#wfnx

Today I shall go back in time to 1992 and 2022.

Lots of stuff though. Kinda weird they did so many things in 1992 on this date! Two radio shows and a concert!

The interviewer for KITS will not stop berating poor Linnell for playing the accordion. "What are all those buttons?" "It's such a whiny instrument don't you think???"

Linnell: "I play ROCK accordion."

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station, Part 2 looked at their April 1990 show at Man Ray and Part 3 looked at their April 1990 show at MIT.

The 4th installment looks at possibly their most legendary show they ever did in Boston and their first of the year 1991. Since the last time the band had played Boston a lot had changed. Drummer Chad Channing parted ways and the new drummer was Dave Grohl, formerly of Scream.

September 23, 1991: WFNX 8th Birthday Bash at Axis (Boston, MA)

show flyer (quite a lineup)

Lynn, MA independently owned and operated alternative rock station WFNX was first launched in 1983 on 101.7-FM. The radio station was one of my favorites in the 90s and I was so sad when they ceased operation in 2012. Prior to 1991, WFNX was one of the early supporters of Nirvana in the Boston area, which is why WFNX DJs Duane Bruce and Kurt St. Thomas were at the Man Ray Show in 1990. Nirvana's major-label debut album Nevermind was going to be released the next day on September 24, but just a few weeks earlier on August 29, St. Thomas played the Nevermind album in its entirety on-air for it's World Premiere. So when the radio station was gearing up for their 8th anniversary concert celebrations they set up shows with multiple bands at multiple venues on Boston's Landsdowne Street. At Axis, the bands included Cliffs of Dooneen, Smashing Pumpkins (their debut Gish was just released a few months earlier), Bullet LaVolta and finally Nirvana. Duane Bruce says "I feel bad for the other bands that were on the bill that night, like the bands that were playing over at Bill's Bar. They were all packed houses and nobody talks about those shows. I'd say there were close to 3000 people on Lansdowne Street that night if not more. Certainly 1500 were slammed into Axis." 1500 might be an exaggeration, but not far off.

Nevermind tour poster and Boston was the second stop

Nirvana arrived in Boston the day before on September 22. They stayed at the old Howard Johnson's Hotel on Commonwealth Avenue that has since become a Boston University dorm. Reportedly the band had dinner at Division 16 on Boylston Street with some Geffen Records and WFNX employees. Afterwards, the band went to The Rat AKA The Rathskeller in Kenmore Square to see their friends The Melvins, but they weren't on the guest list and it was local singer-songwriter Mary Lou Lord who urged the bouncer to let them in even though they weren't on the guest list. She formed a relationship with Cobain for a short time. In the documentary The Road to Ruane about The Middle East promoter Billy Ruane (that screened at IFFBoston earlier this year), Lord elaborated that she took Cobain back to Ruane's apartment in Cambridge that night and they listened to his record collection.

Cobain and Grohl doing press with WFNX earlier in the day (photo by Julie Kramer)

MTV News attended this show to film an interview with Nirvana and some backstage tomfoolery including a Twister game gone wild at Bill's Bar next door to Axis! Here is the raw footage of that wild Crisco Twister game with some of the members of Smashing Pumpkins and an interview with the band:

In my friend Jason Steeves' documentary We Want the Airwaves: The WFNX Story, DJ Angie C. noted that for several months the only live footage MTV had of Nirvana was of their coverage at the WFNX Birthday Bash, so every time MTV News did an update about Nirvana they cut to a clip of them onstage with the WFNX banner behind them, so it was like the radio station and the band were intertwined for a while there.

Axis had a capacity of 1000 and it was packed to say the least. Both Nirvana and headliners Smashing Pumpkins were not going to be playing clubs this size much longer. Boston's own Bullet LaVolta had built up a huge following by this point and were WFNX favorites. Their major label debut Swandive was released the same day as Nirvana's Nevermind, and they had toured with Smashing Pumpkins, Mudhoney and Soundgarden. Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Philips says "For us, it was just another show playing Axis. We weren't even playing the biggest room, there was a bigger room next door at Avalon. Nirvana wasn't even the biggest band on the bill at the time." As Duane Bruce puts it "if the show was a steam train, then after the Pumpkin and Bullet LaVolta, by the time you got to Nirvana it was just pure black smoke". At midnight, headliners Nirvana's set began. Kurt St. Thomas did an intro. The band did a 49 minute set. They did songs off of Bleach and several from the about-to-be-released Nevermind.

Cobain on stage (photo by Steve Gullick)

Novoselic and Grohl on stage (photographer unknown)

Novoselic and Grohl (photo by Steve Gullick)

In terms of highlights, Todd Philips says "Sliver" and "Drain You", which he says "When I heard that, I said - holy shit, this is pop. This should be Top 40 music!" Very true! There is a reason some of the songs on Nevermind made the Top 40.

Here is the audio recording from YouTube:

Of the three times I saw Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters at Fenway Park (the most recent being this past July), I couldn't help but think he had played right across the street at Axis for that legendary show decades earlier.

Advertising insert from alternative newspaper The Boston Phoenix, promoting their concert showcase of local bands playing at the Coop bookstore in Harvard Square on September 25, 1988.

This was actually the second Boston Phoenix/WFNX-sponsored concert event I attended. The first one had happened the previous weekend, at the MIT location of The Coop. The presence of three local bands on that bill was completely overshadowed for me by the incongruous presence of Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, there to play a solo set in support of his latest album on Rykodisc. But I got there early enough to catch the local acts, opening my eyes ever-so-slightly to the presence of a local music scene.

So when I learned of another free outdoor concert the following weekend, I was all in, even minus any star power. I had never heard of any of these local bands before, either. But maybe some of them would good?

