Converted barn - Tacoma, WA
1991-03-xx · United States · Studio · more gigs in Tacoma
Circulating discs (3)
Sliver The Best of The Box Album
(dgc - dgc)
- 13. Smells like teen spirit 5:40
- 14. Come as you are 4:10
With the lights out Album
(DGC - LC07266)
- 10. Smells like teen spirit 5:40
Various 3 Tape
- 27. Old Age 1:10
Notes & circulating recordings
Rehearsal Demo Early 1991
LIVE NIRVANA SESSIONS HISTORY: March, 1991
Converted barn, Tacoma, WA, US
Band members: Kurt Cobain (guitar, vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass), & David Grohl (drums)
Set:
[U] Old Age
[O] Smells Like Teen Spirit
[X] Verse Chorus Verse
[X] Territorial Pissings
[X] Lounge Act
[O] Come As You Are
[X] Something In The Way
[X] On A Plain
Sources:
Source Quality Complete Runtime Lowest Gen Tracks Featured Notes
AUD #1a 7.5 No 0:01:10 ANA(X) > RealAudio (80 kbps) • Old Age 'Old Age' cuts out.
AUD #1b 7.5 No TBC Official CD (Sliver: Best Of The Box) • Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Come As You Are
Notes: Rehearsals for Nevermind began in in earnest in early 1991. The band rented a converted barn with an over-sized PA, located in the backyard of a friends house in Tacoma. (4) After writing and forgetting many new songs, a cheap boombox recorder was brought in to capture their working demos. "We came up with so much stuff where we'd go, 'God, this is the best thing we've ever done!'" Grohl told Circus in '92. "Then we'd forget how to play it. So many songs got thrown away, until we finally said, 'Maybe we should start recording them on a cassette.'" (56)
One such boombox recording was sent to Butch Vig in the weeks before the Nevermind sessions were due to commence. Vig described the tape thus, "[It was] a really raw boombox cassette recording. It distorted so badly that you could barely make out what they're playing." (1)
Having worked with the band at Smart Studios, April 1990, Vig was already familiar with several songs on the tape, but it was the strength of the new material that really drew his attention, "The new songs were much better crafted and hook-y." (53)
Vig admitted that it was hard to hear Cobain's vocal over the distortion, "[I] could kinda hear a little bit of the hooks and things and I could hear the "hello, hello, how low", you know, I could hear a little bit of that and hear the riff in 'Come As You Are' and between the songs they were goofing around and going, "How's that sound Butch?" and "This is Dave" and Dave would play like a really sloppy drum solo ..." (9)
Further details of the tape's contents were divulged in an article published on www.thestranger.com in 1998. The article, titled 'Whose Song Is It, Anyway?', contested the origins of 'Old Age' (a song which had, until then, been accredited to Courtney Love and Hole - appearing first as a b-side to their Beautiful Son single in 1993, and again on the My Body, The Hand Grenade retrospective compilation in 1997).
The article revealed 'Old Age' to be a NIRVANA original, providing a 1:10 minute clip sourced from the March 1991 boombox tape as evidence.
Owing to its immense historical significance, this recording is perhaps the most sought after unsurfaced item in the entire catalogue.
LIVE NIRVANA SESSIONS HISTORY: March, 1991
Converted barn, Tacoma, WA, US
Band members: Kurt Cobain (guitar, vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass), & David Grohl (drums)
Set:
[U] Old Age
[O] Smells Like Teen Spirit
[X] Verse Chorus Verse
[X] Territorial Pissings
[X] Lounge Act
[O] Come As You Are
[X] Something In The Way
[X] On A Plain
Sources:
Source Quality Complete Runtime Lowest Gen Tracks Featured Notes
AUD #1a 7.5 No 0:01:10 ANA(X) > RealAudio (80 kbps) • Old Age 'Old Age' cuts out.
AUD #1b 7.5 No TBC Official CD (Sliver: Best Of The Box) • Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Come As You Are
Notes: Rehearsals for Nevermind began in in earnest in early 1991. The band rented a converted barn with an over-sized PA, located in the backyard of a friends house in Tacoma. (4) After writing and forgetting many new songs, a cheap boombox recorder was brought in to capture their working demos. "We came up with so much stuff where we'd go, 'God, this is the best thing we've ever done!'" Grohl told Circus in '92. "Then we'd forget how to play it. So many songs got thrown away, until we finally said, 'Maybe we should start recording them on a cassette.'" (56)
One such boombox recording was sent to Butch Vig in the weeks before the Nevermind sessions were due to commence. Vig described the tape thus, "[It was] a really raw boombox cassette recording. It distorted so badly that you could barely make out what they're playing." (1)
Having worked with the band at Smart Studios, April 1990, Vig was already familiar with several songs on the tape, but it was the strength of the new material that really drew his attention, "The new songs were much better crafted and hook-y." (53)
Vig admitted that it was hard to hear Cobain's vocal over the distortion, "[I] could kinda hear a little bit of the hooks and things and I could hear the "hello, hello, how low", you know, I could hear a little bit of that and hear the riff in 'Come As You Are' and between the songs they were goofing around and going, "How's that sound Butch?" and "This is Dave" and Dave would play like a really sloppy drum solo ..." (9)
Further details of the tape's contents were divulged in an article published on www.thestranger.com in 1998. The article, titled 'Whose Song Is It, Anyway?', contested the origins of 'Old Age' (a song which had, until then, been accredited to Courtney Love and Hole - appearing first as a b-side to their Beautiful Son single in 1993, and again on the My Body, The Hand Grenade retrospective compilation in 1997).
The article revealed 'Old Age' to be a NIRVANA original, providing a 1:10 minute clip sourced from the March 1991 boombox tape as evidence.
Owing to its immense historical significance, this recording is perhaps the most sought after unsurfaced item in the entire catalogue.