It’s a cold Tuesday in grey January, and everything feels a bit angsty, the way it always does at the start of the year when you give up drinking and eating junk food and anything else that’s fun and then realise how depressed it makes you. It’s, in other words, the perfect environment to listen to some angsty, grungy, angry music. And what better way to do that than with some previously unheard, super-rare demo tapes from angst-grunge poster kids, Nirvana?
Thanks to musician John Purkey, who watched the band develop in their early years while on the local scene in Tacoma, the world has over two hours of unheard Nirvana music, from four super early demo tapes that Kurt Cobain supposedly gave to John personally. The tapes, now available on YouTube, include Nirvana’s first session with drummer Dave Crover all the way back in 1988, Bleach demos and Nevermind demos made with drummer Chad Channing.
In another video posted John, who uses his YouTube channel to talk extensively about Nirvana, explains how he came to have the demos, which he hid inside metal boxes for years until one was stolen from a friend’s car. Ultimately he decided to sell two of them, but thankfully they’re on the internet for us to listen to for free.
Check out the entire video series here: