In preparation for the upcoming Hard Rock Cafe Seattle, we’ve been rediscovering our collection of original grunge artifacts and picking up a few cool new pieces as well. We recently acquired a Yamaha 12-string acoustic that was the late, great Andrew Wood’s. Andrew was the front man for Mother Love Bone – the seminal Seattle group that included Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament. Unfortunately, Andrew died of a heroin overdose in 1990, directly inspiring the classic Temple of the Dog album. Stone and Jeff regrouped as Pearl Jam – maybe you’ve heard of them.
Another killer piece we recently acquired is Chad Channing’s Slingerland drum kit from his days as Nirvana’s drummer. Chad is an interesting footnote in music history. He’s kind of the grunge version of Pete Best. Chad quit Nirvana in 1990, was replaced by Dave Grohl, and the rest is rock history. That’s gotta be a tough legacy to look back on, but he’s in good company. Pete Best, Ian Stewart, John Rutsey, Dave Mustaine...the list of players ousted from their groups just before mega-success is long and ever-expanding. Here’s Chad’s kit. This drumset was almost as iconic as Bonham’s or Moon’s. Almost.
You can check out more great drum kits at our interactive memorabilia website.
