Relationship With Other Musicians
After meeting Ian MacKaye in 1980, Johnson later became friends with the members of Fugazi, and Beat Happening was the opening band on one of Fugazi's first tours.
Johnson has worked with Modest Mouse, Beck, Heavenly, The Microphones, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Blow, Jens Lekman, Mecca Normal, The Gossip and Built to Spill, Fifth Column, among many others. Since founding his Dub Narcotic recording studio in 1993, he has produced and engineered recordings by many bands and artists.
Friends of Kurt Cobain such as Ian Dickson of Earth, Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Bruce Pavitt and Slim Moon have all acknowledged Johnson's significant influence on the late musician. Cobain cited Beat Happening's Jamboree as one of his favorite records, and even got the K Records logo (a small "K" in a shield) tattooed on his arm to "try and remind to stay a child." They were friends in the late 80s/early 90s when Cobain lived in Olympia; he'd been a guest with The Go Team, and on September 25, 1990, Cobain appeared on a KAOS (FM) show hosted by Johnson and performed a number of songs acoustically, including a duet with Johnson on the Wipers song, "D-7." Cobain later grew to resent Johnson's "arrogance" and denounced his ties in a (private) journal entry.
Johnson is also referred to in the John Peel session version of the Hole song, "Olympia" (also credited as "Rock Star" on the album Live Through This). The band's lead singer, Courtney Love has the line: 'I went to school with Calvin,' a reference to Johnson's influence within the burgeoning Olympia indie music scene.
Read more about this topic: Calvin Johnson (musician)
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