Mark Yarm's Blog, page 776

Kurt Cobain's smashed Fender Stratocaster, plus the power drill he used on it, up for auction (minimum bid: $50,000)

From the auction site's lot description: GOTTA HAVE ROCK AND ROLL is proud to present for the first time at auction Kurt Cobain's black Fender left handed Mexican Stratocaster labeled #3. The guitar was used by Kurt throughout the 1993 Nirvana "In Utero" tour. On December 30, 1993 during the Nirvana concert at the L.A. Forum, Kurt smashes the guitar and then goes off to the side of the stage to get a drill from his guitar technician and proceeds to drill a hole into the bridge pickup on...

deeperintoblack:grungegarage:Nirvana - Jesus Don't Want Me...

deeperintoblack:

grungegarage:

Nirvana - Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam

Originally by the Vaselines

Awesome video! I'd never seen this before.

From the KEXP blog: Welcome to another installment of Review...

From the KEXP blog: Welcome to another installment of Review Revue, where we take you behind the scenes of an independent/college radio station and show you the intense discussion that often went on on the album and CD covers of yore…. Today's example is the historic Deep Six compilation, featuring the Melvins, Soundgarden, Skin Yard, Green River, and other forefathers of—for lack of a better word—grunge. (Read the label text here.)

"Touring with [Alice in Chains] was absolutely over-the-top: part Spinal Tap, part Disneyland for..."

"Touring with [Alice in Chains] was absolutely over-the-top: part Spinal Tap, part Disneyland for adults. Porno party at the fuckin' Playboy Mansion. Jimi Hendrix, as big as Janis Joplin. All colors, all shapes, all sizes, all temperatures, all the time…. And the whole time there's every chemical possible flying through the air, falling out of pockets, landing in your hand, accidentally going inside you somehow."

- ex-Gruntruck guitarist Tom Niemeyer, from the forthcoming book Everybody...

Self-Promotion Wednesday: "Like" and/or pre-order Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

The release of my book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge—now in 3-D!—is less than two months away. While you anxiously await the September 6 publication date, please "like" the book on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/everybodylovesourtown

Or buy it! U.S. pre-order links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or IndieBound
U.K. pre-order links: Amazon U.K. or Waterstones

And, hell, I'm also on Goodreads. And Twitter: @markyarm

Reblogging is kindly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

Page from Csaba Mester's comic book The Story of Alice in...

Page from Csaba Mester's comic book The Story of Alice in Chains, available here. (Courtesy of Csaba Mester.)

Summer Break: Pearl Jam's July 1991 U.S. tour

Summer Break: Pearl Jam's July 1991 U.S. tour

Ticket for a canceled Nirvana show in Dublin, originally...

Ticket for a canceled Nirvana show in Dublin, originally scheduled for April 8, 1994, the day Kurt Cobain's body was found. (From the official Nirvana Facebook page's fan scrapbook/courtesy Rob C.)

"Why'd we get called Frowngarden? Because we weren't party monsters. We weren't motherfucking rock..."

"Why'd we get called Frowngarden? Because we weren't party monsters. We weren't motherfucking rock stars. We were not like that. We were there to play music. We weren't there for the models and the cocaine. We were there to blow your doors off."

- Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd, on the band's gloomy reputation, in the forthcoming book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

This is what a writing class with Thurston Moore is like: A look...

This is what a writing class with Thurston Moore is like: A look at his notes from Naropa University (Denver Westword Backbeat Blog)