Chords for NIRVANA: Taking Punk to the Masses - Jack Endino on Early Nirvana
Tempo:
90.125 bpm
Chords used:
E
F
Bb
C
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
So going back to Nirvana, you record that 10-song demo, and tell me about basically getting the tape to Jonathan.
How did [E] Jonathan and Bruce become interested in doing it?
I don't remember much about that.
I think I gave them the tape, and probably gave it to Jonathan, [F] because I didn't have that much contact with Bruce in those days.
I think initially he was intrigued by it, but he wasn't about to just release it.
He thought, well, this is interesting.
The singer's got character.
Let's see what happens with him.
So his take was basically watchful waiting, which was waiting to see what they were like live, and what happened to the band.
Because Dale was only a temporary drummer.
They had to get a real drummer.
They had to get a name, and they had to start playing some shows, which they did.
I think a fellow named Dave Foster played a show or two with them, and shortly after that, maybe March of 88, you'd have to look in the Nirvana books for that.
I saw one show at the Community World that they played with this other guy on drums, and I walked in and caught the last three songs or something like that.
And then a couple months later, they wound up with Chad Channing drumming.
Chad was a guy from Bainbridge, much younger than I was.
I grew up on Bainbridge, but most of the musicians that we now talk about as being musicians from Bainbridge, Chad Channing, Ben Shepard, I didn't know them at the time.
I was older.
I did know Kevin Wood back in 1978, 79, even though he was much younger than I was, because we both had dirt bikes.
I knew him as the guy with the Yamaha, and I was the guy with the little Honda.
But actually knowing him as a musician in Malfunction, that was seven or eight years later when I saw a Malfunction show.
I was like, don't I know you from Bainbridge Island?
Long story short, Nirvana chose their name, got their real drummer, Chad Channing, and played a few shows, some of them opening for Skinyard, actually.
They opened for Skinyard at least four times.
Initially, they weren't very good, because Kurt had not really figured out how to sing and play guitar at the same time very well.
Playing guitar hampered his singing too much.
Also, Chad was trying to play these songs that they had basically written with Dale Crover, who's a monster drummer.
Chad's a very good drummer, but some of the songs that were played with Dale didn't sound as good with Chad, so they wrote new songs.
This is no slam on Chad, because Skinyard went through this with our six drummers.
Every time we changed drummers, no matter how good the drummer was, we lost half our songs, because the style just didn't match anymore.
The songs that sounded good with drummer A, some of them just wouldn't work with drummer B.
On the other hand, some other songs were better with drummer B, and then we would write new songs with drummer B, and then it would be great.
Then we would get drummer C and lose half of the songs we'd been playing with drummer B, because the style didn't match.
Nirvana went through the same thing.
Kurt proceeded to write a bunch of songs that didn't sound so much Melvin's influenced, that were a little more direct.
That was the birth of the Nirvana that we know from the Bleach album.
Jonathan, meanwhile, had been seeing them play shows, and he just became interested enough to say,
Well, let's do a seven-inch.
And one side has to be this cover tune you guys have been doing, which was Love Buzz by The Shocking Blue.
Kurt wasn't that thrilled about the idea that, OK, my first record ever is going to be a seven-inch, and it's going to have only one of my songs on it, a cover tune and one Nirvana tune.
But he had nothing better on the table.
So I think it was June or July of 88, Sub Pop sent them into the studio with me, and we did what became the Love Buzz seven-inch, which is Love Buzz as the side A and Big Cheese as the side B.
So that record came out and got a fairly good response.
And so, now I can't say that Sub Pop said to them immediately, Go do an album, because that's not exactly what happened.
Nirvana decided they were going to do an album.
Sub Pop said, Well, maybe we can do an EP.
Let's see what happens.
Nirvana said, Well, first of all, we don't want to do an EP.
We want to do an album.
And second of all, we're going to pay for it ourselves, because we're not sure we want [E] Sub Pop to do it.
