We Now Know Why Nirvana Covered David Bowie for MTV Special

On November 18, 1993, Nirvana performed what would become their intriguing MTV Unplugged concert in New York. One of the night’s standout moments was when the Seattle grunge heroes surprisingly covered David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World.” To this day, Nirvana’s version of this track can still be heard pushing through the airwaves.

In case you’ve been wondering how Nirvana decided upon “The Man Who Sold the World” as a cover for that night, wonder no more.

For online Playboy video feature, Smear and Dave Grohl drove around Los Angeles to show off Bowie’s haunts, as well as tell stories about the late music icon. During this event, Smear admitted to following Bowie around the City of Angels in the ’70s when playing with The Germs.

Elsewhere in the video, Smear notes that in preparation for the MTV special, he and Kurt Cobain decided that they needed a cover for the special. While listening to albums together, Cobain said that he wanted to do a Bowie track.

From there, Smear would see The Man Who Sold the World album in Cobain’s record collection and suggested that Nirvana give that one a go.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Sure, that’s not the most romantic of stories, but sometimes something so simple can become iconic.