JANUARY 23, 1988 – Nirvana recorded a 10-song demo at the Reciprocal Recording studio with Seattle producer Jack Endino. Only singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic were involved, with Dale Crover of The Melvins sitting in on drums and backing vocals. When Sub Pop records boss Jonathan Poneman heard the tape, he offered to put out Nirvana’s first single.The stories regarding this first studio session are well known; Nirvana recorded at breakneck speed, just six hours or so of work, instrumental versions done first, then Kurt’s vocals, mixing done within two hours, and then it was out the door. The session was paid for from Kurt’s wages as a janitor hence the fade-ending to the song Pen Cap Chew because as Endino recalled “the multitrack master tape ran out just at the start of the second chorus, and the band didn’t want to buy another reel, so more correctly the song is ‘permanently incomplete’, not ‘unfinished’. You can’t finish it when a third of the song is missing. I did the fade ending for the hell of it, just so they could listen to what was there less jarringly.” That same night the band, who were not even on the bill, played as “Ted, Ed, Fred” performing all the songs from the studio session in the precise same order with the Led Zeppelin song “Moby Dick” as a finale at the Community World Center in Tacoma, Washington.
TRACKLIST:
1) If You Must
2) Downer
3) Floyd The Barber
4) Paper Cuts
5) Spank Thru
6) Aero Zeppelin
7) Beeswax
8) Mexican Seafood
9) Pen Cap Chew
10) Annorexorcist
11) Hairspray Queen
12) Erectum (aka Raunchola)
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