1987 and earlier ♫ Stever's Nirvana Chronology

1987
and earlier

- 1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993 +

Young Kurt (November 1969)
1. Gibberish
2. Talking to Dad
3. Counting to 10
4. Hey Jude & Boddah

Not really Nirvana material, but interesting. This tape was recorded at Kurt's Aunt Mari's house, while he and his mother, Wendy, were visiting. It was given to the director of some movie (I forget, I think it was Kurt and Courtney) and only a section of it was used. This is the whole tape. Boddah was his imaginary friend as a kid, and interestingly, the person he wrote his suicide note to.

Fecal Matter (December 1985)
1. Sound of Dentage
2. Bambi Slaughter
3. Laminated Effect
4. Spank thru
5. Buffy's Pregnant
6. Downer
7. Class of '86
8. Blathers Log
9. Instramental
Six other untitled songs, instrumentals and sound collages

The Holy Grail of Nirvana recordings. I'd love to hear the rest of this, but I'd be happy only with the release of "Spank Thru," which was FINALLY officially released on Sliver: The Best of the Box in 2005. You know ...only 20 years later.

The Horror Movies (Late 1980s)
A bunch of randomness including:
Kurt washing a wall
Kurt jumping around with a guitar in his backyard
Kurt's claymation
and more home movies made with Krist and other friends

This was a collection of some home movies of Kurt's, right around the time he befriended Krist. Funny stuff, but also a bit tedius to get through (as most home movies are.) Shows these guys were just regular kids once. I have no clue how this got out to the public! It's obviously from a really generated VHS - most of it and especially the claymation section is pretty grainy. It's nicknamed The Horror Movies, because the end collection of home movies deal with a killer who uses a knife that sprays fake-blood.

First Live Performance (March 1987)
1. Downer
2. Aero Zeppelin
3. If You Must
4. Heartbreaker
5. How Many More Times
6. Mexican Seafood
7. Pen Cap Chew
8. Spank Thru
9. Hairspray Queen

Nirvana's first performance at 17 Naussbaum Road in Washington. How cool is it that their first 'show' was taped?!?! No clapping, lots of non-playing talking between songs and two Led Zeppelin covers in a row give the impression of this being more of a jam in front of people at afriend's at a party.

KAOS demos (April 17, 1987)
1. Love Buzz
2. Floyd the Barber
3. Downer
4. Mexican Seafood
5. White Lace and Strange
6. Spank Thru
7. Anorexorcist
8. Hairspray Queen
9. Pen Cap Chew
10. Vendetagainst

A recording made at the local college radio show turned into Nirvana's first demo. "White Lace and Strange" is an obscure cover song, and along with the never-released (until With The Lights Out) "Anorexorcist," easily the best of the bunch. The previously mentioned box set mislabels "Vendetagainst" as "Help Me, I'm Hungry" which is just one of MANY examples of how Nirvana's official releases screw up info.

This chronology is in no way complete, and is based on my own stash of Nirvana recordings (although I've got tons more live stuff than just what's on these few pages.) Material I have in one form or another is in Gold. Material I'm missing is in white.