In 1988 Kurt Cobain created a Jackson Pollock painting with music. Dig it.
Influences play an essential part in creation, but the depth and scope of their power is much larger in the creation of something that is unlike anything that has come before it. The creation of a neo-classicist painting relies much heavier on the application of influence; it draws purely from a movement that has already happened, rather than the originality that can rise out of the amalgamation of influence into something much different, where one can barely trace the individually chosen influential factors. The 1989 Nirvana album Bleach has been credited with ushering in the sound that Kurt Cobain pioneered and honed into something unique, as a coalescence of his influences instead of a direct homage to them. For this reason, the movement was original. Using a 4-track cassette recorder in 1988, the 21 year old Kurt Cobain threw a bunch of material together, from radio recordings to toilets flushing, from the Flintstones to Led Zeppelin and even some stripped down Nirvana demos. As Dangerous Minds points out, the exhaustive nature of everything that comes together in this bizarre ‘Montage of Heck’ had been collected without such resources as Napster, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube. The array of music is pretty incredible. There are your standards, such as Van Halen, Iron Butterfly, the Velvet Underground, but there is also Cher and Donny Osmond. There are two versions of “Montage of Heck”, one which was only a mere 8 minutes long, the other clocked in at 36 minutes in length, but they both convey the same zaned out sound collage, like some Jackson Pollock of music, Kurt stood over his 4 track and threw down well chosen materials onto the canvas. Check out what happened:
Kurt Cobain’s “Montage Of Heck” from SpaceEcho on Vimeo.
Here’s some of what you heard:
“The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” by Mike Douglas
“The Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” by The Beatles
“A Day In The Life” by The Beatles
“Eruption” by Van Halen
“Hot Pants” by James Brown
“Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” by Cher
“Go Away Little Girl” by Donny Osmond
“Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver
“Everybody Loves Somebody” by Dean Martin
“The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis, Jr.
“In A Gadda Da Vida” by Iron Butterfly
“Wild Thing” by William Shatner
“Taxman” by The Beatles
“I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family
“Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?” by The Barbarians
“Queen Of The Reich” by Queensryche
“Last Caress/Green Hell” covered by Metallica
“Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin
“Get Down, Make Love” by Queen
“ABC” by The Jackson Five
“I Want Your Sex” by George Michael
“Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden
“Eye Of The Chicken” by Butthole Surfers
“Dance of the Cobra” by Butthole Surfers
“The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave” by Butthole Surfers
“New Age” by The Velvet Underground
“Love Buzz” by Shocking Blue
Orchestral music from 200 Motels by Frank Zappa
“Help I’m A Rock” / “It Can’t Happen Here” by Frank Zappa
“Call Any Vegetable” by Frank Zappa
“The Day We Fall In Love” by The Monkees
“Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath (intro)
Theme from The Andy Griffith Show
Mike Love (of The Beach Boys) talking about “Transcendental Meditation”
Excerpts of Jimi Hendrix speaking at the Monterey Pop Festival
Excerpts of Paul Stanley from KISS’ Alive!
Excerpts of Daniel Johnston screaming about Satan
Excerpts from sound effects records
Various children’s records (Curious George, Sesame Street, The Flintstones, Star Wars
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