Nirvana "Safer Than Heaven" Demo Tape

This cassette contains early demos and outtakes recorded by band Nirvana at Seattle's Reciprocal Studio in the earliest stage of the band's career.  The songs included on the recording are “Spank Thru,” “Floyd the Barber,” “Mr. Moustache,” “Paper Cuts,” and “Big Cheese.”  Music producer Jack Endino created the cuts at his Reciprocal Studio, where other Grunge bands such as Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Skin Yard also recorded, putting Seattle on the Grunge music map.  

The members of Nirvana—at the time, Kurt Cobain, Chris Novoselic and Dale Crover—arranged an initial recording session with Endino for January 23, 1988.  The band then returned to Reciprocal a number of times throughout 1988 to record their debut single, “Big Cheese,” and their first album, Bleach. During this time, they also stockpiled outtakes that were later released on the 1992 compilation album Incesticide.  

Nirvana was one of the primary bands of the Grunge music scene, born out of the Pacific Northwest US in the early 1990s, and which lead to the rise and prominence of Alternative Rock in the 1990s. Although only a band for six years, Nirvana became one of the most influential groups of the 1990s and their legacy reverberates through popular music and culture even today.