"Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now"
Early Interest & Nirvana’s Role
Early Interest
“I was politicized in high school. I had an open mind and didn’t really care for Reagan. I cut my teeth on radical punk rock–the Dead Kennedys, Maximumrockandroll and MDC. Those were the few anti-Reagan voices at the time, especially if you were in Aberdeen [WA] and were 18 years old. I didn’t feel like reading dry political analyses. I needed something that spoke to me, that I could understand.” – Krist Novoselic
Nirvana & Politics
“Well, Nirvana was always political. We talked about things and how we felt. There was Operation Desert Stormin early ’91, and it broke my heart that people were brought into that. I was living in Tacoma, Washington, a real meat-and-potatoes town, and it was scary and surreal, the hypocrisy of the government and people buying it. Six months later, the mainstream culture that duped by Desert Storm was all over us. We were repulsed. We were like ‘Who are these people?’ It took us a long time to deal with that.” – Krist Novoselic
Although Krist Novoselic will undoubtedly be forever best known as a member of Nirvana, his accomplishments go far beyond that remarkable achievement. Nirvana was a band with a conscience, and as a major label act they regularly played benefits–the first Rock For Choice show, a major concert in support of gay rights, and a legendary gig that raised money for the Balkan Women’s Aid Fund (see below).
On April 9, 1993, Nirvana plays a concert at San Francisco’s Cow Palace to raise awareness of and generate aid for rape survivors in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The benefit show meant a lot to Krist, as Serbia was formerly part of Yugoslavia. Also formerly part of Yugoslavia is Croatia which is where Krist’s family immigrated from. Krist also lived in Croatia for a brief period of time during the 1980’s. Read more about Krist’s personal thoughts on the Bosnian tragedy in this interview.