain before worldwide fame fundamentally altered his relationship with media and public perception.

The presence of Chad Channing also makes this document historically significant, as it captures the original lineup that recorded Bleach before the transition to Dave Grohl on drums. Channing’s contributions to Nirvana’s early sound are often overlooked in popular accounts of the band’s history, making this interview an important record of his place in the band’s development.

Legacy and Impact

Looking back from our current perspective, this interview takes on additional poignance as it shows Kurt Cobain articulating his artistic vision with clarity and conviction, untainted by the complications of superstardom that would arrive less than two years later. His emphasis on emotional authenticity over political messaging, and his description of performance as therapy, offer important context for understanding the deeply personal nature of his songwriting.

For serious Nirvana fans and music historians, this Swedish television appearance provides crucial documentation of the band’s early artistic development. The themes discussed—artistic authenticity, the relationship between performers and audiences, skepticism toward music industry marketing, and music as emotional release—would all remain central to Nirvana’s approach throughout their brief but transformative career.

The interview stands as a testament to how fully formed Nirvana’s artistic vision was even at this early stage, before mainstream success would bring both validation and complications to their creative journey.

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This article is part of our ongoing series exploring rare and significant Nirvana interviews and appearances. For more insights into Kurt Cobain’s artistic development and Nirvana’s musical evolution, explore our Timeline and Bleach Era sections.

Original Interview Transcript – October 27, 1989

Krist: We’re a band before we are a record label, so… You know. I’m not really concerned with them, the record label, as much as I am with our, our own music, and uh, so… Sub Pop, it’s a lot of hype, and stuff, but there’s good bands there too. It’s not just all hype.

Interviewer: What do you mean with “hype”? Why?

Kurt: Promotion. Over-promotion. It’s just, it’s kind of amazing how it has become such a popular label within the year and a half it’s been together. And a lot of people are claiming that it’s so much hype that they don’t have any substantial bands to back it up.

Krist: Some people will walk into a record store and ask, ‘Do you have anything by Sub Pop?’ and just buy it. You know? Why not just walk in and go, ‘Do you have anything by Warner Brothers?’ ‘Yeah, here’s this new Abba record.’ ‘Wow! Thanks a lot. That’s great’ You know.

Kurt: Aren’t Abba from Sweden?

Interviewer: Yes, they are.

Krist: I like them.

Kurt: They’re fantastic. I like them too.

Voice over (translated from Swedish): Much of the hype surrounding Sub Pop is just fake, commercials and tabloid press. Even if a lot of the bands are good, claims Nirvana… And how do they stand out from the rest of these bands, playing music inspired from the 60’s and 70’s rock music?

Kurt claims that they are mostly influenced by punk, that today’s punk music is better than yesterday’s, but they don’t want to bring about a political message.

Kurt: Maybe we’re more like the Stooges type of punk rock, before punk rock was a trendy fashion statement. And, where people would expect to try to act as punk rock as possible. It seemed that when Iggy was playing to his audience, he dove out into the audience and cut himself up because he wanted this audience to act like that. Or, he wanted to create an environment the way that he felt. And at the time, the audience response was just, basically, heckling. And, um, there for their entertainment, not to really get into the music. So, nowadays, I think that… The band and the audience participate together. And it just seems more like the way punk rock should be, or the way punk rock finally has become. To where people have a little respect for each other and are trying to have fun at the same time. Other than throwing bottles at each other and sticking pins through their noses.

Interviewer: What about messages?

Kurt: Messages?

Interviewer: Yeah, messages. Lyrics, for example. That’s what punk rock was about as well, ten years ago. Well, more than that. Fourteen years ago.

Kurt: That’s true. Hmmm. (Laughs)

Krist: Messages. We don’t have a message.

Kurt: We definitely don’t have a message.

Krist: We’re not like U2 or Joan Baez. They can give people messages.

Chad: That’s why we’re not punk rock. [Kurt chuckles]

Interviewer: You’re just Nirvana.

Krist: I mean rock’n’roll. I love rock’n’roll a lot, but…

Chad: You know it is dead. [they laugh]

Krist: … it’s not that important. There’s a lot more important things in life.

Kurt: Oh, yeah?

Krist: Yeah.

Interviewer: Like what?

Krist: Like love.

Voice over: There is more to life than rock ‘n roll, says the bass player in Nirvana. Love, to take an example. But their music could hardly be described as soft and romantic.

Krist: Have you heard our new song?

Kurt: Soft and… frustrated. Yeah. And romantic. [laughs]

Interviewer: No, it’s not, I think.

Kurt: I think it is. Yeah. I think it has a lot of compassion. Even though it may not have a message in the music, the feeling and the vibes that we’re giving out I think has a lot of compassion and emotion. And I would consider that soft and romantic, even though it seems negative and hateful.

Interviewer: So the band, playing with Nirvana is a way of getting your feelings out?

Kurt: Sure. Yeah, exactly.

Krist: Yeah, that’s true. You feel a lot better after you’ve put on a good show. It feels really good.

Interviewer: Like going to therapy?

Kurt: Sure! Exactly. Interviews are therapy. You’re our analyst right now. We really don’t dwell on thinking about things until we’re actually interviewed. And then it’s just like, ‘Uh, gee, should we have said that?’ We don’t know what we are. We’re trying to figure it out. [laughs]

Krist: Yeah, we are.

Kurt: I’d say that we’re, we’re, we’re trying to be less categorized than most bands. We have an influence. We may sound like the seventies, or the sixties, but what else can you sound like? Because they were such a forceful time. They were such forceful times.