Nirvana's breakthrough album Nevermind was released September 24, 1991. Just a week earlier, on September 16, the band played a 45-minute set at Beehive Records in Seattle. Lines to get in went around the block.

According to the biography Heavier than Heaven, it was the first time Kurt Cobain realized that the band was rising in popularity, and that fame was at his doorstep:

Two days later, Nirvana held an “in-store” at Beehive Records. DGC expected about 50 patrons, but when over 200 kids were lined up by two in the afternoon — for an event scheduled to start at seven — it began to dawn on them that perhaps the band’s popularity was greater than first thought. Kurt had decided that rather than simply sign albums and shake people’s hands — the usual business of an in-store — Nirvana would play. When he saw the line at the store that afternoon, it marked the first time he was heard to utter the words “holy shit” in response to his popularity. The band retreated to the Blue Moon Tavern and began drinking, but when they looked out the window and saw dozens of fans looking in, they felt like they were in the movie A Hard Day’s Night. When the show began, Beehive was so crowded that kids were standing on racks of albums and sawhorses had to be lined up in front of the store’s glass windows to protect them. Nirvana played a 45-minute set — performing on the store floor — until the crowd began smashing into the band like the pep rally in the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/16/nirvana-playing-smells-like.html