Nirvana
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Историјата боксот.....With The Lights Out
This timeline looks back on some of the events that occured from the moment that plans of a Nirvana box set were first conceived, to the actual release some eight years later. As you will see, it is a long and quite bumpy road ...
July, 1996: The concept of a box set was first conceived all the way back in 1996, as documented by court documents which would surface over the summer of 2001, following legal battles between Nirvana (Krist & Dave) and Courtney Love.
Apparently, a contract was signed in 1996 which addresses the box set. "You [Nirvana] agree to Deliver to Geffen a so-called 'boxed set' Multiple Record LP comprised of no less than forty-five (45) Masters embodying previously unreleased recordings of musical performances by Artist, so-called 'B-sides,' and other Masters (the 'Boxed Set'). You shall Deliver the Boxed Set to Geffen no later than June 30, 2001 . . . " More.
An article by Krist Novoselic that he put on his website, also in June 2001, says that the contract (concerning the box set) was actually signed in 1998. He further writes that he began compiling recordings for the box at this time. A November 23 2004 article from the Seattle Times confirms that the parties began working on the box over the summer of 1998. More.
April, 1997: In an issue of VOX, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl is asked whether 1996's live album From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was 'the full stop on the Nirvana story' to which he replied, "it's probably not the last thing you're ever gonna see from Nirvana." More.
August, 1997: Wall of Sound reports that a Nirvana box is on the horizon: "just don't look for it anytime soon. Bassist Krist Novoselic--now working with his new band, Sweet 75-- says the Nirvana box will probably be out 'in three or four years or something.' He and drummer turned Foo Fighter Dave Grohl are contemplating a series of alternate takes, B-sides, and other material that could fill several discs and even surprise fans who have earnestly collected the plethora of Nirvana bootlegs.
'There's some stuff you won't find on bootlegs or anywhere that's really hidden away, just songs we've kept under wraps,' Novoselic says. 'There's a few songs that are really good that nobody's ever heard. I don't even know if they have titles --stuff like If You Must. You'll just have to wait and see.' Novoselic admits there's not enough material in the vaults for another 'great' Nirvana album; he sees the box set as something for fans who 'have the patience to listen to alternate takes and more obscure stuff.'
'There are so many rabid Nirvana fans,' he says. 'I can't believe some of the stuff that people have obtained.' And while the wait for the box set may seem interminable to those people, Novoselic promises that their patience will be rewarded. 'The advantage of waiting for a few years is the way technology is developing. There's the potential for DVD; we can put out three or four CDs, and they'll have audio and video and interactive.' " More.
February, 1998: The Stranger, a Seattle entertainment and politics rag, receives a tape in the mail that reportedly contains the March 1991 boom-box demos recorded for Butch Vig before he began working on Nirvana's Nevermind album. The tape contains the song Old Age. The Stranger decides to put up a clip of the song on their website - though it is quickly removed again. As of late 2004, a complete recording of this very performance had still not been made available, and it remains one of the most highly wanted tapes. With The Lights Out ultimately releases the song in November 2004, though not the same version that The Stranger uncovered in 1998. More.
The clip of Old Age that The Stranger put up can be downloaded here (converted to MP3).
April, 1999: Record Collector magazine publishes a message from Nirvana's UK publicist who assures to the magazine that "Geffen has plans to release a set of rarities on interactive CD-Roms, adding that bassist Krist Novoselic has confided that 'the best things they ever recorded' in the studio remain unreleased."
Also, NME publishes an article that reads in part: "The long-awaited NIRVANA box set of unreleased tracks and rare recordings is set to be released sometime in the new millennium, possibly 2001. Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic posted a message on his website last week confirming that the project was finally going ahead.
He said: 'We are compiling material for a future release. We don't have a date yet. Until the project starts shaping up, there isn't much more to say.' " More.
The post from Krist was also used in an MTV news story published this month which added: "our source tells us the box could be out before the end of the year." More.
Also around this time, the Rolling Stone story Don't expect Nirvana box set before 2001 hits the web. It reads in part; "work is progressing on the project. As expected, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic is overseeing the project. He's tapped Seattle journalist Gillian G. Gaar to help after being impressed by her Goldmine article two years ago, in which she cataloged all the extant Nirvana recordings." More.
September, 1999: Kerrang! and Melody Maker in the UK get some comments from Dave Grohl on the box set: "they're working on a box-set but I don't know exactly what's going on with it. Someone else is compiling all the material and rounding up some pretty obscure stuff I didn't even know existed. Nirvana was a band 3-4 years before I ever joined and I think there's some really weird old shit that people would be very entertained to hear. I know that the last song we ever recorded will probably be on there. I don't know what they're calling it, I don't even know if there ever was a title. I think it might be called I know you're right" The song Dave is referring to is, of course, You Know You're Right. This song was eventually released on the 2002 best-of album, Nirvana. More.
October, 1999: Producer Adam Kasper, who worked on Nirvana's last studio session, comments on the box set: "Nirvana's last recorded song which had languished undiscovered among unfinished works by the band captures the Seattle trio in a 'grungier' and 'screamier' mood than their previous final singles, according to the song's producer."
From the same article: "Regarding a release date or track listing for the Nirvana box set, 'Nothing at all is set even in wet concrete,' Geffen Records spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said Friday. Dennehy said the multi-CD collection is being worked on, but he didn't know what will be included or when the collection will be released. 'We always make time to get [Nirvana work] done,' Grohl was reported to have said. 'But at the same time, it's nice to look forward to something rather than ... digging through a library of a past that you miss or that was so great.' " More.
November, 1999: The November 1999 issue of Rolling Stone confirms that the box set has been in production since, at least, early 1997: "[Dave] Grohl admitted that he hasn't been too hands-on with the project, with the majority of work being done by former Nirvana bassist, Krist Novoselic, and Seattle rock journalist Gillian G. Gaar. Critics insisted that 1996's live album From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah wasn't the great lost Nirvana album since there were no unheard gems to add to the catalog, leaving the door open for the box set. While there is no release date, no title, nor track listing, the good news is that work is progressing. When contacted, Gaar confirmed that the process is moving forward, albeit slowly and thoroughly. She has been combing through tapes for the past year and a half." More.
December, 1999: The December 1999 issue of Mojo magazine mentions that Nevermind outtakes including Old Age and Song in D are being considered for the box set which is still "far off" at this point, according to a source that the magazine speaks to. More.
January, 2000: Dave Grohl comments that the box would be out in 2000: "I'm not exactly sure when it's going to [be] finished or what's on it, but I know that it's in the works. Last time I talked to Krist Novoselic we talked about it, and I guess it will be released sometime in the year 2000." More.
February, 2000: In the February 2000 issue of a French magazine, Dave comments that his song Marigold will be included on the box set. "It's as much Nirvana as Foo Fighters." More.
March, 2000: Throughout the first half of 2000, Dave repeated in a number of interviews that the box would most likely be out by the end of the year. During an appearance on the Swedish talk show "Sen kväll med Luuk" he is asked about the box and reports that it would include "the last song we ever recorded", which is You Know You're Right as mentioned earlier. More.
Also in March, I put up a poll where people could vote for the recording they would most like to see included with the box set. More.
April, 2000: A source informs me that Ain't It A Shame from "The Jury" sessions in 1989 would possibly be included with the box set. More.
May, 2000: Around this time, the band started eyeing a September 2001 release date for the box, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of their landmark album, Nevermind. Krist Novoselic comments to LAUNCH Media:
"'There's a lot of stuff. I can't believe how many live shows there are, how many outtakes there are, alternate versions, jams, and videotapes,' he says. 'Not everything's gonna make on there, so we're just kinda gauging it and see what would best represent Nirvana; because, you know, I feel like a boxed set should be encyclopedic, and it should be for the serious fan and for, you know, the not-so-serious fan. So, it's gonna be something there for everybody.' Novoselic adds, 'Sometimes I feel like I'm going into the past, but I know that people really want it and they really miss it, so if I can put time and heart and soul into it, then that's the least I can do.' " More.
