Some thoughts on the new Nirvana boxed set

• Most of the first CD and a good chunk of the video footage includes the drummer they had before Dave Grohl joined the band. He has absolutely no stage presence, his drumming seems to hit a few milliseconds too late as opposed to Dave's which always seemed to drive the rest of the band without question. Basically he's the pothead-looking human equivalent of a drum machine, but now he can enjoy his moment in the sun as the 4th Nirvana member. (Sort of like Dave Mustaine and Metallica, if Davein fact wasn't more talented than the rest of the band put together. New Megadeth == also must have. Shut up.)
• A lot of the songs on the first disc were rejected songs that didn't make it onto the first album, Bleech. Most of these have a real Black Sabbath feel to them, heavier riffs, more Geezer Butler-like wandering bass lines, like punk with a metal tinge to it. But I guess they didn't fit with the Sub-Pop sound that Kurt must have been after, so they got tossed. They even sound like Kyuss in one song, it's fucking great.
• “I bet half the cost of this first ‘In Bloom’ video was the hotdogs.”
• There's a ton of very early, like high-school, video footage of the band playing at parties and in Krist Novoselic's mom's house. This is one of those things that, if Kurt were alive and had any dignity, would never have seen the light of day. It would be kind of like having home video of yourself on the potty when you're 2 shown as part of your acting career.
• There's also audio from the very first concert they did at a party, some kid yells “Heartbreaker!”, and so they break into the opening riff of it (from Led Zeppelin II, d'uh) but then realize they can't play the verse part, nor do they know any words, so they ‘Nirvana-ize’ it, start a big feedback orgy, then repeat the opening riff again. The crowd loved it.
• There's video of the first time they performed “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which was probably the only time Kurt intro'ed the song with any enthusiasm whatsoever. Now, I always thought the song sounded good, but the lyrics were utter nonsense, so I never bought into this ‘anthem for a generation’ bullshit that Rolling Stone-types like to say it is. All the same, about halfway through the song the crwowd starts to go absolutely wild, so there must have been something to it after all.
• Nirvana had a fourth guitarist for all of two weeks. They apparently never really liked him, made him pay for Bleech, but he didn't appear on the album at all, but they gave him a ‘guitars’ credit so he would keep his mouth shut. After that he apparently joined Soundgarden and lasted there for about 3 weeks or so. I think he sells used cars now.
• To re-iterate, Dave Grohl's stage presence and monstrous drum sound were definitely a huge part of Nirvana's success.
• You can play a game with the early video footage: ‘How long has it been since Kurt washed his hair?’ In one shot it may very well have been 3 weeks or more.
• Memo to previously mentioned Rolling Stone-types: Kurt playing facing the wall in the early video footage is not a metaphor for his outlook on life and music, it's because if he turned around there would be unbearable feedback and they wouldn't be able to play. This is a highschool band you're looking at, leave them alone for fuck's sake.
• A couple of the songs from Nevermind also get the de-distortion treatment and sound a hell of a lot better.

Didn't get much further than the early stuff while at my friend's place last night, but it really is cool to learn a lot more about them and see how their sound came about. Also, there's an easter egg video during the video credits that shows Dave throwing cymbals up at a roof to knock down icicles.