Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989 [Hardcover]

Experiencing Nirvanais a photo journal, grunge rock micro-history, and an inside look into a crucial eight-day period in the touring life of Nirvana. In the last days of 1989, the young band goes from breaking up in Rome to winning over the influential British music press at Sub Pop’s LameFest U.K. showcase in London, setting the stage for their imminent popularity. At the end of a grueling six-week European tour to promote theirBleachdebut, the band was exhausted and Cobain frustrated and downcast. Despite a stolen passport and an attempt to leap from a 14-foot speaker tower, Cobain managed to continue to London. Opening for Tad and Mudhoney at the Astoria Theatre on November 27, 1989, Nirvana’s heart-pounding performance won over the crowd. The powerful London music press proclaimed that Nirvana to be “Sub Pop’s answer to the Beatles.” Within two years, the band would become the biggest rock act of their generation. This is the photographic story of the breakthrough that almost never happened.

“The book is amazing, and so perfectly representative of that time. I swear, looking through those pictures brought me right back to being in a cold, damp van with a bunch of smelly musicians, having the time of our lives!”—Dave Grohl

For over thirty years Bruce Pavitt has been at the vanguard of popular culture advancing social and artistic trends, ideas, and movements within the community of the innovative and alternative.Experiencing Nirvanais part rock 'n roll travelogue and part voyeuristic pop culture rubbernecking—an unromantic yet nostalgic glimpse into a rock social movement just prior to its explosion. —Kim Thayil, Soundgarden

Few people can lay claim to starting a rock 'n' roll revolution, but Sub Pop Records founder Bruce Pavitt can do just that. —PaperMag

One of those perfect records of music history that galvanizes the pedestrian aslÃâ