Watch Nirvana Cover Led Zeppelin in 1988 Before Dave Grohl Joined
Before Nirvana recruited Dave Grohl on drums, the soon-to-be-legendary grunge act from Aberdeen, Washington, was propelled by drummer Chad Channing. And around that time, circa 1988, the band would stage intimate (if not drunken) rehearsal sessions above a local salon owned by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic's mom, Maria's Hair Design.
That's what viewers can see in footage of one such rehearsal, as Louder reported this week (Nov. 15). The video has been available for quite a while — still, it offers an arresting look at a grunge juggernaut in the making. And that includes Nirvana covering Led Zeppelin.
Watch the footage near the bottom of this post.
Indeed, in the video, Nirvana do a loose take on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." It shines amid a setlist populated by songs that would find their way onto Nirvana's 1989 debut album, Bleach — tunes such as "About a Girl," "Scoff" and "Big Long Now."
The rehearsal footage was captured by Novoselic's younger brother, Robert. "We got some beer, watched my brother and partied," Robert recalled in 2005. "We really didn’t think anything of it at the time because [Nirvana] were not that popular then."
But they would become extremely popular just a few short years later when they made a lasting indent in the mainstream with 1991's zeitgeist-defining Nevermind. Now, any vintage Nirvana footage acts as a time capsule of importance to students of rock music.
Cobain died by suicide in 1994; Grohl went on to form Foo Fighters after his death. Novoselic currently plays in the supergroup 3rd Secret. See the Led Zeppelin cover at 10:50 in the first video below.