10 Band Members That Are Way More Important Than You Think

It’s not often that a power trio spawns two of the biggest rock stars of all time. Although Kurt Cobain was the lead focus of Nirvana, Dave Grohl had one of the biggest second acts in music history, fronting the Foo Fighters and leading rock into the next generation. So it’s probably not unusual that Krist Novoselic gets left in the dust.

Even though both Dave and Kurt were the stars, Krist was the one that did the talking in interviews, having a goofy spirit to him that fit in perfectly with the disaffected sounds of their music. While Dave and Kurt had their connection, Krist really was the closest to Cobain during the early days, making sure he had a proper place to stay and playing in every iteration of the band before Grohl got behind the kit. While the bass lines aren’t the first thing you think of when it comes to Nirvana, Novoselic’s tone is almost more felt than heard, echoing what Cobain is doing while driving home the power that made them stick out from hair metal around the same time.

Even though songs like On A Plain might be traditional rock and roll, Novoselic is all over the fretboard, being much more in tune with where everything’s going and sticking the rhythm section together like glue. Everything Nirvana made may have come from Cobain’s brain, but it took Novoselic to make songs like Heart Shaped Box scream to life.