Hell hath no excitement like the blogsphere when it discovers something new (sort of) about Kurt Cobain. We’ve already ravaged his b-sides and his journals in an attempt to comprehensively ~experience~ him through stuff (and people) he left behind, but this week it became universal knowledge that, at some point in his life, he made a mixtape. Naturally, it has become the limp biscuit in the collective circle jerk of the Internet, because ohmigod.
The mix, dubbed “Montage of Heck”, was released by Dangerous Minds last Friday but most people were too busy being Halloween to notice. Once the universal hangover cleared it was pushed out everywhere and pegged as a “new” mix. Unsurprisingly, it isn’t new at all. It’s been up on Live Nirvana since 2006 and apparently they inherited it from a digitalnirvana post from 2002, so technically it’s been knocking about the public forum for 12 years. Classic Internet! Still, only a true cynic would ruin all our fun with something as trivial as facts. It’s fair to say that the majority of people don’t spend their time rummaging around Nirvana archives, so fuck all the stoke extinguishers out there – let’s treat it like it is a new thing, because it’s actually one of the few posthumous Cobain-related announcements worth getting excited about.
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Reportedly created by Cobain around 1987 (according to ex-girlfriend Tracy Marander), “Montage of Heck” features a compilation of radio hits, cartoon dialogue and sounds of someone (Kurt?) doing various things to a toilet. It might feel “bizarre” to anybody who only knows Nirvana by their full-length albums, but to anybody who has dug a little deeper – read his journals, watched every single documentary (even the dubious Kurt & Courtney) or spent time quibbling over meanings of lyrics – the mix simply feels like an extension of somebody they already recognise; somebody who was fascinated by vomit and The Flintstones in equal measure.
Recorded using a two-track recorder (again, according to Marander), the mix is really fucking annoying in that it only plays about 10 seconds of any given thing, but that’s also why it’s fucking brilliant. Most of us use mixtapes as a way of introducing ourselves, bonding, flirting… we place one track after another like footsteps down a straight path. The frantic and dynamic nature of Cobain’s mix implies a level of care and creativity most of us would never be arsed with. He’s basically taken William S. Burroughs “cut and paste” technique and applied it to sound.
By nature, mixtapes are inherently personal. “Montage of Heck” is an abrasive, almost psychotic and hilarious scrapbook that provides an almost uncomfortable insight to Kurt Cobain’s life at that point. This isn’t something commercial or considered, it’s a different kind of creative project undertaken almost entirely for personal enjoyment. If the dates are correct, it would’ve been put together during the lead up to Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, released in June 1989.
Let’s take a look behind some of his choices, if only to justify to my mum that those two intense teenage years I spent scribbling lyrics all over my bedroom walls in wax crayon and re-reading Heavier Than Heaven were not a complete waste.
The Beatles – “A Day In The Life”
Perhaps the biggest myth about Kurt Cobain is that he didn’t want to be famous. That’s crap. He totally wanted to be famous. He was the kind of person who, according to Michael Azerrad, sat in a car for hours waiting for “Love Buzz” to air on the radio, only to stop at a phonebox to request it himself. He wanted to sell records without selling out. It makes total sense, then, that he hated Paul McCartney but fucking loved the Beatles. Although Nirvana came up through Seattle’s grunge scene, what set them apart from the Melvins, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains etc is that they took all the visceral aggression of grunge but restructured it into pop songs. Nirvana’s melodies, hooks, choruses…they’re all pure pop, and you can largely thank the Beatles for that. Having been handed down Beatles records from his aunts, their music became an early and lasting influence, partly because of its simplicity. He would later admit that he wrote “About A Girl” after spending three hours listening to Meet The Beatles!
The Barbarians – “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?”
featured pretty heavilyQueen – “Get Down, Make Love”
This isn’t “bizarre” or “surprising”, is it? Kurt’s love for ABBA is pretty extensively documented and surely Queen is a logical side-step in a more tasteful direction. Putting aside the fact that every motherfucker loves Queen, don’t tell me you can’t see a glamorous similarity between Freddie Mercury and Kurt Cobain rocking up to interviews dressed like he’s been pulled out of a Mardi Gras.
“Theme from The Andy Griffith Show”
The Andy Griffith Show – a television programme from the 60s set in a small, idyllic American town with which Kurt Cobain was obsessed. Some of the characters – Floyd, Barny, Opie and Aunt Bea – were all referenced on “Floyd The Barber”, which is basically about what would happen if they were all completely psychotic murderers who would torture anybody who visited them for a shave. Cult rumour: when Cobain’s body was found, the television was tuned into a station that aired syndicated reruns of The Andy Griffith Show.
Butthole Surfers – “The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave”
end up in rehabFeel free to explore the full track-list and mix below:
“Montage of Heck” Tracklist (not in order):
“The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” by Mike Douglas
“The Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” by The Beatles
“A Day In The Life” by The Beatles
“Eruption” by Van Halen
“Hot Pants” by James Brown
“Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” by Cher
“Go Away Little Girl” by Donny Osmond
“Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver
“Everybody Loves Somebody” by Dean Martin
“The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis, Jr.
“In A Gadda Da Vida” by Iron Butterfly
“Wild Thing” by William Shatner
“Taxman” by The Beatles
“I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family
“Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?” by The Barbarians
“Queen Of The Reich” by Queensryche
“Last Caress/Green Hell” covered by Metallica
“Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin
“Get Down, Make Love” by Queen
“ABC” by The Jackson Five
“I Want Your Sex” by George Michael
“Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden
“Eye Of The Chicken” by Butthole Surfers
“Dance of the Cobra” by Butthole Surfers
“The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave” by Butthole Surfers
“New Age” by The Velvet Underground
“Love Buzz” by Shocking Blue
Orchestral music from 200 Motels by Frank Zappa
“Help I’m A Rock” / “It Can’t Happen Here” by Frank Zappa
“Call Any Vegetable” by Frank Zappa
“The Day We Fall In Love” by The Monkees
“Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath (intro)
Theme from The Andy Griffith Show
Mike Love (of The Beach Boys) talking about “Transcendental Meditation”
Excerpts of Jimi Hendrix speaking at the Monterey Pop Festival
Excerpts of Paul Stanley from KISS’ Alive!
Excerpts of Daniel Johnston screaming about Satan
Excerpts from sound effects records
Various children’s records (Curious George, Sesame Street, The Flintstones, Star Wars)
