Ten from the vaults: the unseen works of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana

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Fecal Matter demo – Sounds of Dentage

Fecal Matter

Seeping out across the course of the past decade, a significant portion of what was entitled the ‘Illiteracy Will Prevail’ demo, by Cobain’s early band Fecal Matter, is now known. Uncertainties remain, however. Firstly, a complete tape has never emerged, all extant bootleg recordings are stitched together from various sources meaning a final settled running order and full assessment have yet to be made. Secondly, the version of the band captured consists solely of Cobain with Dale Crover of the Melvins.

The band were actually a three-piece playing for most of 1985 and into 1986 with another local friend on drums. It has been confirmed that a number of tapes were made of rehearsals and practices with this iteration of the band. What these earlier recordings hold, what was discarded by the time Cobain and Crover recorded at Easter 1986 is unknown.

Of course, it must be remembered that Cobain lived in at least five homes in that year and a half. He was an itinerant near-homeless youth so expectations for how much composing he could do must be held in check…But with a dozen songs already available it makes you wonder and with few other distractions or entertainments perhaps it was music that provided a retreat.