Dave Grohl Reveals Nirvana’s ‘SNL’ Debut Nearly Ended In ‘Titanic-Level Disaster’

Nirvana’s debut “Saturday Night Live” performance was a perfect introduction to the grunge genre for untold viewers watching live on Jan. 11, 1992, but it nearly ended in a “Titanic-level disaster,” drummer Dave Grohl revealed in a new documentary Monday.

“Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music,” directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Questlove of The Roots, chronicles the triumphs, pranks and accidents that have befallen musical guests on the iconic NBC show — with Nirvana’s debut arguably near the top.

Grohl recalled being “absolutely fucking terrified” when they arrived at “SNL” four months after their debut studio album, “Nevermind,” was released, and said in “50 Years” that he got even more nervous when the crew counted them down for their live performance.

“The room gets dead silent,” the Foo Fighters frontman said. “Your heart is racing and you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna faint, I’m gonna puke on live television, I’m gonna die.’ And, typically, what happens if I get nervous, I beat the shit out of the drums twice as hard.”

While that performance anxiety certainly helped him launch into “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with a vengeance when host Rob Morrow introduced the band, Grohl revealed that he “snapped my snare stick in half” when they were “only like 20 seconds into the song.”

Frontman Kurt Cobain gave no sign of noticing while belting out his lyrics.

“I was hitting the drums 10 times harder than I’ve ever hit them before in my life,” Grohl admitted in the documentary. “There was one break right before the first drum roll, I think, where I grabbed another stick really quick and busted into it.”

He continued, “I mean, it was so close to being, like, ‘Titanic’-level disaster.”

The performance was ultimately anything but, as then-“SNL” cast member Adam Sandler testified in the documentary: “People were talking about it, getting more calls than you ever got before from friends in my hometown, just like, ‘What’s he like? What’s Kurt like?’”

Cobain’s substance abuse issues eventually contributed to his suicide on April 5, 1994. Nirvana performed on “SNL” one last time on Sept. 25, 1993, months before Cobain died at the age of 27.

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