So they borrowed some money from their friend Jason Everman, who was not in the band, and came and recorded with me in December of 1988, [Bb] and we began.
We did a series of evenings, half days, four hours here, five hours there.
No more than a total of 30 hours, something like that, which became the Bleach album.
So sometime in early January of 1988, we had wrapped that up pretty much.
Sub Pop wanted to do an EP.
Nirvana sort of thought they would shop it around to some other labels, but nobody bid on it.
So they said, Well, all right, we'll do it with Sub Pop, but it's going to be an LP.
And the only thing they worried that they did do, Sub Pop made, Bruce Pavitt in particular, made them change the song order.
They had a song order picked [E] out.
I think it was going to start with Floyd the Barber.
And Bruce said, No, it's got to start with Blue, the song Blue.
So they changed the sequence.
Somewhere I have a cassette with the original sequence on it.
So Bruce convinced them to change the sequence of the songs, and that was pretty much [C] the only time they listened to Sub Pop about anything.
So that became the Bleach album, and that came out in 1989 sometime.
And initially did okay, but not spectacularly.
It did fairly well, better than people were expecting, I think.
How did [E] Jonathan and Bruce become interested in doing it?
I don't remember much about that.
I think I gave them the tape, and probably gave it to Jonathan, [F] because I didn't have that much contact with Bruce in those days.
I think initially he was intrigued by it, but he wasn't about to just release it.
He thought, well, this is interesting.
The singer's got character.
Let's see what happens with him.
So his take was basically watchful waiting, which was waiting to see what they were like live, and what happened to the band.
Because Dale was only a temporary drummer.
They had to get a real drummer.
They had to get a name, and they had to start playing some shows, which they did.
I think a fellow named Dave Foster played a show or two with them, and shortly after that, maybe March of 88, you'd have to look in the Nirvana books for that.
I saw one show at the Community World that they played with this other guy on drums, and I walked in and caught the last three songs or something like that.
And then a couple months later, they wound up with Chad Channing drumming.
Chad was a guy from Bainbridge, much younger than I was.
I grew up on Bainbridge, but most of the musicians that we now talk about as being musicians from Bainbridge, Chad Channing, Ben Shepard, I didn't know them at the time.
I was older.
I did know Kevin Wood back in 1978, 79, even though he was much younger than I was, because we both had dirt bikes.
I knew him as the guy with the Yamaha, and I was the guy with the little Honda.
But actually knowing him as a musician in Malfunction, that was seven or eight years later when I saw a Malfunction show.
I was like, don't I know you from Bainbridge Island?
Long story short, Nirvana chose their name, got their real drummer, Chad Channing, and played a few shows, some of them opening for Skinyard, actually.
They opened for Skinyard at least four times.
Initially, they weren't very good, because Kurt had not really figured out how to sing and play guitar at the same time very well.
Playing guitar hampered his singing too much.
Also, Chad was trying to play these songs that they had basically written with Dale Crover, who's a monster drummer.
Chad's a very good drummer, but some of the songs that were played with Dale didn't sound as good with Chad, so they wrote new songs.
This is no slam on Chad, because Skinyard went through this with our six drummers.
Every time we changed drummers, no matter how good the drummer was, we lost half our songs, because the style just didn't match anymore.
The songs that sounded good with drummer A, some of them just wouldn't work with drummer B.
On the other hand, some other songs were better with drummer B, and then we would write new songs with drummer B, and then it would be great.
Then we would get drummer C and lose half of the songs we'd been playing with drummer B, because the style didn't match.
Nirvana went through the same thing.
Kurt proceeded to write a bunch of songs that didn't sound so much Melvin's influenced, that were a little more direct.
That was the birth of the Nirvana that we know from the Bleach album.
Jonathan, meanwhile, had been seeing them play shows, and he just became interested enough to say,
Well, let's do a seven-inch.
And one side has to be this cover tune you guys have been doing, which was Love Buzz by The Shocking Blue.
Kurt wasn't that thrilled about the idea that, OK, my first record ever is going to be a seven-inch, and it's going to have only one of my songs on it, a cover tune and one Nirvana tune.
