Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic Knocked Himself Unconscious With His Own Bass on Live TV 33 Years Ago Today

Heralded as the worst instrument toss of all time, today marks the 33rd anniversary of Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic going on live TV and throwing his bass into the air, only to end up catching it with his whole head, which knocked him unconscious.

The infamous moment happened at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, where Nirvana won two awards: Best New Artist in a Video and Best Alternative Video, for “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” At the end of the band’s performance of “Lithium,” Novoselic launched his bass guitar upwards, and it came right back down on top of him. Watch the clip below:

Speaking to Guitar World a couple of years ago, Novoselic recalled the wild experience, saying, “Oh, that was mega! We started playing this song, and my amp just didn’t work. So I thought, ‘I’m gonna do this bass toss and walk off.’ Well, the bass got caught in the TV lights, and then boom! It fell on my head.”

He went on to share, “So I storm off stage, and these paramedics come and take a look at me and put a bandage on, and I had to sign all these release forms, so I’m not gonna sue anybody. It was in front of 200 million people, right?”

Krist Novoselic also had a surprising Celebrity run-in the night of his accident

Novoselic then got some support from an unlikely source… Queen guitarist Brian May. “So I’m all annoyed, right,” he said, “and I’m like ‘What the hell!’ and behind them there is this amazing fellow, with a glass of champagne. It’s Brian May! Just standing there politely.”

He says ‘Here you are, my good man’ and he hands me this glass of champagne,” Novoselic continued. “I was like, ‘You’re Brian May! How are you?’ and he said, ‘More importantly, how are you?’ Moments later, Dave Grohl burst in. He’d been looking all over for me, only to find me enjoying a calm glass of bubbly with Mr. May.”