Chad Channing, the original drummer for Nirvana, will not be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, despite appearing on the Love Buzz 7-inch, the record that made the band eligible for induction this year. Channing also played on Bleach, the band’s first LP. While the vast majority of the Nirvana-aware population just knows Nirvana as Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Kurt Cobain, it’s fairly sketchy of the Rock Hall to use the band’s first records to justify its induction date, then ignore one-third of the guys that actually made them.
Channing was in Nirvana until 1990, ultimately leaving because he wasn’t being involved in the group’s songwriting. He even thought he would be inducted, telling Radio.com that he’d “be there at the table ready to walk up,” until he heard earlier this week, via text message, that he would not be included. Nirvana’s manager forwarded Channing a text he’d received from the Rock Hall staff that said, “Can you tell whoever looks after Chad Channing that he isn’t being inducted… It is just Dave, Krist, and Kurt.”