But he had nothing better on the table.
So I think it was June or July of 88, Sub Pop sent them into the studio with me, and we did what became the Love Buzz seven-inch, which is Love Buzz as the side A and Big Cheese as the side B.
So that record came out and got a fairly good response.
And so, now I can't say that Sub Pop said to them immediately, Go do an album, because that's not exactly what happened.
Nirvana decided they were going to do an album.
Sub Pop said, Well, maybe we can do an EP.
Let's see what happens.
Nirvana said, Well, first of all, we don't want to do an EP.
We want to do an album.
And second of all, we're going to pay for it ourselves, because we're not sure we want [E] Sub Pop to do it.
So they borrowed some money from their friend Jason Everman, who was not in the band, and came and recorded with me in December of 1988, [Bb] and we began.
We did a series of evenings, half days, four hours here, five hours there.
No more than a total of 30 hours, something like that, which became the Bleach album.
So sometime in early January of 1988, we had wrapped that up pretty much.
Sub Pop wanted to do an EP.
Nirvana sort of thought they would shop it around to some other labels, but nobody bid on it.
So they said, Well, all right, we'll do it with Sub Pop, but it's going to be an LP.
And the only thing they worried that they did do, Sub Pop made, Bruce Pavitt in particular, made them change the song order.
They had a song order picked [E] out.
I think it was going to start with Floyd the Barber.
And Bruce said, No, it's got to start with Blue, the song Blue.
So they changed the sequence.
Somewhere I have a cassette with the original sequence on it.
So Bruce convinced them to change the sequence of the songs, and that was pretty much [C] the only time they listened to Sub Pop about anything.
So that became the Bleach album, and that came out in 1989 sometime.
And initially did okay, but not spectacularly.
It did fairly well, better than people were expecting, I think.
Key:
E
F
Bb
C
E
F
Bb
C
_ _ So going back to Nirvana, you record that 10-song demo, and _ tell me about basically getting the tape to Jonathan.
How did [E] Jonathan and Bruce become interested in doing it?
I don't remember much about that.
I think I gave them the tape, and probably gave it to Jonathan, [F] because I didn't have that much contact with Bruce in those days.
_ _ I think _ _ _ initially he was intrigued by it, but he wasn't about to just release it.
He thought, well, this is interesting.
The singer's got character. _
Let's see what happens with him.
So his take was basically watchful waiting, which was waiting to see what they were like live, and what happened to the band.
Because Dale was only a temporary drummer.
They had to get a real drummer.
They had to get a name, and they had to start playing some shows, which they did.
I think a fellow named Dave Foster played a show or two with them, and shortly after that, maybe March of 88, you'd have to look in the Nirvana books for that.
_ I saw one show at the Community World that they played with this other guy on drums, and I walked in and caught the last three songs or something like that.
_ _ And then a couple months later, they wound up with Chad Channing drumming.
Chad was a guy from Bainbridge, much younger than I was.
I grew up on Bainbridge, but most of the musicians that we now talk about as being musicians from Bainbridge, Chad Channing, Ben Shepard, _ I didn't know them at the time.
I was older.
I did know Kevin Wood back in 1978, 79, even though he was much younger than I was, because we both had dirt bikes.
I knew him as the guy with the Yamaha, and I was the guy with the little Honda.
_ But actually knowing him as a musician in Malfunction, that was _ seven or eight years later when I saw a Malfunction show.
I was like, don't I know you from Bainbridge Island?
Long _ story short, _ _ Nirvana _ chose their name, got their real drummer, Chad Channing, and played a few shows, some of them opening for Skinyard, actually.
They opened for Skinyard at least four times.
Initially, they weren't very good, because Kurt had not really figured out how to sing and play guitar at the same time very well.
Playing guitar hampered his singing too much.
Also, Chad was trying to play these songs that they had basically written with Dale Crover, who's a monster drummer.