June, 2000: In the June 3, 2000 edition of Kerrang! magazine they report that, indeed, the box set will be released in September 2001. They use the same Krist interview as above, though, for their story. More.
July, 2000: This month, an interview I conducted with Gillian G. Gaar was put online. Among other things, she confirmed that she is helping Krist compile the box set (as Rolling Stone reported in 1999) and that it was, as of February 2000, in it's early stages. More.
Also by this month, the result of the poll (see March, 2000) was ready. The recording that received the most votes was the 3/94 session at Kurt's house which yielded a song called Do Re Mi (aka. Dough, Ray and Me). The 1/94 session in Seattle and the fabled Fecal Matter Demo were number two and three on the list, respectively. More.
August, 2000: During a Foo Fighters interview, Dave is again asked about the box set: "Krist and I are slowly getting there. You gotta remember, I was their 6th drummer, so there's a lot of stuff there from Flipper and Scratch Acid that even I hadn't heard of before. There's also the final track we recorded, as a demo, before Kurt's death. It's definitely stuff that should come out. But we want to round up as much material as we can, to make it more interesting. Earlier this year I had thought maybe it'd be out by Christmas, I'm not sure now." More.
February, 2001: By this time, no news on the box has surfaced for a while and trouble is looming. On the message board at the official Hole website (Courtney Love's band at the time), she said (among other things): "To clarify; Nirvana is mine. And by some fluke, those two [Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl] have some say, which I'm revoking. There are amazing Nirvana songs no-one's ever heard in my little storage box that [Hole bassist] Eric Erlandson collected from around the house, and they are amazing. Four are beyond good - so I hope to have them out for the kids soon, but those two can't have any say whatsoever."
Shortly after this, SonicNet reports that Courtney is working on putting out an album of unreleased Nirvana songs on the record label Epitaph: "Love controls the catalog of Nirvana, who were led by her late husband, Kurt Cobain. 'There are amazing songs that Kurt wrote and recorded that no one has ever heard. I can't wait to put these recordings out,' she said. 'Of course, Universal had also threatened to destroy the Nirvana catalog by not releasing these unheard songs.' " Ultimately, this album never happened. More.
March, 2001: Another message board posting from Courtney that read in part: "Eric is the person solely responsible for going around the house after KC died and grabbing all the tapes. Eric is the one who got the 109 tapes and then sat on them for the last five years." Also in March 2001, Dave tells reporters that he's still working on the Nirvana box set. More.
April, 2001: More posts from Courtney. She mentions that she is suing Krist and Dave and dissolving the Nirvana partnership: "Can't release the box-set kids. It'll have a self portarit of Melissa [Dave Grohl's girlfriend at the time] on the cover, and the first song will be Marigold. It will have a picture of Krist and Dave, and Kurt will be blotted out. The songs on it will get sold to Nissan commercials. Anyone think From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was really well done? Yeah, well, I didn't and it was a disaster, and I can't let that happen again." Trouble, indeed.
June, 2001: This is the month that really changed everything. All information about the box set up until now can pretty much be disregarded as the planned September 2001 release of the box set was halted, following Courtney Love suing Krist and Dave by filing an injunction to prevent the release of You Know You're Right. Let's start from the beginning.
On June 13 it was reported that her lawsuit against Universal Music was falling apart, after a Superior Court judge had denied 11 of the 15 clauses of action that Courtney had filed. More.
Then, on June 28, the Seattle Times publish the story Band-mates, widow fight over Cobain's final song. The article reads, in part: "A King County Superior Court judge has granted Love an injunction against the song You Know You're Right's release as part of a 45-track Nirvana box set commemorating the 10th anniversary of the band's groundbreaking Nevermind album. Love and the surviving members of the band are facing off in court over control of a studio recording of the song, the box set and, ultimately, the legacy of the group itself."
In short, the June 11 verdict granted Courtney's motion in part:
a) Grohl & Novoselic are prohibited from destroying or otherwise modifying Nirvana recordings.
b) Grohl & Novoselic are prohibited from releasing the song You Know You're Right. More.
This effectively halted the planned box set which was probably more or less completed by this stage, as a June 30 deadline had been set by Nirvana's record label, Geffen (see July, 1996).
While all this went down, I was running a poll on the main page of NFC which asked who should be in control of the next Nirvana release. Krist and Dave got 76% of the votes ... Courtney 6%. The poll was quoted in several news stories at the time, concerning the legal battle between the parties. More.
July, 2001: Rumours (mostly fueled by Courtney) started to circulate that a large number of Kurt Cobain cassette tapes are sitting in a vault. MTV reports: "As Courtney Love and Nirvana's surviving members face off in a legal battle over the band's legacy, 120 tapes of unreleased material featuring Kurt Cobain sit in a vault - and that's where they'll remain, says a source close to the Cobain estate, until Nirvana's record company gives the band a better deal. The collection includes recordings of the late singer alone as well as tapes of the band throughout its career, including Nirvana's first show in Seattle in April 1988 [sic], four-track basement demos, bedroom tapes of Cobain singing and strumming on new songs as well as embryonic versions of classics like All Apologies, and the band's last complete recording, You Know You're Right. Also among the unreleased material is a song called Opinion, on which Cobain responds 'to everyone having an opinion on his medical condition,' according to the source." The same story also comments on the legal battle, saying that Love was not only intending to stop the release of You Know You're Right but indeed the entire box set, as well as dissolving the Nirvana, L.L.C. partnership. More.
August, 2001: This month, the poll asking who should be in charge of the next Nirvana release ultimately ended after some 12,500 votes (also see June, 2001). Some 79% (almost 10,000 people) voted for Krist and Dave while Courtney only received 5% of the votes. More.
Also released this month, the October 2001 issue of Spin magazine which had an extensive Nirvana feature. "With a lawsuit Love filed in May against Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, her partners in Nirvana L.L.C., she is seeking to dissolve the company and demands that complete control over Nirvana business be granted to her and her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. Until the case is settled, the box set will remain on hold." More.
September, 2001: Issued this month, October 2001's Guitar World includes a lengthy article on the legal battle. It explains how the Nirvana L.L.C. partnership operated and went into the whole business side of Nirvana. "While the issue of who controls Nirvana is still being decided by a court, the parties are working on an out of court agreement that will see the release in the meantime of the often-talked about Nirvana box set. Universal has planned the set for the late fall, and most observers predict that it should still arrive by then." More.
October, 2001: This month, the legal battle escalated even further as Courtney love sued Universal Music for control of Nirvana's master recordings. "Her suit, filed Friday in Superior Court in Los Angeles, claims that Geffen Records is not the same label Nirvana signed to in 1991, due to its acquisition by Vivendi Universal, and that therefore the band's contract is void. Love also alleges that Universal cheated Nirvana out of $3.1 million in royalties." More.
November, 2001: Courtney gives the British NME access to the unreleased Nirvana track, You Know You're Right. They promptly publish their assessment of the song and mention that a 12-track 'Introduction to Nirvana' album is apparently underway (featuring this song). More.
Also, NBC's 'Access Hollywood' airs a clip of the song right before an interview with Love. More.
