Nirvana’s third and final album In Utero celebrates its 20th anniversary on the 13th September and getting the lavish reissue treatment in a number of drool-worthy sets, including B-sides, rarities, and previously unreleased material (including an instrument literally called ‘Forgotten Tune’).
Now the indie label that first kick-started the band’s grunge legacy is getting in on the anniversary spirit, offering a neat little piece of history up to the music world.
Sub Pop, who themselves just celebrated their 25th Silver Jubilee, were the Seattle based label that first signed Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and then-drummer Chad Channing ahead of their 1989 debut album Bleach.
Sub Pop has scanned and posted the original copy of Nirvana’s first-ever record contract onto their official tumblr, as Pitchfork points out, with the scrappy bit of paper showing that the band – then a four-piece with second guitarist Jason Everman – were initialy signed for two years and three full albums.
The best part however is how much Sub Pop paid for what would become one of the modern era’s most influential music groups: $600.
As the indie label points out on their post; “six hundred bucks well spent—not that we had it at the time.”
Of course Sub Pop only got to release Bleach before major labels came knocking, with David Geffen Company Records eventually buying out Nirvana’s contract, going on to release Nevermind and In Utero and making significant rock history. Nirvana’s debut album remains Sub Pop’s biggest-selling release and just one of two to sell over 1 million copies and earn Platinum status for the label (the other being The Postal Service’s Give Up).
The contract follows Sub Pop’s other amazing piece of Nirvana paraphernalia, a letter from a confused fan asking if the label could get the band to record a video message for their homecoming, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Kurt Cobain was both deceased… and a man; “Virginia Tech loves Nirvana, we’d love to have her in our video,” wrote the student mascot. Of course, the cheeky scamps at Sub Pop obliged to her request by dressing up and recording said message (to hilarious effect).
Nirvana never seem to stray far from the cultural conscience, whether it’s providing a source of inspiration for Jay-Z on his new album (and bizarrely many other rappers over the years), being named by Rolling Stone readers as one of the worst band of the 90s (yes, really), or Kurt and Courtney’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, showing off her parent’s influence with her impeccable music taste.
Then there’s the 20th Anniversary re-issues of In Utero that have prompted further celebration of the band’s deathless legacy and turning up some interesting archive material, such as the promo clip of Cobain, Novoselic and Dave Grohl giving birth and the grisly director’s cut of the ‘Heart Shaped Box’ video, which you can view below.
