Listen to Nirvana’s remastered John Peel session from 1989

(Credits: Far Out / Subpop)

Thu 11 January 2024 21:45, UK

One of the defining musical acts of the 1990s, Nirvana is a truly iconic band. Releasing the smash-hit album Nevermind in 1991, the Kurt Cobain-fronted group broke the underground grunge scene into the mainstream consciousness. As was the case with countless legendary bands, they witnessed early praise from BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. 

Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine anybody being unaware of Nirvana, with corporate merchandise stocked in shops like Primark and their records constantly being repressed 30 years after Cobain’s death. However, there was a time when the group was relatively unknown.

In 1989, the band were invited to record some tracks for John Peel. Peel was noted for pioneering punk and new wave music when many mainstream radio DJs refused to play it. As a result, he is often hailed as responsible for launching the careers of everyone from The Undertones to Pulp. “The reputation of the programme over the years has spread overseas, and I’ve been lucky enough to be put on the mailing lists of various American record labels,” Peel shared in a 1999 broadcast, “And so it was that I got to hear Nirvana, I suspect, before most other people in this country.”

At that time, Nirvana had recently released their debut album, Bleach, on the Seattle independent label Sub Pop. The album was considerably rougher and more intense than their later material, and, as such, it was not as commercially successful as albums like Nevermind. Still, Bleach is a great album by almost every metric, and this is what endeared the group to one John Peel. 

Recording the first of what would become three sessions with John Peel over the course of their career, Nirvana played at Maida Vale studios in October of 1989. Featuring a line-up of Cobain with bassist Kirst Novoselic and drummer Chad Channing, who was replaced by Dave Grohl the following year, the band performed four of their early tracks.

Cobain’s vocals are almost unrecognisable on the first track, ‘Spanx Thru’’, not yet having perfected his signature strained vocal style that later became synonymous with Nirvana. The selected tracks encapsulate the heavy, grunge influences of early Nirvana, operating in an atmosphere similar to that of Seattle contemporaries Mudhoney. However, the Peel sessions also hint at the development of Nirvana’s sound, on performances of popular tracks ‘About a Girl’ and the more mellow ‘Polly’. The band also treated audiences to a rendition of their debut single, a cover of ‘Love Buzz’ by Shocking Blue. 

Seemingly, Cobain and Nirvana enjoyed the experience of recording for Peel, returning again in 1990 and 1991 to record a variety of other tracks. In fact, such was their appreciation for the radio DJ that Nirvana asked Peel to record the infamous performance at Reading Festival in 1992.

Check out a newly remastered recording of the band’s first sessions for John Peel below. 

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