Chad's a very good drummer, but some of the songs that were played with Dale didn't sound as good with Chad, so they wrote new songs.
_ This is no slam on Chad, because Skinyard went through this with our six drummers.
Every time we changed drummers, no matter how good the drummer was, we lost half our songs, because the style just didn't match anymore.
The songs that sounded good with drummer A, some of them just wouldn't work with drummer B.
On the other hand, some other songs were better with drummer B, and then we would write new songs with drummer B, and then it would be great.
Then we would get drummer C and lose half of the songs we'd been playing with drummer B, because the style didn't match.
Nirvana went through the same thing.
Kurt proceeded to write a bunch of songs that didn't sound so much Melvin's influenced, _ that were a little more direct.
That was the birth of the Nirvana that we know from the Bleach album.
Jonathan, _ meanwhile, had been seeing them play shows, and he just became interested enough to say,
Well, let's do a seven-inch.
_ And one side has to be this cover tune you guys have been doing, which was Love Buzz by The Shocking Blue.
Kurt wasn't that thrilled about the idea that, OK, my first record ever is going to be a seven-inch, and it's going to have only one of my songs on it, a cover tune and one Nirvana tune.
But he had nothing better on the table.
So I think it was June or July of 88, _ Sub Pop sent them into the studio with me, and we did what became the Love Buzz seven-inch, _ which _ is Love Buzz as the side A and Big Cheese as the side B. _ _ _ _ _
So that record came out and got a fairly good response.
And so, now I can't say that Sub Pop said to them immediately, Go do an album, because that's not exactly what happened.
Nirvana decided they were going to do an album.
Sub Pop said, Well, maybe we can do an EP.
Let's see what happens.
Nirvana said, Well, first of all, we don't want to do an EP.
We want to do an album.
And second of all, we're going to pay for it ourselves, because we're not sure we want [E] Sub Pop to do it.
So they borrowed some money from their friend Jason Everman, who was not in the band, and came _ and recorded with me in December of 1988, [Bb] and we began.
We did a series of evenings, half days, four hours here, five hours there.
_ No more than a total of 30 hours, something like that, which became the Bleach album.
So sometime in early January of 1988, we had wrapped that up pretty much. _ _ _ _ _ _
Sub Pop wanted to do an EP.
_ Nirvana sort of thought they would shop it around to some other labels, but nobody bid on it.
So they said, Well, all right, we'll do it with Sub Pop, but it's going to be an LP.
And the only thing they worried that they did do, Sub Pop made, Bruce Pavitt in particular, made them change the song order.
They had a song order picked [E] out.
I think it was going to start with Floyd the Barber.
And Bruce said, No, it's got to start with Blue, the song Blue.
So they changed the sequence.
Somewhere I have a cassette with the original sequence on it.
So Bruce convinced them to change the sequence of the songs, and that was pretty much [C] the only time they listened to Sub Pop about anything. _ _ _ _
So that became the Bleach album, and that came out in 1989 sometime.
And initially did okay, but not spectacularly.
It did fairly well, better than people were expecting, I think. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
How did [E] Jonathan and Bruce become interested in doing it?
I don't remember much about that.
I think I gave them the tape, and probably gave it to Jonathan, [F] because I didn't have that much contact with Bruce in those days.
_ _ I think _ _ _ initially he was intrigued by it, but he wasn't about to just release it.
He thought, well, this is interesting.
The singer's got character. _
Let's see what happens with him.
So his take was basically watchful waiting, which was waiting to see what they were like live, and what happened to the band.
Because Dale was only a temporary drummer.
They had to get a real drummer.
They had to get a name, and they had to start playing some shows, which they did.
I think a fellow named Dave Foster played a show or two with them, and shortly after that, maybe March of 88, you'd have to look in the Nirvana books for that.
_ I saw one show at the Community World that they played with this other guy on drums, and I walked in and caught the last three songs or something like that.
_ _ And then a couple months later, they wound up with Chad Channing drumming.
Chad was a guy from Bainbridge, much younger than I was.
