BURTON C. BELL Explains How He Got On The Cover Of NIRVANA’s Sliver Single
Nirvana released their non-album single “Sliver” in 1990 and, if you look very closely, you’ll actually see former Fear Factory vocalist Burton C. Bell on the cover! Bell appears in the bottom left segment of the cover, which he explained in a recent Instagram post.
Long story short, Bell got mega stoned and saw Nirvana play to roughly 100 people at a dive bar named Raji’s on Hollywood Blvd. He happened to be standing right up front when the photo was taken, and the rest is history!
“I moved to LA in July, 1989. I started working at Tower Video on Sunset Blvd in September,” wrote Bell of the accidental appearance. “I was 20 years of age.
“A coworker, Scott, and I became good friends as we talked about the new music that was being created during that time including all things SUBPOP, and I was loving it. He eventually introduced me to Nirvana‘s BLEACH album. That album immediately spoke to me.
“February 15, 1990, 4 days before my 21st birthday, Nirvana was playing Raji’s ; a basement dive on Hollywood Blvd.
“Scott and I got super high before we went inside. We missed the opening band, Distorted Pony, but after they were done, we made our way to the front of the small stage, that went up to my knees. There was no barricade, and there were maybe 100 people there. From what I remember it was a bad ass show.
“SUBPOP released the 45 single Sliver, with the B-side Dive sometime after that. I know this because when I was checking out the cover art of the single, the negative image photograph on the back was from that Raji’s show, and there I was standing right in front, stoned in amazement of #nirvana and #kurtcobain”
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