December, 2001: This would be the month where the battle between the parties really turned into a nasty little mudsling fest. During the final hours of November, this site is even invited to the party. In a comment about NFC's discussion board users, Courtney Love fumes (in part): "Get your shit together or let's wait for a generation here. It would be better business and more astute management to put out a rarities record - not a 90-dollar boxset. A rarities record of shit YOU'VE never ever heard. And be grateful I played you what I did on TV tonight [the 'Access Hollywood' special], because unless Krist and Dave get the vast amount of cash THEY are demanding, you won't be hearing it - and even then - it's not coming out on Interscope." Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, aye? It gets worse - just stay tuned. More.
Later this month, Krist and Dave launch their own lawsuit against Courtney. "[On Wednesday] the remaining members of the grunge band Nirvana sued Love, accusing the widow of bandmate Kurt Cobain of trying to seize control of the trio's recordings for her own financial gain. 'Dealing with Courtney is like getting stuck on a mean street where somebody is always trying to pull a cheap hustle on you. It's an indignity,' Novoselic said in an interview. 'We're just holding our noses through this whole thing.'
Love, the suit says, was not involved in, or in any way responsible for, the success of Nirvana. 'Frankly, we're sick of Courtney trying to paste herself into Nirvana's legacy,' Novoselic said. 'She doesn't have a clue how we worked together.' 'There is only one reason that the box set never came out and her name is Courtney Love,' Novoselic said. 'It has nothing to do with the music. It's all about Courtney, the Hollywood mover and shaker, trying to exclude Dave and me to further her own future, to fuel her own career--at the expense of everything that Nirvana worked so hard to create.' Novoselic and Grohl say Love is using the band's legacy as a bargaining chip to increase leverage for her own personal gain. 'This is all about what benefits Courtney,' he said. 'She could care less about what happens to Nirvana or our fans.' " More.
It doesn't end here. The same day as the above story surfaced, Krist and Dave published an open letter to Nirvana's fans. The first and so far only time this has ever happened to my knowledge. It reads, in part:
"As many of you know, for this Christmas, we had planned to give our fans a wonderful gift -- a boxed set of the best of Nirvana's music. Released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Nevermind, the set was going to include You Know You're Right, recorded in 1994 just before Kurt's death. This project had been in the works for nearly five years. But this collection never came out. And there is only one reason: Courtney Love. Today, our attorneys went into a Seattle court to stop Courtney from trying to take control of the legacy of Nirvana. We had no choice but to respond to her misguided campaign and lawsuits to appropriate the music of Nirvana." Follow this link to read the complete letter -> More.
More you say? The day after Krist and Dave's letter to Nirvana fans - "The Family of Kurt Cobain" released a statement that read, in part:
"Kurt Cobain was Nirvana. He named the band, hired its members, played guitar, wrote the songs, fronted the band onstage and in interviews and took responsibility for the band's business decisions. In their press release, Krist and Dave have distorted the real issues with unwarranted and spurious personal attacks. Under United States law, Kurt's interests pass to his heirs who then have the responsibility for overseeing his interests." More.
One would think this was the end of it, but oh no. I did say it would get worse. Hence, about a week later, Kurt Cobain's mother Wendy released a sickening statement to the press that read, in part:
"I know that in the last year of his life, my son despised his bandmates and told me many times that he no longer wanted to play with them or have anything to do with them. Mr. Novoselic and his cohorts are attempting a character assassination on my daughter-in-law that is plain and downright untrue.
Mr Novoselic claims to have worked so hard as a band with my son. His romantic and revisionist version of a band history of sleeping on floors and generally being buddies with Kurt is just untrue. I don't know how those two ever kept playing together. It was probably because Krist was willing to help drive and because he knew sticking by Kurt was going to get him to where he is today: an extremely wealthy man. I support my daughter in law in dissolving an LLC which never ever should have been formed. I will be hiring counsel of my own to protect the interests of my daughters, and to protect my son's legacy from the mangling hands of what I believe to be a rat's nest of liars and bandits." More.
January, 2002: This month, I decided to write my own article on the May 2001 lawsuit which halted the release of the box set and You Know You're Right. It was based on a number of public legal documents that I obtained from lawyers for both parties. More.
March, 2002: This month, Courtney appeared as DJ in a new London, UK club playing some of her favorite tracks. According to NME, she also played You Know You're Right (still unreleased at this point) to the stunned audience. More.
Also in March, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article by Jim DeRogatis who interviewed Kurt Cobain in 1993. In the article he talks about some unreleased Nirvana and Cobain gems that he was allowed to listen to. "You Know You're Right is by far the strongest song that fans have yet to hear, but a second tune that I listen to in Love's living room comes close. Dough, Ray, and Me is often discussed on the Web, but few fans have ever heard it. Cobain recorded two versions shortly before the end of his life. One was a four-track rendition on which he drummed and sang while Erlandson played bass and Smear played guitar. The other was a solo acoustic demo taped in his bedroom, and that's the version I hear. The sound quality is sketchy, to say the least, but as soon as that famously gruff voice kicks in, it's vital, entrancing, and impossible to ignore. The song boasts a beautiful, Beatlesesque melody in the tradition of About a Girl, the standout track from Bleach. In addition to an endearingly rough guitar solo, its other outstanding feature is the moaned/whined/chanted repetition of 'Dough/Ray/Me, Do/Re/Mi' over and over during a long and climactic finale. Deciphering Cobain's cryptic lyrics during a first listen is difficult at best, but I manage to scribble several lines in my notebook: 'If I may/If I might/Wake me up/See me ... If I may/Cold as ice/I only have/Sue me.' Sue me? Sue me?" More.
April, 2002: As yet another saucy piece of the legal battle between Courtney and Nirvana, Love is asked to undergo psychiatric examination. "In December, Grohl and Novoselic alleged Love is too 'incapacitated' to manage her business partnership with them. Court papers stated Love had shown an inability in the past decade to work with managers, attorneys and fellow members of her band, Hole. 'In her professional dealings, Love is irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable,' the court filing said." More.
Later that month, a judge dismissed the motion. More.
May, 2002: After almost a year of devastating legal wranglings between the parties, something good actually happened this month: longer clips of You Know You're Right turned up from out of nowhere. On May 10, four clips of the song were posted on fansites by a fellow who had somehow gotten hold of the entire song. This was long before any official release of said song had been announced (at least after the lawsuits).
Courtney Love's manager wasn't slow to react - immediately prompting fan sites to remove the clips. This also halted the complete song from being put online, at least for the time being. The whole incident sparked heated debates on the Nirvana message boards and even the media jumped in, with stories from NME and many other places. There was even speculation that the person who posted the clips got the song from an advance copy of the Probot album, a Dave Grohl project that was also unreleased (this was denied by Grohl). More.
In the midst of the YKYR hoopla, Rolling Stone magazine published an article talking about all the cassette tapes that Courtney Love supposedly has in the possession: "'I have a buttload of material,' says Courtney Love of the archive of unreleased material by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. 'I have the holy grail of rock & roll. That's the story.' There are 109 tapes. 'But not all of it's great. Some of it's fragments.' She thinks there are between five and eight 'solidly good,' unheard acoustic songs. 'There's some stuff that's not very melodic that I'm not fond of, but, hey, if you're a fan of [Radiohead's] Kid A, it might be really great. 'On those tapes,' Love continues, 'are everything from shitty collages to some pretty stunning, awe-inspiring acoustic songs to stupid, fucked-up shit. The songs began at our home, usually in a closet or in his room, and I have everything from stuff you've already heard in demo form to gasp-out-loud acoustic songs to things he's playing with Patty [Schemel, Hole's drummer] and Eric [Erlandson, Hole's guitarist] to things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer to collages.' 'Things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer' refers to tapes recorded when Cobain would take his four-track and go score dope with a musician friend. He'd check into a motel room next to the dealer's room, do dope and record with the friend and the dealer. 'It's really good,' Love comments. 'Pretty much, Kurt was not a loser when it came to songwriting, you know.'"
