The Melvins with engineer Jonathan Burnside (second from left)...

The Melvins with engineer Jonathan Burnside (second from left) and Kurt Cobain, during the sessions for the Melvins' major-label debut Houdini. Cobain is credited as a producer on the album.

"Kurt played on 'Sky Pup' and the last song on the album. He was just completely strung out, and I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't going to work. I went to [Nirvana manager] Danny Goldberg's office in L.A. and said, 'Look, Kurt Cobain's strung out.' Kurt was really bad, as bad as he's ever been. I...