LiveNIRVANA.com > Sessions History > Television Appearances & Related Rehearsals > November 27, 1991 - Studio C, BBC Elstree Centre, Borehamwood, UK

LIVE NIRVANA SESSIONS HISTORY:
November 27, 1991 - Studio C, BBC Elstree Centre, Borehamwood, UK

Artist

• NIRVANA
  • Cobain, Kurt (vocals, mimed guitar)
  • Grohl, Dave (mimed drums)
  • Novoselic, Krist (mimed bass)

Crew

• Appel, Stanley (producer)
• Dortie, Tony (host)
• Dyson, Arch (director)
• Rose, Adrian (host)

Set

• [O] Smells Like Teen Spirit

Transmission

• 11/28/91, BBC 1, Top Of The Pops

Best available sources

Source	Quality	Complete	Runtime	Lowest Gen	Tracks Featured	Notes
PRO #1a	10.0	Yes	0:03:02	Official LaserDisc (Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!)	• Smells Like Teen Spirit	Omits host's intro.
PRO #1b	9.0	Yes	0:03:03	TV>VHS(2)>DVDR	• Smells Like Teen Spirit	Includes host's intro.
PRO #1c	9.5	Yes	0:03:11	Unofficial CD (Grunge Is Dead)	• Smells Like Teen Spirit	Includes host's intro.

Notes

NIRVANA's appearance on British chart show, Top of The Pops, coincided with an overhaul in the programme's image and protocol, whereby artists were required to sing live against a backing track.

The band seized the opportunity to make a mockery of their performance: Cobain supplementing a wayward vocal by fellating his microphone, Novoselic and Grohl dancing around, not even pretending to play their instruments.

That was kind of my fault, that Kurt did the Sisters Of Mercy vocal on Top of The Pops, booking agent, Russell Warby, offered. He'd been complaining about a sore throat and I told him you could mime on there, but then they decided you had to do a live vocal. (1)

As the number drew to a close, a mini-stage invasion ensued. The show's producers were not amused, The people from TOTP said, (pointedly) Would you mind doing that again? Warby recalled, And Kurt went, No, I'm quite happy with that, thank you… (1)

Performing with NIRVANA at Sheffield Uni's Octagon Centre the following day, Captain America's Eugene Kelly watched the broadcast from the Student Union bar, We were sat watching NIRVANA watching themselves on TV. Kurt was right at the front and the more it went on, the more you could see he was sinking deeper and deeper into the chair, cringing, really embarrassed. But everyone burst into applause at the end—You fucked up the Pops! You got them! Yeah! (1)

References

1. Perry, Andrew, 1998. Anarchy In The UK, MOJO, [online] Available at: http://www.livenirvana.com/documents/mojo54.html. ↑

© Alex Roberts. August 28, 2011