New York City, January 11, 1992. © Michael Lavine
During the summer of 1990, an unknown band flew from Seattle to New York to gig in the underground punk scene. While they were in town they dropped by photographer Michael Lavine’s Bleecker Street studio for a session arranged by Sub Pop Records owner Bruce Pavitt. Going by the name Nirvana, the group featured singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Chad Channing. They had been playing together for a few years but hadn’t yet broken through. As Lavine’s photos from that fateful day reveal, they were just a couple of kids living life on their terms.
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Lavine would shoot the band a total of four times, including for cover of their seminal Nevermind album, which they released the following year. The album blew up, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and bringing grunge to a mainstream audience. But for Nirvana, success had a tumultuous effect, and as their star rose, the band began to plummet into the abyss. By the time Lavine photographed the final studio sessions on a weekend in 1992, the group was reaching breaking point.
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Lavine’s photographs tell the story of a rise and fall, of paradise and perdition. To celebrate what would have been Cobain’s 50th year on earth, Ono Arte Contemporanea in Bologna, Italy presents Kurt Cobain 50: The Grunge Photographs of Michael Lavine, a selection of iconic and never-before-seen images from his archive, which runs from now through to January 31, 2018. Lavine shares his memories of this historic chapter of music history.
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Photo: Nevermind session, Los Angeles, May 23, 1991. © Michael Lavine