Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ producer says ’90 per cent’ of album’s sound ‘is Dave Grohl’

Butch Vig praises Foo Fighters man in new interview

Butch Vig, the producer behind Nirvana‘s classic album ‘Nevermind’, has spoken in praise of Dave Grohl.

Vig – also the drummer in Garbage – recently spoke in interview with Ultimate Guitar about the making of the 1991 LP, stressing how much impact Foo Fighters frontman Grohl had on the sound of the record.

“The band was tight as hell,” Vig recalled. “Contrary to popular belief, they were not slackers. They wanted to make a kickass record. Dave Grohl told me they practised every day for six months before they went into record ‘Nevermind’. We pretty much got every take on that record in one or two or maybe three takes.”

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“[Grohl’s] an incredible drummer,” he added. “The first day of preproduction in North Hollywood, Kurt had this fucking very loud Mesa Boogie he was playing and Krist [Novoselic] had an Ampeg SVT bass amp and those were both loud as hell.”

“I just kept pacing around the room and going, ‘Oh, my god. This sounds fuckin’ amazing.’ Dave is an incredible musician. He really is. People always say, ‘How’d you get that sound on Nevermind?’ and 90 percent of it is Dave Grohl… it’s just how Dave plays and he’s just so, so powerful.”

NMEKirk Weddle/Modern Rocks Gallery

Earlier this year, Vig explained how late Beatles producer George Martin influenced ‘Nevermind’.

“I can’t tell you how many bands I have worked with who would bring up Martin’s production techniques,” he said.

“There was a point where I wanted Kurt Cobain to double-track his vocals on a song when we were recording Nevermind, and he was reluctant to do so because he thought it sounded too fake and I said: ‘Well, John Lennon double-tracked his vocals.’ And as soon as I said that, Kurt said: ‘OK.’ He pretty much double-tracked all the vocals after that.”

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