There are also comments on the ill-fated box set in the same article: "Among the material that Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic planned to put on the Nirvana box set, aside from You Know You're Right, was, according to Novoselic, material from: 'KAOS radio, 1987, BBC Peel sessions, studio outtakes, sessions that we did in North Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, In Utero outtakes, live stuff.' He specifically mentions the 'Butch Vig raw mix of Teen Spirit, a rough mix that's really different.'" More. The mag also has an article on the lawsuits.
June, 2002: MTV publishes an interesting interview with Dave Grohl where he talks about the lawsuits, the Rolling Stone cover (see May, 2002), the leak of You Know You're Right, and other things. More.
Also this month, the New York Sun ran a story on the YKYR leak, mentioning the three biggest Nirvana websites. More.
Finally, by the end of the month, it is announced for the first time that all parties want You Know You're Right released as part of a Nirvana best-of collection (to come out by the end of the year), followed by a boxed set of rarities and then a single 'best-of-the-box' cd. If all goes well, that is. More.
September, 2002: This month, the legal battle finally ended when the parties settled after a court hearing in early September. But, before the details of the settlement were released, and before a best-of disc was announced officially, You Know You're Right appeared on the web again. This time it was the complete track (see May, 2002).
On September 21, 2002, an MP3 of the complete song was posted on Nirvana message boards. How exactly it turned up is, to this day, still not precisely known, but the fact remains that thousands of fans quickly downloaded it and once again, the community was buzzing with activity. At this point, several reports had been made of a best-of CD, and more or less confirmed in a message board post by Courtney. Such a CD (to feature the track) was still at least a month from release, though, by the time the song leaked. Emotions were high, as one fan displayed:
"I had no idea what was going on. Then I downloaded it ... Oh my god. I nearly cried. Literally. I was out of breath and wanted to burst into tears. I mean, the last song ever recorded by Nirvana. 8+ years stuck in a box collecting dust then one day BOOM! It's emotional. For me, man. I was in awe. I thought it was amazing. But the feel is so different. The first two or three times I played it it didn't 'FEEL' like Nirvana. At all. It was so new to me even though I've heard the live version and played it many times. It's such a different feeling emitting from that song that it just so morbid. I'm speechless." More.
Shortly after the song popped up online, some brave radio stations around the world began playing the unauthorized track. One station even played it over and over again for one hour straight. Some of them received cease and desist letters from Nirvana's label. Though, eventually - because of the huge interest - Geffen caved in and made the track legally available to radio stations. More. Also see this.
All while this happened, Q Magazine published a special issue with Kurt Cobain on the cover, calling Nirvana The Most Important Band In The World. Inside, 'the 25 greatest Nirvana moments', a new interview with Krist Novoselic and more. More.
Then, on September 30, an official statement was issued which confirmed that the Nirvana lawsuit had been settled and that, indeed, a best-of CD was just a few weeks shy of being released. "We have settled our legal dispute. We are all pleased that these issues have been resolved positively and we can move on. Together, we are happy to announce the release of Nirvana, a one-CD history of the band that will include You Know You're Right, the last recording that Kurt made with Dave and Krist. Universal Music will release the CD in the United States on November 12.
A music video for You Know You're Right will feature previously unseen footage of the band. In addition, several new Nirvana releases will follow over the next few years, including a boxed set in 2004. We hope that this release will enable longtime Nirvana fans to hear some of their favorite songs in a new context. At the same time, the upcoming CD will allow a whole new audience to appreciate Nirvana's music and Kurt Cobain's great talent. We are now moving forward. We thank our fans for their support." More.
The announced 2004 release date for a boxed set actually turned out to hold up, something most fans found highly unlikely at the time, given the many problems surrounding it.
A different statement concerning Courtney Love's battle with Universal Music was also released. "UMG [Universal Music Group] will waive any rights to future recordings from Ms. Love. As part of the settlement, Ms. Love and the other members of the Cobain estate have granted UMG permission to release new Nirvana packages, including a compilation album with a never-before-released track, a box set, and a rarities album. Separate permissions were obtained from the surviving members of Nirvana." More.
October, 2002: In the beginning of the month it was announced that the release of the best-of, simply entitled Nirvana, had been pushed forward to October 28 in Europe and October 29 in the U.S. The cover art was also made available by NME.
Then, on October 8, the tracklisting leaked. I followed-up with a detailed verdict on it. More. Also see my actual review of the album which was posted on October 24 along with other details.
Sometime around the middle of the month, the You Know You're Right music video was first aired. I posted some details about it and a bunch of screenshots. More.
November, 2002: Just about rounding up a hectic year, Krist commented to a journalist that: "A box set should hit the bins next year and it will include a myriad of alternate versions of songs and live material." More.
2003: During the entire year of 2003, absolutely no new information about the proposed box set was made available. No news stories. Nothing. Nada. Well, nothing important, anyway.
January 2004: This website is mentioned in the February 5, 2004 issue of Rolling Stone as NFC makes available the first ever Nirvana concert for free download (as 2003's "NFC X-Mas Present"). A song from this performance would later wind up on With The Lights Out (see October, 2004). More.
March and April 2004: The media is overflowing with stories about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain as this period marks the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.
Hundreds of articles are posted in the news section and I get to appear on national TV and radio in Denmark to talk about Nirvana and Cobain. No significant new information about the box set appears during this period.
September 2004: Ok now we're getting somewhere. Completely out of the blue, a total surprise to pretty much everyone, an e-mail circulating at Universal Music announces a November 2004 release of the long-awaited Nirvana box set. This website is one of the first to make the announcement and quickly the news hits the mainstream media. The e-mail states that on November 23, 2004 a Nirvana box set will be released, including over 50 unreleased recordings including Kurt Cobain demos. There will also be a 60-page booklet and a DVD. Needless to say, this is the culmination of years of waiting and the gift to Nirvana fans that Krist talked about all those years earlier. More.
October 2004: On October 13, NME reports that the box set will "feature 81 tracks including 68 previously unreleased recordings - rehearsals, outtakes, Kurt's home demos, as well as a DVD which is confirmed to have unreleased band home movies, live footage, rehearsal footage and 20 full-length video performances." More.
Then, on October 16, an official website is launched to promote the box set. Apart from a small teaser page to promote 2002's Nirvana, this is the first official Nirvana website to surface in eight years. Located at www.nirvanabox.com the site initially offers the cover art and release dates (Nov. 22 International, Nov. 23 U.S./Canada). More.
On October 21, the Geffen website puts up some details on the set, confirming the info from NME. A picture of the actual box set also turns up, as well as high resolution photos of the cover and an inside look (the CDs look different than whats depicted on the right). More.
Finally, on Friday October 29, the tracklisting for the box is first unveiled by this website. It comes from an issue of Q Magazine (to be published the following Monday), the first publication to review the set and make the tracklisting public. It reveals a number of interesting previously unreleased tracks, including many that not even the most hardcore Nirvana collectors have ever heard (see the 'Tracklisting' section for more info). The article provides a quick run-through of some of the essential tracks and is generally very positive about the set. More.
November 2004: On November 1st, Universal finally issue an official press release to confirm the details of the box set, including the tracklisting. Also, MTV puts up the 1990 In Bloom video from the DVD, and MTV2 announces a November 12 special that will include excerpts from the box set DVD. More.
The L.A. Times publishes an enthusiastic review of the set and interest starts building. More.
Then, on November 8, excitement about the box reaches new heights when MTV put up a trailer to promote the set. Including rare video footage from the DVD and audio clips of the three CDs, fans salivate upon hearing bits of unreleased gems such as Old Age and Do Re Mi. More.
November 19, 22 & 23: With The Lights Out is released.
For info on boxset-related events that have occured since the official release, please refer to the news section.