Turns out, I was right. The set by Galaxie 500, just a few weeks before the release of their debut album, Today, was revelatory. This is... jangly? Kind of like, uh... R.E.M.? (It would be a few years yet before I heard The Velvet Underground for the first time.) I ended up reviewing their set, along with the rest of the acts performing that day, for my high school newspaper.

In fact, I also fell pretty hard for local rockers Heretix, whose dramatic, slightly goth sound would fit right in on local radio. Heck, I enjoyed everyone that played that day, from the bluesy, garage-rock of The Titanics to just-shy-of-metal The Unattached to, yes, even the ska bands (Plate O’ Shrimp and Bim Skala Bim). I even captured songs from a couple of the band’s sets on my shitty tape recorded though, alas, not the one by Galaxie 500.

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’ve begun a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station.

The second installment of this series is their second MA show!

April 18, 1990 ManRay (Cambridge, MA)

ticket stub

Since the last time Nirvana played Boston guitarist Jason Everman parted ways with the band and they were back to being a trio: Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). The band had done a lot of touring for their debut album Bleach, which was released on Sub Pop the previous Summer. On this particular date, the band was back in town for a show at the Central Square club ManRay, which was known as a goth club at the time.

WFNX's Duane Bruce was one of the early supporters of Nirvana in the Northeast and he was playing some of their songs late night on his show Radio Free Boston. He was at ManRay to emcee the show. He hung out backstage with the band and WFNX's Kurt St. Thomas (another early supporter). According to Bruce (he's also the author of Hang the DJ and the host of the American Debauchery podcast where he has discussed his time with Nirvana), Kurt Cobain said "So you guys are from a commercial station, on the other side of the country, and you play our music?" as Cobain put his arm around Bruce's shoulder and said "That's a first."

There was also an interview the band did before the show. That video has since surfaced online.

Nirvana interview backstage at ManRay

There were about 75 people in attendance. Local band The Bags opened this show. Crispin Wood, guitarist for The Bags, recalls "We hung out during their soundcheck and they hung out during ours." He says "The dressing room area was in the basement of ManRay. Pretty big space. The guys in Nirvana were nice. We partied together. Krist was the friendliest of the three." In attendance was Sluggo, who hosted Nirvana the previous Summer when they played Green Street Station and was in the local band Hullabaloo (they actually appeared on some compilation albums with Nirvana including Hard to Believe: A Kiss Covers Compilation). During Nirvana's set, Kurt dumped a pitcher of water on Chad. Sluggo says "Chad never saw it coming. Poor guy. But I suppose at this point he was use to the abuse - i.e. all the times Kurt would launch himself at the drumset." They mostly played songs from Bleach, although they did preview some songs off of Nevermind released a year and a half later, including "Breed", "In Bloom" and "Stay Away".

Cobain and Novoselic at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Cobain at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Photographer JJ Gonson, who got some great photos of them crashing at her apartment after the Green Street Station show the previous year, returned to this show to get some pics.

Here is the video recording of the show from YouTube:

Advertising insert from a late 1989 issue of alternative newspaper The Boston Phoenix, promoting the six-year anniversary of alternative rock radio station WFNX.

Real "Holy shit! We made it to another year!" energy with this supplement. Given the paper printed a big spread to celebrate their 5th anniversary the previous year, it’s a bit odd they’d choose to commemorate their 6th. Though this insert is a lot smaller, just a single piece of broadsheet printed on both sides.

Here WFNX is testing a new slogan: “Rock the Boat Radio.” Not sure why an alternative rock station decided to use a phrase that only serves to make me think of this classic soul jam. Buy hey, there is a long tradition of basic alt-rock stations appealing to the egos of their listeners by adopting a cooler-than-thou slogan.

Playlist for Boston radio station WFNX’s local music program, Boston Rocks, featuring the artists in Heavy, Medium and Light rotation for November 1989.

Unsurprisingly, this November 1989 Boston Rocks playlist shares a lot of releases with the December 1989/January 1990 one that I posted about last month. Though that Cavedogs demo tape is nowhere to be found here. It must have shot directly into heavy rotation. It certainly became an instant favorite of mine.

Hand-written playlist for “Mystery Tape #1″, one of my many tapes onto which I’d record Boston-area radio programming for later review and editing.

Not long after discovering local bands via the free, WFNX-sponsored concerts I attended in 1988, I started listening to Boston Rocks, WFNX’s local music show on Sunday nights. It was at least two hours long, maybe three, and I found it hard to keep up with all of the new sounds and bands broadcasting into my suburban bedroom. The show also started late—10pm or 11pm—and I often found myself getting sleepy while trying to stay tuned for the whole thing.

Solution? Tape it!

I would regularly buy sleeves of Maxell XLII cassettes, since they were the best quality (duh) aside from the pricier, top-of-the-line Maxell XLII-S. While I’d eventually end up using most of my blank cassette stash to record live concerts when I got a professional Sony Walkman for my 17th birthday, taping off the radio was the initial goal. I’d accumulate a stack of these tapes before eventually going back and listening to them, writing down everything that was played as best I could understand from the DJ breaks.

This tape is mostly a recording of an episode of Boston Rocks from March 11, 1990. I put small notes next to some of the bands to indicate whether I thought they were any good. Next to the cover of Shonen Knife’s “Ice Cream City” by the band Christmas, I put: “v. good.” The judgement stands.

Before the start of Boston Rocks, it looks like I’d used the tape to record a Marty Willson-Piper in-studio performance on February 10, 1990. He was touring the U.S. to promote his latest album, Rhyme, and had stopped by WFNX prior to that night’s concert at local rock club The Rat. Like the last time I tried seeing a show at The Rat, I got kicked out trying to see MWP.