The 20-year anniversary edition of Nirvana’s Nevermind was released recently; it contains, among other things, several early demos of the final songs… It’s strange and somewhat eye-opening to hear these iconic tracks in their formative stages, like glimpsing a favourite actor with their makeup stripped away and coffee stains on their shirt.
Sometimes a bit of doublethink goes into enjoying a great song, especially a piece of straight-from-the-gut angst. We want to believe that the track is an immediate dictation of the writer’s emotions and intent, bursting out of the speakers fully formed. I guess it’s in the interest of marketing to give that impression as well.
Truth is, when you read a novel (or watch a film, or stand-up comedy routine) you’re enjoying the product of an enormous amount of work. Not only the initial invention but constant re-writes and careful editing, pressure testing and audience feedback – the gradual process of refinement that makes art endurable.
The reason for this muttering is that we’re currently putting the ever popular ‘finishing touches’ to our own brand spanking new EP. In this case it means making the good things better and taking an axe to those poor bastards dragging the ship down.
Rock music (do people still use that term?) may not be as precise a science as film-making or as dependant on trust as comedy, but it still requires love and attention to detail, as those early Nirvana demos make clear. Imagine Teen Spirit without a fully realised chorus, or Radiohead’s Paranoid Android without the explosive bridge section (initially a totally different song). Brrrr.
Jefferson Airplane stated that, while it may take you a couple of weeks to make your first record and a couple of months to make your second, the end of the process is going to take you about three years. I really hope not, and you have my word that as soon as this thing is ready we’ll let you know.
I also just realised that ‘finishing touches’ sounds a bit porny. If you found this through a misguided Google search, better luck next time.