This timeline looks back on some of the events that occured from the moment that plans of a Nirvana box set were first conceived, to the actual release some eight years later. As you will see, it is a long and quite bumpy road ...
July, 1996: The concept of a box set was first conceived all the way back in 1996, as documented by court documents which would surface over the summer of 2001, following legal battles between Nirvana (Krist & Dave) and Courtney Love.
Apparently, a contract was signed in 1996 which addresses the box set. "You [Nirvana] agree to Deliver to Geffen a so-called 'boxed set' Multiple Record LP comprised of no less than forty-five (45) Masters embodying previously unreleased recordings of musical performances by Artist, so-called 'B-sides,' and other Masters (the 'Boxed Set'). You shall Deliver the Boxed Set to Geffen no later than June 30, 2001 . . . " More.
An article by Krist Novoselic that he put on his website, also in June 2001, says that the contract (concerning the box set) was actually signed in 1998. He further writes that he began compiling recordings for the box at this time. A November 23 2004 article from the Seattle Times confirms that the parties began working on the box over the summer of 1998. More.
April, 1997: In an issue of VOX, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl is asked whether 1996's live album From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was 'the full stop on the Nirvana story' to which he replied, "it's probably not the last thing you're ever gonna see from Nirvana." More.
August, 1997: Wall of Sound reports that a Nirvana box is on the horizon: "just don't look for it anytime soon. Bassist Krist Novoselic--now working with his new band, Sweet 75-- says the Nirvana box will probably be out 'in three or four years or something.' He and drummer turned Foo Fighter Dave Grohl are contemplating a series of alternate takes, B-sides, and other material that could fill several discs and even surprise fans who have earnestly collected the plethora of Nirvana bootlegs.
'There's some stuff you won't find on bootlegs or anywhere that's really hidden away, just songs we've kept under wraps,' Novoselic says. 'There's a few songs that are really good that nobody's ever heard. I don't even know if they have titles --stuff like If You Must. You'll just have to wait and see.' Novoselic admits there's not enough material in the vaults for another 'great' Nirvana album; he sees the box set as something for fans who 'have the patience to listen to alternate takes and more obscure stuff.'
'There are so many rabid Nirvana fans,' he says. 'I can't believe some of the stuff that people have obtained.' And while the wait for the box set may seem interminable to those people, Novoselic promises that their patience will be rewarded. 'The advantage of waiting for a few years is the way technology is developing. There's the potential for DVD; we can put out three or four CDs, and they'll have audio and video and interactive.' " More.
February, 1998: The Stranger, a Seattle entertainment and politics rag, receives a tape in the mail that reportedly contains the March 1991 boom-box demos recorded for Butch Vig before he began working on Nirvana's Nevermind album. The tape contains the song Old Age. The Stranger decides to put up a clip of the song on their website - though it is quickly removed again. As of late 2004, a complete recording of this very performance had still not been made available, and it remains one of the most highly wanted tapes. With The Lights Out ultimately releases the song in November 2004, though not the same version that The Stranger uncovered in 1998. More.
The clip of Old Age that The Stranger put up can be downloaded here (converted to MP3).
April, 1999: Record Collector magazine publishes a message from Nirvana's UK publicist who assures to the magazine that "Geffen has plans to release a set of rarities on interactive CD-Roms, adding that bassist Krist Novoselic has confided that 'the best things they ever recorded' in the studio remain unreleased."
Also, NME publishes an article that reads in part: "The long-awaited NIRVANA box set of unreleased tracks and rare recordings is set to be released sometime in the new millennium, possibly 2001. Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic posted a message on his website last week confirming that the project was finally going ahead.
He said: 'We are compiling material for a future release. We don't have a date yet. Until the project starts shaping up, there isn't much more to say.' " More.
The post from Krist was also used in an MTV news story published this month which added: "our source tells us the box could be out before the end of the year." More.
Also around this time, the Rolling Stone story Don't expect Nirvana box set before 2001 hits the web. It reads in part; "work is progressing on the project. As expected, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic is overseeing the project. He's tapped Seattle journalist Gillian G. Gaar to help after being impressed by her Goldmine article two years ago, in which she cataloged all the extant Nirvana recordings." More.
September, 1999: Kerrang! and Melody Maker in the UK get some comments from Dave Grohl on the box set: "they're working on a box-set but I don't know exactly what's going on with it. Someone else is compiling all the material and rounding up some pretty obscure stuff I didn't even know existed. Nirvana was a band 3-4 years before I ever joined and I think there's some really weird old shit that people would be very entertained to hear. I know that the last song we ever recorded will probably be on there. I don't know what they're calling it, I don't even know if there ever was a title. I think it might be called I know you're right" The song Dave is referring to is, of course, You Know You're Right. This song was eventually released on the 2002 best-of album, Nirvana. More.
October, 1999: Producer Adam Kasper, who worked on Nirvana's last studio session, comments on the box set: "Nirvana's last recorded song which had languished undiscovered among unfinished works by the band captures the Seattle trio in a 'grungier' and 'screamier' mood than their previous final singles, according to the song's producer."
From the same article: "Regarding a release date or track listing for the Nirvana box set, 'Nothing at all is set even in wet concrete,' Geffen Records spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said Friday. Dennehy said the multi-CD collection is being worked on, but he didn't know what will be included or when the collection will be released. 'We always make time to get [Nirvana work] done,' Grohl was reported to have said. 'But at the same time, it's nice to look forward to something rather than ... digging through a library of a past that you miss or that was so great.' " More.
November, 1999: The November 1999 issue of Rolling Stone confirms that the box set has been in production since, at least, early 1997: "[Dave] Grohl admitted that he hasn't been too hands-on with the project, with the majority of work being done by former Nirvana bassist, Krist Novoselic, and Seattle rock journalist Gillian G. Gaar. Critics insisted that 1996's live album From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah wasn't the great lost Nirvana album since there were no unheard gems to add to the catalog, leaving the door open for the box set. While there is no release date, no title, nor track listing, the good news is that work is progressing. When contacted, Gaar confirmed that the process is moving forward, albeit slowly and thoroughly. She has been combing through tapes for the past year and a half." More.
December, 1999: The December 1999 issue of Mojo magazine mentions that Nevermind outtakes including Old Age and Song in D are being considered for the box set which is still "far off" at this point, according to a source that the magazine speaks to. More.
January, 2000: Dave Grohl comments that the box would be out in 2000: "I'm not exactly sure when it's going to [be] finished or what's on it, but I know that it's in the works. Last time I talked to Krist Novoselic we talked about it, and I guess it will be released sometime in the year 2000." More.
February, 2000: In the February 2000 issue of a French magazine, Dave comments that his song Marigold will be included on the box set. "It's as much Nirvana as Foo Fighters." More.
March, 2000: Throughout the first half of 2000, Dave repeated in a number of interviews that the box would most likely be out by the end of the year. During an appearance on the Swedish talk show "Sen kväll med Luuk" he is asked about the box and reports that it would include "the last song we ever recorded", which is You Know You're Right as mentioned earlier. More.
Also in March, I put up a poll where people could vote for the recording they would most like to see included with the box set. More.
April, 2000: A source informs me that Ain't It A Shame from "The Jury" sessions in 1989 would possibly be included with the box set. More.
May, 2000: Around this time, the band started eyeing a September 2001 release date for the box, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of their landmark album, Nevermind. Krist Novoselic comments to LAUNCH Media:
"'There's a lot of stuff. I can't believe how many live shows there are, how many outtakes there are, alternate versions, jams, and videotapes,' he says. 'Not everything's gonna make on there, so we're just kinda gauging it and see what would best represent Nirvana; because, you know, I feel like a boxed set should be encyclopedic, and it should be for the serious fan and for, you know, the not-so-serious fan. So, it's gonna be something there for everybody.' Novoselic adds, 'Sometimes I feel like I'm going into the past, but I know that people really want it and they really miss it, so if I can put time and heart and soul into it, then that's the least I can do.' " More.
