EVERYBODY LOVES OUR TOWN

A snippet of the Pearl Jam Twenty documentary featuring never-before-seen footage of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder slow-dancing at the 1992 VMAs. I cover this landmark event in my new book, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge:

AMY FINNERTY (MTV director of music programming and talent relations) When Eric Clapton was singing “Tears in Heaven” at the VMAs, we were on the side of the stage. It was Courtney, me, Kurt, Eddie. Janet was right there, and Jackie. We were all slow-dancing with each other. I was dancing with Jackie, then I was dancing with Kurt, and then I was dancing with Eddie, and then I was dancing with Courtney, and we were all switching partners. There was a moment where we looked at each other and realized that we were all from the same group, we were all from the same movement. I remember Courtney coming up and saying, “We gotta get them”—Eddie and Kurt—“to dance together.”

COURTNEY LOVE (Hole singer/guitarist; Kurt Cobain’s widow) My memory can be really addled, but I remember for some reason Eric Clapton is onstage, he is playing “Tears in Heaven” about his little son that has fallen out of a window, and I shoved Kurt into Eddie and I shoved Eddie into Kurt, and then I laughed, just chuckled, because it was genius. I loved it. They slow-danced. It was cute.

AMY FINNERTY It was such a sweet, sweet, sweet moment because it signified the end of this feud. I remember Janet and I actually jumping up and down and going, “YAY! They made up!” Everything was fine after that.

More MTV 30th birthday fun! Kurt Loder recalls the infamous Courtney Love/Madonna incident at the 1995 VMAs in this outtake from my upcoming book, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge.



“We were set up on the side of Radio City Music Hall, and I was talking to Madonna and something came sailing through the air, and I had no idea what it was. It was a powder compact or something, and there was this kind of garbled shouting. I was up on a platform with Madonna, and we looked down, and there was Courtney. Madonna  said, ‘Don’t bring her up here.’ Meanwhile, someone is in my ear, saying, ‘Get her up there. That would be great.’ I said, ‘Come on up, Courtney.’ So she came up, and she was a total mess, of course, but a wonderful mess—I love Courtney. Madonna, who was like an elder statesmen, said, ‘Oh, poor Courtney.’ She stayed for a little bit, until someone got her out of there.

“And then it was just Courtney. She was talking, and then she fell off the stool she was sitting on and landed on her back with her legs splayed, displaying herself to the camera guys, who were aghast. It was a memorable evening.”