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Did Smoking Kill Rock and Roll? The Nirvana Smoking Controversy

Rick Beato

1,310,258 views

In this episode, I address the controversy surrounding Pat Smear smoking on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards while accepting an award with Nirvana. I also discuss the role that smoking has played throughout the history of music and culture.

My Beato Club supporters:
Justin Scott
Terence Mark
Jason Murray
Lucienne Kilpatrick
Alexander Young
Jason Wagner
Todd Ladner
Rob Kline
Nicholas Long
Tim Benson
Leonardo Martins da Costa Rodrigues
Eddie Perez
David Solomon
MICHAEL JOYCE
Stephen Stubbs
colin stead
Jonathan Wentworth-Linton
Patrick Payne
MATTHEW KARIS
Matthew Barouch
Shaun Samuels
Danny Kurywchak
Gregory Reedy
Sean Coleman
Alexander Verbitskiy
CL Turner
Jason Pappafotis
John Fulford
Margaret Carno
Robert C
David M Combs
Eric Flatt
Reto Spoerli
Herr Moritz Adam
Monte St. Johns
Jon Beezley
Peter DeVault
Eric Nabstedt
Eric Beggs
Rich Germano
Brian Bloom
Peter Pillitteri
Piush Dahal
Toby Guidry

20 Comments

@ArchieOnEarth 1 day ago

I’m more surprised that people still watch the VMAs.

@BlindHatchet 1 day ago

I’m 59, and I remember that back in third grade, everyone in my class made an ashtray for their father as a school project.

@spb7883 1 day ago

Phone addiction replaced cigarette smoking.

@OtreborDrevka 16 hours ago

If that’s a controversy, it means we are bored

@OnlyAPawn1970 1 day ago

The "teachers lounge"was in reality a "smoking lounge".

@olananataly 1 day ago

Back then, even doctors smoked in their offices

@jacktribble5253 1 day ago (edited)

Anyone remember the McDonald's ash trays? The little foil saucer with the McDonald's logo imprinted in the bottom.

@allangardiner2515 20 hours ago

Stopped 5 years ago when 65 years old - now I can't believe I ever did it.

@JoelU-bj1jb 1 day ago

Back in the day, even Doctors used to smoke in their offices

@rhubarbranch 1 day ago

My high school had a smoking area outside in the back, despite the fact that you had to be 18 to buy cigarettes. Late 1970's.

@alanmony1582 1 day ago

When I turned 16 in (1964) my folks gave me a carton of Pall Mall's and permission to smoke in the house! I was so happy, but I quit 5 years later and never went back.

@SamHarrisonMusic 14 hours ago

I saw my dad go through emphysema and it left him severely disabled for the last 12-13 years of his life due to smoking. Nothing rock and roll about it, just a generation of people exploited by cigarette companies who knew they were killing them. Not his fault, those people who knew should rot in jail.

@UncleTonyGuitar 1 day ago

I worked in a hospital in 1979. Part of my job was distributing ashtrays to the patients...

@jeromehranchock5620 1 day ago

My family doctor would be smoking a cigarette while he was examining us when I was child in the 70's

@jonschwindt3064 1 day ago

As a non smoker going to bars in the 70s I’d wake up the next day and all my clothing smelled like the bottom of an ashtray

@EricLange-od7pr 1 day ago (edited)

6:32 This is an EXCELLENT subject matter.. I'm 60. My mother smoked 3 packs a day. She would take me grocery shopping when I was an infant, sitting me on that extremely comfortable folding metal seat incorporated into the cart, blowing smoke into my face. It was completely normal.

@gofukyerhat 1 day ago

"the smoker you drink, the player you get"-Joe Walsh

@Jinxed007 1 day ago

Those stats are amazing! I almost dropped my cigarette.

@Jazzcat-nj8uy 1 day ago

I am "I remember when there were ashtrays built into the arms of airplane seats" old.

@hemlockarts3 19 hours ago

This a fortuitous video, Im 27 ive been smoking for 10 years and am just now 4 days clean. I absolutely started by seeing my role models and idles smoke. Thank you for the upload and the push to stay cig free.