June, 2000: In the June 3, 2000 edition of Kerrang! magazine they report that, indeed, the box set will be released in September 2001. They use the same Krist interview as above, though, for their story. More.
July, 2000: This month, an interview I conducted with Gillian G. Gaar was put online. Among other things, she confirmed that she is helping Krist compile the box set (as Rolling Stone reported in 1999) and that it was, as of February 2000, in it's early stages. More.
Also by this month, the result of the poll (see March, 2000) was ready. The recording that received the most votes was the 3/94 session at Kurt's house which yielded a song called Do Re Mi (aka. Dough, Ray and Me). The 1/94 session in Seattle and the fabled Fecal Matter Demo were number two and three on the list, respectively. More.
August, 2000: During a Foo Fighters interview, Dave is again asked about the box set: "Krist and I are slowly getting there. You gotta remember, I was their 6th drummer, so there's a lot of stuff there from Flipper and Scratch Acid that even I hadn't heard of before. There's also the final track we recorded, as a demo, before Kurt's death. It's definitely stuff that should come out. But we want to round up as much material as we can, to make it more interesting. Earlier this year I had thought maybe it'd be out by Christmas, I'm not sure now." More.
February, 2001: By this time, no news on the box has surfaced for a while and trouble is looming. On the message board at the official Hole website (Courtney Love's band at the time), she said (among other things): "To clarify; Nirvana is mine. And by some fluke, those two [Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl] have some say, which I'm revoking. There are amazing Nirvana songs no-one's ever heard in my little storage box that [Hole bassist] Eric Erlandson collected from around the house, and they are amazing. Four are beyond good - so I hope to have them out for the kids soon, but those two can't have any say whatsoever."
Shortly after this, SonicNet reports that Courtney is working on putting out an album of unreleased Nirvana songs on the record label Epitaph: "Love controls the catalog of Nirvana, who were led by her late husband, Kurt Cobain. 'There are amazing songs that Kurt wrote and recorded that no one has ever heard. I can't wait to put these recordings out,' she said. 'Of course, Universal had also threatened to destroy the Nirvana catalog by not releasing these unheard songs.' " Ultimately, this album never happened. More.
March, 2001: Another message board posting from Courtney that read in part: "Eric is the person solely responsible for going around the house after KC died and grabbing all the tapes. Eric is the one who got the 109 tapes and then sat on them for the last five years." Also in March 2001, Dave tells reporters that he's still working on the Nirvana box set. More.
April, 2001: More posts from Courtney. She mentions that she is suing Krist and Dave and dissolving the Nirvana partnership: "Can't release the box-set kids. It'll have a self portarit of Melissa [Dave Grohl's girlfriend at the time] on the cover, and the first song will be Marigold. It will have a picture of Krist and Dave, and Kurt will be blotted out. The songs on it will get sold to Nissan commercials. Anyone think From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was really well done? Yeah, well, I didn't and it was a disaster, and I can't let that happen again." Trouble, indeed.
June, 2001: This is the month that really changed everything. All information about the box set up until now can pretty much be disregarded as the planned September 2001 release of the box set was halted, following Courtney Love suing Krist and Dave by filing an injunction to prevent the release of You Know You're Right. Let's start from the beginning.
On June 13 it was reported that her lawsuit against Universal Music was falling apart, after a Superior Court judge had denied 11 of the 15 clauses of action that Courtney had filed. More.
Then, on June 28, the Seattle Times publish the story Band-mates, widow fight over Cobain's final song. The article reads, in part: "A King County Superior Court judge has granted Love an injunction against the song You Know You're Right's release as part of a 45-track Nirvana box set commemorating the 10th anniversary of the band's groundbreaking Nevermind album. Love and the surviving members of the band are facing off in court over control of a studio recording of the song, the box set and, ultimately, the legacy of the group itself."
In short, the June 11 verdict granted Courtney's motion in part:
a) Grohl & Novoselic are prohibited from destroying or otherwise modifying Nirvana recordings.
b) Grohl & Novoselic are prohibited from releasing the song You Know You're Right. More.
This effectively halted the planned box set which was probably more or less completed by this stage, as a June 30 deadline had been set by Nirvana's record label, Geffen (see July, 1996).
While all this went down, I was running a poll on the main page of NFC which asked who should be in control of the next Nirvana release. Krist and Dave got 76% of the votes ... Courtney 6%. The poll was quoted in several news stories at the time, concerning the legal battle between the parties. More.
July, 2001: Rumours (mostly fueled by Courtney) started to circulate that a large number of Kurt Cobain cassette tapes are sitting in a vault. MTV reports: "As Courtney Love and Nirvana's surviving members face off in a legal battle over the band's legacy, 120 tapes of unreleased material featuring Kurt Cobain sit in a vault - and that's where they'll remain, says a source close to the Cobain estate, until Nirvana's record company gives the band a better deal. The collection includes recordings of the late singer alone as well as tapes of the band throughout its career, including Nirvana's first show in Seattle in April 1988 [sic], four-track basement demos, bedroom tapes of Cobain singing and strumming on new songs as well as embryonic versions of classics like All Apologies, and the band's last complete recording, You Know You're Right. Also among the unreleased material is a song called Opinion, on which Cobain responds 'to everyone having an opinion on his medical condition,' according to the source." The same story also comments on the legal battle, saying that Love was not only intending to stop the release of You Know You're Right but indeed the entire box set, as well as dissolving the Nirvana, L.L.C. partnership. More.
August, 2001: This month, the poll asking who should be in charge of the next Nirvana release ultimately ended after some 12,500 votes (also see June, 2001). Some 79% (almost 10,000 people) voted for Krist and Dave while Courtney only received 5% of the votes. More.
Also released this month, the October 2001 issue of Spin magazine which had an extensive Nirvana feature. "With a lawsuit Love filed in May against Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, her partners in Nirvana L.L.C., she is seeking to dissolve the company and demands that complete control over Nirvana business be granted to her and her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. Until the case is settled, the box set will remain on hold." More.
September, 2001: Issued this month, October 2001's Guitar World includes a lengthy article on the legal battle. It explains how the Nirvana L.L.C. partnership operated and went into the whole business side of Nirvana. "While the issue of who controls Nirvana is still being decided by a court, the parties are working on an out of court agreement that will see the release in the meantime of the often-talked about Nirvana box set. Universal has planned the set for the late fall, and most observers predict that it should still arrive by then." More.
October, 2001: This month, the legal battle escalated even further as Courtney love sued Universal Music for control of Nirvana's master recordings. "Her suit, filed Friday in Superior Court in Los Angeles, claims that Geffen Records is not the same label Nirvana signed to in 1991, due to its acquisition by Vivendi Universal, and that therefore the band's contract is void. Love also alleges that Universal cheated Nirvana out of $3.1 million in royalties." More.
November, 2001: Courtney gives the British NME access to the unreleased Nirvana track, You Know You're Right. They promptly publish their assessment of the song and mention that a 12-track 'Introduction to Nirvana' album is apparently underway (featuring this song). More.
Also, NBC's 'Access Hollywood' airs a clip of the song right before an interview with Love. More.
December, 2001: This would be the month where the battle between the parties really turned into a nasty little mudsling fest. During the final hours of November, this site is even invited to the party. In a comment about NFC's discussion board users, Courtney Love fumes (in part): "Get your shit together or let's wait for a generation here. It would be better business and more astute management to put out a rarities record - not a 90-dollar boxset. A rarities record of shit YOU'VE never ever heard. And be grateful I played you what I did on TV tonight [the 'Access Hollywood' special], because unless Krist and Dave get the vast amount of cash THEY are demanding, you won't be hearing it - and even then - it's not coming out on Interscope." Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, aye? It gets worse - just stay tuned. More.
