Jason Everman

Throughout the history of rock music, there have been several ‘tough luck' members of renowned bands -- who've exited groups just before their big breakthrough (the best known example being the Beatles' Pete Best). In the modern era, such a figure would have to be bassist/guitarist Jason Everman, who was briefly a member of what would become two of the ‘90s biggest bands - Nirvana and Soundgarden. Hailing from Seattle, Everman was a longtime acquaintance of early Nirvana drummer Chad Channing and Earth guitarist/friend of Nirvana, Dylan Carlson. With Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain looking to add another guitarist to the group by early 1989 (but more importantly, looking for someone to foot the $600 bill it cost to record their debut album, Bleach), Everman landed the gig. Although he's listed as having played on the aforementioned album, Cobain disclosed in later interviews that Everman didn't play a note on the recording, but was given the credit as a sort of ‘thank you' for paying the cost of recording. But it soon became apparent that Everman didn't fit in with the band as initially hoped, especially on the album's supporting tour (the group described his on-stage demeanor as too ‘showbizzy,' while offstage, he was introverted). Before leaving Nirvana, Everman did manage to play on one song, a cover of Kiss' "Do You Love Me," for an indie tribute album (Hard to Believe).