I grew up on Bainbridge, but most of the musicians that we now talk about as being musicians from Bainbridge, Chad Channing, Ben Shepard, _ I didn't know them at the time.
I was older.
I did know Kevin Wood back in 1978, 79, even though he was much younger than I was, because we both had dirt bikes.
I knew him as the guy with the Yamaha, and I was the guy with the little Honda.
_ But actually knowing him as a musician in Malfunction, that was _ seven or eight years later when I saw a Malfunction show.
I was like, don't I know you from Bainbridge Island?
Long _ story short, _ _ Nirvana _ chose their name, got their real drummer, Chad Channing, and played a few shows, some of them opening for Skinyard, actually.
They opened for Skinyard at least four times.
Initially, they weren't very good, because Kurt had not really figured out how to sing and play guitar at the same time very well.
Playing guitar hampered his singing too much.
Also, Chad was trying to play these songs that they had basically written with Dale Crover, who's a monster drummer.
Chad's a very good drummer, but some of the songs that were played with Dale didn't sound as good with Chad, so they wrote new songs.
_ This is no slam on Chad, because Skinyard went through this with our six drummers.
Every time we changed drummers, no matter how good the drummer was, we lost half our songs, because the style just didn't match anymore.
The songs that sounded good with drummer A, some of them just wouldn't work with drummer B.
On the other hand, some other songs were better with drummer B, and then we would write new songs with drummer B, and then it would be great.
Then we would get drummer C and lose half of the songs we'd been playing with drummer B, because the style didn't match.
Nirvana went through the same thing.
Kurt proceeded to write a bunch of songs that didn't sound so much Melvin's influenced, _ that were a little more direct.
That was the birth of the Nirvana that we know from the Bleach album.
Jonathan, _ meanwhile, had been seeing them play shows, and he just became interested enough to say,
Well, let's do a seven-inch.
_ And one side has to be this cover tune you guys have been doing, which was Love Buzz by The Shocking Blue.
Kurt wasn't that thrilled about the idea that, OK, my first record ever is going to be a seven-inch, and it's going to have only one of my songs on it, a cover tune and one Nirvana tune.
But he had nothing better on the table.
So I think it was June or July of 88, _ Sub Pop sent them into the studio with me, and we did what became the Love Buzz seven-inch, _ which _ is Love Buzz as the side A and Big Cheese as the side B. _ _ _ _ _
So that record came out and got a fairly good response.
And so, now I can't say that Sub Pop said to them immediately, Go do an album, because that's not exactly what happened.
Nirvana decided they were going to do an album.
Sub Pop said, Well, maybe we can do an EP.
Let's see what happens.
Nirvana said, Well, first of all, we don't want to do an EP.
We want to do an album.
And second of all, we're going to pay for it ourselves, because we're not sure we want [E] Sub Pop to do it.
So they borrowed some money from their friend Jason Everman, who was not in the band, and came _ and recorded with me in December of 1988, [Bb] and we began.
We did a series of evenings, half days, four hours here, five hours there.
_ No more than a total of 30 hours, something like that, which became the Bleach album.
So sometime in early January of 1988, we had wrapped that up pretty much. _ _ _ _ _ _
Sub Pop wanted to do an EP.
_ Nirvana sort of thought they would shop it around to some other labels, but nobody bid on it.
So they said, Well, all right, we'll do it with Sub Pop, but it's going to be an LP.
And the only thing they worried that they did do, Sub Pop made, Bruce Pavitt in particular, made them change the song order.
They had a song order picked [E] out.
I think it was going to start with Floyd the Barber.
And Bruce said, No, it's got to start with Blue, the song Blue.
So they changed the sequence.
Somewhere I have a cassette with the original sequence on it.
So Bruce convinced them to change the sequence of the songs, and that was pretty much [C] the only time they listened to Sub Pop about anything. _ _ _ _
So that became the Bleach album, and that came out in 1989 sometime.
And initially did okay, but not spectacularly.
It did fairly well, better than people were expecting, I think. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _