An ex-girlfriend of Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain named Tracy Marander, has been filling in the blanks on the deceased singer’s ‘Montage Of Heck’ mixtape.
Reports had suggested that it was an unheard and unreleased tape, but it appears that tapes have been widely shared among fans for a number of years.
The tape was recorded by the singer when he was 21-years-old, it offers an insight into his broad musical tastes and inspirations.
DangerousMinds.net unveiled the mixtape on their website, recorded in 1988. The Grunge rocker put together the tape a short time before Nirvana’s debut album Bleach in 1989. It is a mix of speech, noises, sounds (some of which sound like Kurt in the jacks) and music from his personally collection and songs he recorded off the radio.
Originally it was reported that that Cobain made the compilation using a four-track cassette recorder, but his ex Tracy Marander says it was more likely made on a two-track recorder 1987.
Speaking to The Guardian Marander said: “I don’t think he had a four-track until 1988 or so. He made it using records, some TV and random sounds he recorded. It was all made in Aberdeen [Washington State], i believe. It took him quite a while.”
The singer’s former partner was given a copy of ‘Montage Of Heck’, as were many others. She said Cobain “may have been stoned” while making the tape and that he enjoyed listening to it high. “He used to listen to it while stoned or on acid too. It always trips people out.”
Marander also claimed that there are plenty of other Cobain mixtapes out there, mostly featuring complete songs, and that VHS tapes exist. “He used to like to make TV montage VHS tapes too. The TV ones are a mix of 60’s to 80’s TV shows, old movies, bad movies, bits of commercials and late night infomercials.”
