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Today In History@historigins · Jul 12, 2025

Musicians playing their greatest hits before becoming world famous. A thread 🧵 1. MGMT plays "Kids" to a crowd of 25…

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Summary

A thread showcasing iconic musicians performing their future hit songs in tiny venues before they became famous, including MGMT's 'Kids' to 25 people, The Killers' first 'Mr. Brightside', Nirvana announcing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' to an unresponsive crowd, and many others like Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, and Maggie Rogers performing in small clubs and informal settings.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

  1. #1

    Musicians playing their greatest hits before becoming world famous. A thread 🧵 1. MGMT plays "Kids" to a crowd of 25 people on their college campus

  2. #2

    2. The Killers first live performance of "Mr. Brightside" in 2002

  3. #3

    3. Nirvana announces they’re going to play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at a local gig, and nobody in the crowd reacts at all because they’ve never heard of it before

  4. #4

    4. Kendrick performing "Money Trees" at a Best Buy

  5. #5

    5. Bastille playing ‘Pompeii’ in what looks like someone’s living room

  6. #6

    6. Mumford and Sons playing ‘The Cave’ to a crowd of 20 people at a pizzeria

  7. #7

    7. Ed Sheeran playing “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ in a club in LA before he was famous

  8. #8

    8. Maggie Rogers, as an unknown music student at NYU, showing her unfinished song ‘Alaska’ to Pharrell

  9. #9

    9. Justin Bieber playing in the street

  10. #10

    10. Rosalía's first public appearance on a TV show

  11. #11

    End of thread! If you want to see more of this kind of content don't forget to follow me! 🌎📜