Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Nirvana · S1 E4
Fecal Matter
Kurt records a demo tape on his aunt's four-track in December 1985. He calls the project Fecal Matter. The songs are raw, distorted, and weirdly melodic underneath all the noise. Dale Crover of the Melvins plays drums. It is the first document of the sound that will become Nirvana
December 1985. Kurt Cobain locks himself in his aunt Mari's spare room with a borrowed four-track recorder and Melvins drummer Dale Crover. When he comes out, he has a cassette tape labeled "Fecal Matter" and the first batch of songs that sound like the future.
Nirvana, Come As You Are. The cleanest, most melodic thing Kurt ever recorded. This is what was hiding inside those Fecal Matter demos all along: a gift for writing hooks so strong they survive any amount of distortion you throw on top.
The Illiterate's Troubadour
The Fecal Matter demo is raw in a way that makes Bleach sound polished. Kurt plays guitar and sings, Dale Crover plays drums, and the four-track captures everything in a muddy, distorted blur. But underneath the noise, there are melodies. Real ones. Pop hooks buried under so much fuzz they almost disappear.
TAP TO REVEAL: How many band names did Kurt scribble in his journals before settling on one?
Come As You Are, Nirvana (1991)
Built on a guitar riff that Kurt borrowed from Killing Joke's "Eighties" (Killing Joke sued after Kurt's death; the case was eventually dropped). The chorus effect on the guitar, that watery, shimmering sound, was achieved by running the signal through a Small Clone pedal. Listen for how the bass mirrors the guitar line note for note in the verse, then splits off in the chorus. That interplay between guitar and bass is something Kurt figured out in those early four-track experiments when he had to play both parts himself.
Which Melvins member played drums on Kurt Cobain's first-ever demo tape?
The Tape
Kurt dubs copies of the Fecal Matter demo and hands them to anyone who will listen. Most people in Aberdeen do not care. One person does: a tall, quiet kid from a Croatian family who lives nearby and has been looking for someone to play music with.
“I listened to it and I didn't get it at first. But there was something there. I listened to it again and again and I finally called him up.”
— Krist Novoselic on hearing the Fecal Matter demo, from Michael Azerrad, "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana," Doubleday, 1993
Spank Thru, Nirvana
Originally recorded for the Fecal Matter demo in 1985, then re-recorded for the Sub Pop 200 compilation in 1988. This is the earliest Nirvana song that made it onto an official release. The pop melody is already there, fully formed, hiding under the distortion like a secret Kurt wasn't ready to tell yet.
Krist Novoselic picks up a bass guitar, calls Kurt, and says he wants to start a band. The two misfits from Aberdeen are about to spend two years searching for one thing they cannot find: a drummer who hits hard enough.
0 XP earned this session