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The Red Hot Chili Peppers looked back on the pivotal moment in music history that was their 1991-'92 winter tour with Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
RHCP was headlining a tour in support of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, taking out two young bands from Seattle that were on the verge of breaking big themselves.
Speaking this week with Howard Stern, Flea recalled feeling that both opening bands were special.
"I remember just feeling like they were good bands, but Nirvana, they were really carrying a heavy magic with them," said the bassist. "Just this feeling like they are a powerful entity to be respected."
John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis added that Nirvana put "pressure" on themselves to be a great live band. RHCP was the same way.
"The first time that we ever played, it was just natural to have an energy, to have a passion and have a live or die aesthetic to everything that we did," Kiedis said. "Nirvana had that naturally as well. They were certainly good at their instruments and all that, but then they also just had a combustibility that came with birth or came from god or came from the planets or something."
Kiedis added that he never became close with Kurt Cobain; he was usually nervous when Nirvana was around, and Cobain was shy too.
"I was in awe, and he wasn't the type who wanted to discuss being a frontman; he was just kind of shy and in his energetic state, but Flea and I had some nice moments with him at some MTV show where we snuck away and went backstage and just sat with him while he was getting ready to play. That was a nice experience."
RHCP just released their 12th studio album, Unlimited Love, last week. They were also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.