Later this month, Krist and Dave launch their own lawsuit against Courtney. "[On Wednesday] the remaining members of the grunge band Nirvana sued Love, accusing the widow of bandmate Kurt Cobain of trying to seize control of the trio's recordings for her own financial gain. 'Dealing with Courtney is like getting stuck on a mean street where somebody is always trying to pull a cheap hustle on you. It's an indignity,' Novoselic said in an interview. 'We're just holding our noses through this whole thing.'
Love, the suit says, was not involved in, or in any way responsible for, the success of Nirvana. 'Frankly, we're sick of Courtney trying to paste herself into Nirvana's legacy,' Novoselic said. 'She doesn't have a clue how we worked together.' 'There is only one reason that the box set never came out and her name is Courtney Love,' Novoselic said. 'It has nothing to do with the music. It's all about Courtney, the Hollywood mover and shaker, trying to exclude Dave and me to further her own future, to fuel her own career--at the expense of everything that Nirvana worked so hard to create.' Novoselic and Grohl say Love is using the band's legacy as a bargaining chip to increase leverage for her own personal gain. 'This is all about what benefits Courtney,' he said. 'She could care less about what happens to Nirvana or our fans.' " More.
It doesn't end here. The same day as the above story surfaced, Krist and Dave published an open letter to Nirvana's fans. The first and so far only time this has ever happened to my knowledge. It reads, in part:
"As many of you know, for this Christmas, we had planned to give our fans a wonderful gift -- a boxed set of the best of Nirvana's music. Released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Nevermind, the set was going to include You Know You're Right, recorded in 1994 just before Kurt's death. This project had been in the works for nearly five years. But this collection never came out. And there is only one reason: Courtney Love. Today, our attorneys went into a Seattle court to stop Courtney from trying to take control of the legacy of Nirvana. We had no choice but to respond to her misguided campaign and lawsuits to appropriate the music of Nirvana." Follow this link to read the complete letter -> More.
More you say? The day after Krist and Dave's letter to Nirvana fans - "The Family of Kurt Cobain" released a statement that read, in part:
"Kurt Cobain was Nirvana. He named the band, hired its members, played guitar, wrote the songs, fronted the band onstage and in interviews and took responsibility for the band's business decisions. In their press release, Krist and Dave have distorted the real issues with unwarranted and spurious personal attacks. Under United States law, Kurt's interests pass to his heirs who then have the responsibility for overseeing his interests." More.
One would think this was the end of it, but oh no. I did say it would get worse. Hence, about a week later, Kurt Cobain's mother Wendy released a sickening statement to the press that read, in part:
"I know that in the last year of his life, my son despised his bandmates and told me many times that he no longer wanted to play with them or have anything to do with them. Mr. Novoselic and his cohorts are attempting a character assassination on my daughter-in-law that is plain and downright untrue.
Mr Novoselic claims to have worked so hard as a band with my son. His romantic and revisionist version of a band history of sleeping on floors and generally being buddies with Kurt is just untrue. I don't know how those two ever kept playing together. It was probably because Krist was willing to help drive and because he knew sticking by Kurt was going to get him to where he is today: an extremely wealthy man. I support my daughter in law in dissolving an LLC which never ever should have been formed. I will be hiring counsel of my own to protect the interests of my daughters, and to protect my son's legacy from the mangling hands of what I believe to be a rat's nest of liars and bandits." More.
January, 2002: This month, I decided to write my own article on the May 2001 lawsuit which halted the release of the box set and You Know You're Right. It was based on a number of public legal documents that I obtained from lawyers for both parties. More.
March, 2002: This month, Courtney appeared as DJ in a new London, UK club playing some of her favorite tracks. According to NME, she also played You Know You're Right (still unreleased at this point) to the stunned audience. More.
Also in March, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article by Jim DeRogatis who interviewed Kurt Cobain in 1993. In the article he talks about some unreleased Nirvana and Cobain gems that he was allowed to listen to. "You Know You're Right is by far the strongest song that fans have yet to hear, but a second tune that I listen to in Love's living room comes close. Dough, Ray, and Me is often discussed on the Web, but few fans have ever heard it. Cobain recorded two versions shortly before the end of his life. One was a four-track rendition on which he drummed and sang while Erlandson played bass and Smear played guitar. The other was a solo acoustic demo taped in his bedroom, and that's the version I hear. The sound quality is sketchy, to say the least, but as soon as that famously gruff voice kicks in, it's vital, entrancing, and impossible to ignore. The song boasts a beautiful, Beatlesesque melody in the tradition of About a Girl, the standout track from Bleach. In addition to an endearingly rough guitar solo, its other outstanding feature is the moaned/whined/chanted repetition of 'Dough/Ray/Me, Do/Re/Mi' over and over during a long and climactic finale. Deciphering Cobain's cryptic lyrics during a first listen is difficult at best, but I manage to scribble several lines in my notebook: 'If I may/If I might/Wake me up/See me ... If I may/Cold as ice/I only have/Sue me.' Sue me? Sue me?" More.
April, 2002: As yet another saucy piece of the legal battle between Courtney and Nirvana, Love is asked to undergo psychiatric examination. "In December, Grohl and Novoselic alleged Love is too 'incapacitated' to manage her business partnership with them. Court papers stated Love had shown an inability in the past decade to work with managers, attorneys and fellow members of her band, Hole. 'In her professional dealings, Love is irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable,' the court filing said." More.
Later that month, a judge dismissed the motion. More.
May, 2002: After almost a year of devastating legal wranglings between the parties, something good actually happened this month: longer clips of You Know You're Right turned up from out of nowhere. On May 10, four clips of the song were posted on fansites by a fellow who had somehow gotten hold of the entire song. This was long before any official release of said song had been announced (at least after the lawsuits).
Courtney Love's manager wasn't slow to react - immediately prompting fan sites to remove the clips. This also halted the complete song from being put online, at least for the time being. The whole incident sparked heated debates on the Nirvana message boards and even the media jumped in, with stories from NME and many other places. There was even speculation that the person who posted the clips got the song from an advance copy of the Probot album, a Dave Grohl project that was also unreleased (this was denied by Grohl). More.
In the midst of the YKYR hoopla, Rolling Stone magazine published an article talking about all the cassette tapes that Courtney Love supposedly has in the possession: "'I have a buttload of material,' says Courtney Love of the archive of unreleased material by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. 'I have the holy grail of rock & roll. That's the story.' There are 109 tapes. 'But not all of it's great. Some of it's fragments.' She thinks there are between five and eight 'solidly good,' unheard acoustic songs. 'There's some stuff that's not very melodic that I'm not fond of, but, hey, if you're a fan of [Radiohead's] Kid A, it might be really great. 'On those tapes,' Love continues, 'are everything from shitty collages to some pretty stunning, awe-inspiring acoustic songs to stupid, fucked-up shit. The songs began at our home, usually in a closet or in his room, and I have everything from stuff you've already heard in demo form to gasp-out-loud acoustic songs to things he's playing with Patty [Schemel, Hole's drummer] and Eric [Erlandson, Hole's guitarist] to things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer to collages.' 'Things he's playing with the fucking heroin dealer' refers to tapes recorded when Cobain would take his four-track and go score dope with a musician friend. He'd check into a motel room next to the dealer's room, do dope and record with the friend and the dealer. 'It's really good,' Love comments. 'Pretty much, Kurt was not a loser when it came to songwriting, you know.'"
