Ongoing History Daily: How the classic Nirvana lineup came together

Nirvana–and all that came afterwards, including the Foo Fighters–may not have ever happened had a guy named Skeeter Thompson been able to get along with his girlfriend.  In late 1989, Skeeter’s band, Scream, was on tour.  But when they got to LA, Skeeter ran into girlfriend problems, so he quit, which put an end to Scream and put the rest of the band out of work.

But Scream’s drummer wasn’t ready to go home to Washington DC. He called up his friend Buzz in Seattle to see if he could get on the guest list for the next time Buzz’s band had a gig.  He said sure–and asked if this drummer had ever heard of a group called Nirvana, who just happened to be looking for a new drummer. 

Our guy–Dave Grohl–then went up to Seattle, saw his buddy’s band play, auditioned for Nirvana…and we all know what came next. 

And all because Skeeter and his girlfriend couldn’t get along.