(Credits: Far Out / Nirvana)
Sun 31 August 2025 19:30, UK
Towards the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the ‘90s, bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were starting to take shape, as the grunge movement stood on the cusp of becoming one of the biggest genres in the world.
Grunge didn’t start with these bands, but they were the musical outfits who popularised it. Other acts, such as Mother Love Bone and Temple of the Dog, laid the foundation for this style of music, and they helped provide shape to what was going to become one of the most exciting new styles of alternative music.
Eddie Vedder formally likened the movement to punk rock, given some of the bands who were first to discover the sound weren’t the first to reap the rewards from it. “My understanding from talking to people like Johnny and Marky [Ramone] is that the first punks were all waiting to reap some spoils from it,” he said, “But it never really took off. The Ramones never took over the radio like they should have, playing arenas like they should have.”
Bands like Nirvana took that grunge style of music and ran with it, creating upbeat and catchy songs which used the emotive nature of grunge but fused it with something more catchy. Tracks like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Come As You Are’ were infectious, bottling an energy that could only ever be assigned to these bands from Seattle, but presenting it in a way that appealed to listeners around the world.
A big fan of Nirvana was Ozzy Osbourne, who said they reminded him of a modern version of metal. “I love Nirvana, it was like heavy metal meets The Beatles, you know, to a point.” Unsurprisingly, Nirvana were also big fans of Osbourne and Black Sabbath, given he was one of the first artists to make that heavy style of rock accepted by the mainstream. “It had a huge impact on me, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’,” said Osbourne, “I was very proud when I found out that Kurt Cobain was a fan of mine. I thought he was awesome.”
Black Sabbath were always keen on taking bands that they liked on tour with them. In the early days of the band, they went around the world with the likes of Van Halen and Kiss, showcasing the hottest new outfits in rock to their fans. Ozzy Osbourne took this tradition into his solo career and asked Nirvana if they would like to support him on tour. Cobain admitted that while he was a fan of Osbourne, he didn’t want to support him on tour, as he didn’t think the band were ready to be playing in Ozzy Osbourne sized stadiums.
“I can understand Ozzy liking us, because we have at least some similarities with his former band. Sure, I respect the man. I have always loved his music except for his last five albums or whatever,” he said, “I didn’t pay attention to most of his solo stuff besides Bark At The Moon, whenever that one was. Ozzy was also in the same mixing studio that we were in for our last record. We met each other in the hall sometimes.”
He continued, explaining that while he likes Osbourne and knows it would be eventful to hit the road with him, it just wasn’t the right move. “We didn’t speak. But there were a few times where we were coming towards each other. I had to move up against the wall and wait for him to stumble past me ’cause he was so fucked up,” recalled Cobain, “He also asked us to go on tour with him. But we turned it down. It would have been fun and kind of exciting to be part of his last shows. But we don’t really wanna play in huge arenas supporting someone.”
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