Travis Barker and DJ AM Critically Injured in Plane Crash

Former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, 32, and celebrity DJ Adam "AM" Goldstein, 35, suffered extensive burns after the plane they were traveling in crashed during takeoff from a South Carolina airport Friday night (September 19th) at 11:53 p.m. The Learjet 60 — a twin-engine, private plane that was heading to California — overran the end of the runway, plowed through a fence and continued onto a road, causing a significant fire. The four other passengers were killed, including the pilot and co-pilot. According to MTV News, the other two casualties include Barker's assistant, 29-year-old Chris "Little Chris" Baker, and his security guard, 25-year-old Charles Still. Barker and DJ AM escaped the blaze and are currently being treated at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia. The pair had just performed at at a free T-Mobile-sponsored show at Columbia's Five Points shopping district with Perry Farrell and Gavin DeGraw; they recently teamed up as part of the house band at MTV's VMAs.

UPDATE: According to the doctor attending Barker and AM, both received second and third degree burns but are expected to make a full recovery. Remarkably, they did not sustain any other injuries in the crash.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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