Special Feature: Legendary Rock Artists Who Came to Japan - Nirvana and Primal Scream [CROSSBEAT (August 2007)]
Kurt’s ‘Anti-Establishment’ Message at Their First and Last Live Performance in Japan
Nirvana performed in Japan only once, in February 1992. At their gig at Club Citta in Kawasaki, they delivered an overwhelming performance from the very first song, “Negative Creep”, with the loud guitars raging throughout. The band, at the very heart of the era, projected their momentum directly onto the stage, but an incident occurred during the final moments. Fans at the venue had been attempting to stage-dive, but security guards were using flashlights to keep them away. As this continued until the end of the show, Kurt snatched a flashlight and shone it on the security guards, as if to say, “You get out of here.”
In an interview with this magazine, Kurt made the following wonderful comment on the matter: “I snatched the flashlight from a security guard who was trying to control the audience on stage, and shone it in their faces for a while as a protest against authority. I think it’s absolutely necessary to have the leeway to allow for that sort of behaviour outside the rules.”
Also, on the first day of the Japan tour in Osaka, as soon as their own gig finished, they headed straight to the venue where Shonen Knife were playing that same day. Unfortunately, the gig had already finished, but they bought the singles and posters on sale there. From the Nagoya show the following day, Courtney Love joined the band; she bought pyjamas in a department store and wore them on stage. Then, at the final show at Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo, Krist Novoselic sprayed a fire extinguisher at the end of the show and Dave Grohl smashed his drum kit, causing a commotion; afterwards, the three of them reportedly apologised to the promoter together.
Incidentally, Kurt and Courtney got married in Hawaii immediately after this Japan tour. When asked by the Japanese press why they had decided to marry, they commented, “Hmm…… (after a moment’s thought) I suppose it’s because we love each other.”
—Hideyuki Otani
Pic: A photo session where we mimicked ‘Help!’ on a whim, thanks to Bobby
DJ Bobby plays Oasis in Shibuya late at night
Question: How many times has Primal Scream visited Japan since their first visit in July 1990? Answer: 15 times. Incidentally, the only years they didn’t visit were 1993, 1996, and 1999, whilst they visited twice in 2000. With four appearances at Fuji Rock, one at Summer Sonic and one at Magic Rock Out, they’ve swept the board at festivals in both summer and winter. During their 2002 tour, they released a live recording from Zepp Tokyo as ‘Live in Japan’; in terms of frequency and longevity, they far surpass Queen and Cheap Trick, making them a band with a very deep connection to Japan.
In recent years, Bobby Gillespie and the rest of the band have settled down, but their February 1995 tour of Japan—the most drug-fuelled in the band’s history—was a rollercoaster of performances, alternating between the absolute best and the absolute worst. Given that there were few rock bands like them in the 1990s, they could be described as a rare breed in a sense…… During this visit to Japan, Bobby made a last-minute appearance at an all-night DJ event in Shibuya, whipping up a frenzy among the 300-strong crowd with a 16-track set that began and ended with Oasis’s “Live Forever”. On the final day, Bobby crashed another DJ party, spinning around to Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”. He then headed straight to Narita Airport without a moment’s sleep.
He left behind all sorts of anecdotes at press events too. For his first interview upon arriving in Japan, he was a full five hours late. During his second visit in 1991, he kept us waiting for two hours, only to then have an editorial staff member buy him a raincoat costing 5,800 yen on a whim, so he could mimic the pose from ‘Help!’ for a photo shoot. In a 2004 feature looking back on ‘Me and Japan’, he was genuinely furious, declaring, “What I hate about Japan is the Westerners living here. They’re polluting Japan.” It’s laughable that, carried away by his passion, he went so far as to say, “Japan should ban Westerners from entering the country.”
—Masataka Oguchi
Translator's Note: The anecdotes of Kurt Cobain is actually pretty cool, whilst the one about Bobby Gillespie is pretty hilarious. Especially since even the journalist who had to sit through listening to him rant like an ignorant hypocrite wasn't lost to any of them. If there are any Primal Scream fans out there, finding that Crossbeat issue shouldn't be too hard, just to see whether the magazine editors decided to publish that infamous rant lmao
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