Double or nothing was the offer Steve Albini put on the (pool) table when producing Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ album. The wager? $100,000 in cold hard cash based on the winner of a pool game.
The boys could have had the legendary producer produce their album for free if they won, but they weren’t willing to risk paying him $200,000, if they did lose.
“We were paying him $100,000,” Dave Grohl recalled in an interview with Albini for Kerrang! “Anyone who’s got the stones to gamble something that large must be amazing, so everyone said no. Plus he had his own stick. We didn’t want to fuck around with that.”
Albini was asked about his ballsy bet and revealed that it wasn’t the first time he’s made the offer.
“I did that with every band I worked with, and no-one ever took me up on the offer,” he revealed.
He added, “It’s not like I’m a particularly good pool player, but I have an equal chance of winning in a fair game. Ultimately, it wasn’t going to make that much difference to my life if I got double the money for the session or worked for free. But I guess Nirvana were a little more risk-averse than I was.”
In other news, Dave Grohl recently revealed that he still dreams of being back in Nirvana and working with the late Kurt Kobain again.
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“I still have dreams that we’re in Nirvana, that we’re still a band,” says Grohl. “I still dream there’s an empty arena waiting for us to play,” he shared in an interview with Classic Rock.
But, he’s said that he would never think of performing any of the bands songs on his own.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable singing a song that Kurt sang,” says Grohl. “I feel perfectly at home playing those songs on the drums. And I love playing them with Krist and Pat and another vocalist.”
“But I don’t sit down at home and run through ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by myself. It’s just a reminder that the person who is responsible for those beautiful songs is no longer with us. It’s bittersweet.”
