The track “Do re mi” seems lighter and happier than one would expect from a Nirvana song, yet it has the same sarcastic undertone that permeated their seminal album, Nevermind. It was recorded on a boom box in the home of one of the band members and originally appeared on the 2004 special edition album With the Lights Out.
The demo track “E coli” is an interesting piece of music in which not a single lyric is sung. As a result, the track is nearly nine minutes of pure, disturbing distortion. The repetitive, hypnotic guitar melody and disconcerting screams are sure to unsettle listeners in true Nirvana fashion.
“Big cheese” is a track that was recorded during the band’s early days in 1988, and was an indication of the grunge-fuelled sound they would adopt on Bleach, their debut album. It also leans heavily on Cobain’s signature screechy, haunting, sometimes-almost-cantankerous vocals.
An acoustic version of “Verse chorus verse”, a track that has achieved cult status among die-hard Nirvana fans, was also leaked. It calls on the irony and depressed atmosphere the band’s lyrics were so famous for in the ‘90s, while the melody and title clearly mock the way in which songs had become a formula to be followed, turning the music industry into generic song-farms. The track was recorded live, with Cobain singing a scratch vocal (vocal tracks that are recorded without the intention of being used in the final song). An actual vocal track for the song was never formally recorded.
By far the most interesting of the unreleased tracks is an untitled, clearly improvised track which was included in the end credits of the recent Kurt Cobain documentary, Montage of Heck. There have been various debates among fans as to what this track might be called. Many fans suggest that it might be a very early demo of the band’s hit “Lithium”, while Brett Morgen, director of Montage of Heck, calls it the “Cry baby Jenkins riff”. Cobain himself said sarcastically on the track, “Jerry Garcia [guitarist of The Grateful Dead] would really like this. I’m going to send him a tape. I’ll just have to sprinkle it with patchouli or something.”
While the majority of these unreleased tracks are available on the “RareNirvana” YouTube channel, several have been removed for alleged copyright infringement. The source of these leaked tracks remains unknown, but their influence on the grunge music community is tangible.
Image: ConsequenceOfSound.net