There are also comments on the ill-fated box set in the same article: "Among the material that Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic planned to put on the Nirvana box set, aside from You Know You're Right, was, according to Novoselic, material from: 'KAOS radio, 1987, BBC Peel sessions, studio outtakes, sessions that we did in North Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, In Utero outtakes, live stuff.' He specifically mentions the 'Butch Vig raw mix of Teen Spirit, a rough mix that's really different.'" More. The mag also has an article on the lawsuits.
June, 2002: MTV publishes an interesting interview with Dave Grohl where he talks about the lawsuits, the Rolling Stone cover (see May, 2002), the leak of You Know You're Right, and other things. More.
Also this month, the New York Sun ran a story on the YKYR leak, mentioning the three biggest Nirvana websites. More.
Finally, by the end of the month, it is announced for the first time that all parties want You Know You're Right released as part of a Nirvana best-of collection (to come out by the end of the year), followed by a boxed set of rarities and then a single 'best-of-the-box' cd. If all goes well, that is. More.
September, 2002: This month, the legal battle finally ended when the parties settled after a court hearing in early September. But, before the details of the settlement were released, and before a best-of disc was announced officially, You Know You're Right appeared on the web again. This time it was the complete track (see May, 2002).
On September 21, 2002, an MP3 of the complete song was posted on Nirvana message boards. How exactly it turned up is, to this day, still not precisely known, but the fact remains that thousands of fans quickly downloaded it and once again, the community was buzzing with activity. At this point, several reports had been made of a best-of CD, and more or less confirmed in a message board post by Courtney. Such a CD (to feature the track) was still at least a month from release, though, by the time the song leaked. Emotions were high, as one fan displayed:
"I had no idea what was going on. Then I downloaded it ... Oh my god. I nearly cried. Literally. I was out of breath and wanted to burst into tears. I mean, the last song ever recorded by Nirvana. 8+ years stuck in a box collecting dust then one day BOOM! It's emotional. For me, man. I was in awe. I thought it was amazing. But the feel is so different. The first two or three times I played it it didn't 'FEEL' like Nirvana. At all. It was so new to me even though I've heard the live version and played it many times. It's such a different feeling emitting from that song that it just so morbid. I'm speechless." More.
Shortly after the song popped up online, some brave radio stations around the world began playing the unauthorized track. One station even played it over and over again for one hour straight. Some of them received cease and desist letters from Nirvana's label. Though, eventually - because of the huge interest - Geffen caved in and made the track legally available to radio stations. More. Also see this.
All while this happened, Q Magazine published a special issue with Kurt Cobain on the cover, calling Nirvana The Most Important Band In The World. Inside, 'the 25 greatest Nirvana moments', a new interview with Krist Novoselic and more. More.
Then, on September 30, an official statement was issued which confirmed that the Nirvana lawsuit had been settled and that, indeed, a best-of CD was just a few weeks shy of being released. "We have settled our legal dispute. We are all pleased that these issues have been resolved positively and we can move on. Together, we are happy to announce the release of Nirvana, a one-CD history of the band that will include You Know You're Right, the last recording that Kurt made with Dave and Krist. Universal Music will release the CD in the United States on November 12.
A music video for You Know You're Right will feature previously unseen footage of the band. In addition, several new Nirvana releases will follow over the next few years, including a boxed set in 2004. We hope that this release will enable longtime Nirvana fans to hear some of their favorite songs in a new context. At the same time, the upcoming CD will allow a whole new audience to appreciate Nirvana's music and Kurt Cobain's great talent. We are now moving forward. We thank our fans for their support." More.
The announced 2004 release date for a boxed set actually turned out to hold up, something most fans found highly unlikely at the time, given the many problems surrounding it.
A different statement concerning Courtney Love's battle with Universal Music was also released. "UMG [Universal Music Group] will waive any rights to future recordings from Ms. Love. As part of the settlement, Ms. Love and the other members of the Cobain estate have granted UMG permission to release new Nirvana packages, including a compilation album with a never-before-released track, a box set, and a rarities album. Separate permissions were obtained from the surviving members of Nirvana." More.
October, 2002: In the beginning of the month it was announced that the release of the best-of, simply entitled Nirvana, had been pushed forward to October 28 in Europe and October 29 in the U.S. The cover art was also made available by NME.
Then, on October 8, the tracklisting leaked. I followed-up with a detailed verdict on it. More. Also see my actual review of the album which was posted on October 24 along with other details.
Sometime around the middle of the month, the You Know You're Right music video was first aired. I posted some details about it and a bunch of screenshots. More.
November, 2002: Just about rounding up a hectic year, Krist commented to a journalist that: "A box set should hit the bins next year and it will include a myriad of alternate versions of songs and live material." More.
2003: During the entire year of 2003, absolutely no new information about the proposed box set was made available. No news stories. Nothing. Nada. Well, nothing important, anyway.
January 2004: This website is mentioned in the February 5, 2004 issue of Rolling Stone as NFC makes available the first ever Nirvana concert for free download (as 2003's "NFC X-Mas Present"). A song from this performance would later wind up on With The Lights Out (see October, 2004). More.
March and April 2004: The media is overflowing with stories about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain as this period marks the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.
Hundreds of articles are posted in the news section and I get to appear on national TV and radio in Denmark to talk about Nirvana and Cobain. No significant new information about the box set appears during this period.
September 2004: Ok now we're getting somewhere. Completely out of the blue, a total surprise to pretty much everyone, an e-mail circulating at Universal Music announces a November 2004 release of the long-awaited Nirvana box set. This website is one of the first to make the announcement and quickly the news hits the mainstream media. The e-mail states that on November 23, 2004 a Nirvana box set will be released, including over 50 unreleased recordings including Kurt Cobain demos. There will also be a 60-page booklet and a DVD. Needless to say, this is the culmination of years of waiting and the gift to Nirvana fans that Krist talked about all those years earlier. More.
October 2004: On October 13, NME reports that the box set will "feature 81 tracks including 68 previously unreleased recordings - rehearsals, outtakes, Kurt's home demos, as well as a DVD which is confirmed to have unreleased band home movies, live footage, rehearsal footage and 20 full-length video performances." More.
Then, on October 16, an official website is launched to promote the box set. Apart from a small teaser page to promote 2002's Nirvana, this is the first official Nirvana website to surface in eight years. Located at www.nirvanabox.com the site initially offers the cover art and release dates (Nov. 22 International, Nov. 23 U.S./Canada). More.
On October 21, the Geffen website puts up some details on the set, confirming the info from NME. A picture of the actual box set also turns up, as well as high resolution photos of the cover and an inside look (the CDs look different than whats depicted on the right). More.
Finally, on Friday October 29, the tracklisting for the box is first unveiled by this website. It comes from an issue of Q Magazine (to be published the following Monday), the first publication to review the set and make the tracklisting public. It reveals a number of interesting previously unreleased tracks, including many that not even the most hardcore Nirvana collectors have ever heard (see the 'Tracklisting' section for more info). The article provides a quick run-through of some of the essential tracks and is generally very positive about the set. More.
November 2004: On November 1st, Universal finally issue an official press release to confirm the details of the box set, including the tracklisting. Also, MTV puts up the 1990 In Bloom video from the DVD, and MTV2 announces a November 12 special that will include excerpts from the box set DVD. More.
The L.A. Times publishes an enthusiastic review of the set and interest starts building. More.
Then, on November 8, excitement about the box reaches new heights when MTV put up a trailer to promote the set. Including rare video footage from the DVD and audio clips of the three CDs, fans salivate upon hearing bits of unreleased gems such as Old Age and Do Re Mi. More.
November 19, 22 & 23: With The Lights Out is released.
For info on boxset-related events that have occured since the official release, please refer to the news section.
