Music History

Here’s How to Replicate Kurt Cobain’s “Montage of Heck” Mixtape (But Good Luck Getting It All Together)

Alan Cross 4 Comments 1082 Views

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck finally makes it to theatres and HBO this week. If you haven’t seen a trailer yet, here’s one.

https://youtu.be/_IBWbpJdRMQ

The title of the Brett Morgen documentary comes from a cassette tape found amongst Kurt’s stuff after he died. So what was on this mixtape? It was made by a pre-fame Kurt back in the late 80s. It’s…interesting.  Wired has this tracklisting:

  1. Telly Savalas, “The Men in My Little Girl’s Life”
  2. Traditional, “Ring Around the Rosie”
  3. Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, “The Fishin’ Hole” (The Andy Griffith Show theme)
  4. Olympia Beer commercial
  5. The Hobbit (1977 version)
  6. Saccharine Trust, “Remnants”
  7. Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sounds of Silence”
  8. The Monkees, “The Day We Fall in Love”
  9. Black Sabbath, “Sweet Leaf”
  10. Butthole Surfers, “Eye of the Chicken”
  11. Alan Mills and Joseph Raposo, Curious George Rides a Bike (1970 7-inch record)
  12. Van Halen, “Eruption”
  13. Peter Brown, “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me”
  14. James Brown, “Hot Pants (Pt 1)”
  15. Cher, “Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves”
  16. Donny Osmond, “Go Away Little Girl”
  17. Bay City Rollers, “Rock and Roll Love Letter”
  18. Traditional, “Star Light, Star Bright”
  19. John Denver, “Rocky Mountain High”
  20. Oscar the Grouch, Bert & Ernie Sing-Along
  21. Dean Martin, “Everybody Loves Somebody”
  22. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
  23. Star Wars audiobook
  24. Kiss, Alive!
  25. Dean Martin, “Little Green Apples”
  26. Eddie Bond, “Buford Pusser Goes Bear Hunting With a Switch”
  27. Sammy Davis Jr., “The Candy Man”
  28. Three Little Pigs (1933)
  29. Iron Butterfly, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”
  30. Traditional, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”
  31. The Flintstones
  32. The Troggs, “Wild Thing”
  33. June Foray, Monster Shindig
  34. Jimi Hendrix, “Hey Joe” (Jimi Plays Monterey version)
  35. The Beatles, “Taxman”
  36. The Partridge Family, “I Think I Love You”
  37. News report on Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination
  38. Carroll O’Connor and Rob Reiner dialog from All In The Family episode “Judging Books by Covers”
  39. The Barbarians, “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl”
  40. Butthole Surfers, “The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave”
  41. The Velvet Underground, “New Age”
  42. Queensrÿche, “Queen of the Reich”
  43. Iron Maiden, “Run to the Hills”
  44. Froot Loops commercial
  45. “Cottleston Pie” (lyrics from the book Winnie-the-Pooh)
  46. Led Zeppelin, “Whole Lotta Love”
  47. Thor, “2045”
  48. The Jackson 5, “ABC”
  49. Black Flag, “Salt on a Slug”
  50. “Introduction to Manned Mercury Spaceflight” (on a record released with Hasbro’s GI Joe Mercury Space Capsule)
  51. George Michael,“I Want Your Sex”
  52. Queen, “Get Down, Make Love”
  53. Nirvana, “Unidentified Demo”

Anyone want to psychoanalyze that selection? And wouldn’t it be cool if we could get an audio release of this mixtape?

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 42406 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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