Grohl: 'MTV gig nearly ended Nirvana'

Dave Grohl has revealed that Nirvana's famous MTV Unplugged concert almost forced the group to split.

The Foo Fighters star claimed that tensions between him and Kurt Cobain before the gig meant that he almost left the band.

Grohl told Rolling Stone: "We thought, 'Rather than do an acoustic version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'...let's see if we can learn this (David) Bowie cover.

"Kurt (Cobain) would turn to me and say, 'Can you play quieter?' Eventually I said, 'Do you want me to just split?' I was barely touching the drums."

Grohl claims that the band was saved by an MTV producer, who handed him a pair of Pro-Mark Hot Rod drumsticks to work with.

He added: "We ran through a song, and Kurt's face lit up. Those sticks saved the entire show."