6 Songs for Bruce

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6 Songs for Bruce
Demo album by
Soundgarden
RecordedApril 24, 1985
GenreGrunge
LanguageEnglish
ProducerJack Endino

6 Songs for Bruce, also commonly known as the 4-Track Demo, is an early single-sided demo cassette tape by American rock band Soundgarden.

Overview[edit]

The band, at the time a three-piece named Sound Garden, composed of guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, and Chris Cornell on drums and vocals,[1] recorded the demo, in Jack Endino's basement four-track studio[nb 1] on April 24, 1985, for their friend Bruce Pavitt,[3] hence the name of the tape, which features a rare early version of "Tears to Forget" sung by Yamamoto, and, as a bonus song, a Cornell's solo recording titled "The Storm". The side B of the cassette, humorously titled Zen Deity Speaks, contains no recordings.[nb 2]

The demo tape was among many of the artifacts displayed at the Museum of Pop Culture's Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit in Seattle, Washington.[7]

6 Songs for Bruce would be the second demo of Soundgarden; which was preceded by a tape titled The First 15, recorded in 1984.[8]

Reissues and re-recordings[edit]

"Tears to Forget" would be re-recorded in late 1985, with Cornell on vocals and Scott Sundquist on drums, for the C/Z Records compilation album Deep Six[nb 3] released in 1986. It was recorded for a third time in 1987, with Matt Cameron on drums, for the band's debut EP Screaming Life.[nb 4]

"The Storm" would be laid down for a second time, during a March 1986 session, on a 16-track demo tape that got shelved.[1][9] 28 years later, again with Endino as producer, the tune would be re-recorded in finished form in May 2014.[9] Retitled as simply "Storm", it was released on the band's rarities box set Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path.[nb 5][1]

"Incessant Mace" was reissued on the 1986 C/Z Records limited edition cassette-only various artists compilation Pyrrhic Victory.[10][11] In 1988, the song would be re-recorded, with Cameron on drums, for its release on the band's first full-length album Ultramega OK.[nb 6] In 2017, two previously unreleased eight-track versions of "Incessant Mace", taken from a demo tape, informally called the "Ultramega EP" by the band members, produced in 1987 by Endino and Chris Hanzsek at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording studio, were included on the expanded remixed and remastered reissue of Ultramega OK.[nb 7][12][13][14][15]

Track listing[edit]

Side A: 6 Songs for Bruce
No.TitleArtistLength
1."I Think I'm Sinking"  
2."Bury My Head In Sand"  
3."Tears to Forget"  
4."The Storm" (bonus track)Chris Cornell 
5."Incessant Mace"  
6."In Vention"  
7."Out of My Skin"  
Side B: Zen Deity Speaks (blank side)
No.TitleLength

Personnel[edit]

Sound Garden

Production

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "... I already knew Soundgarden pretty well, since they and Skin Yard had shared the stage many times in Seattle's tiny club scene circa 1985-1986. ... I had a basement 4-track setup and had done some demos for them and others..."
                                    – Jack Endino, Seattle 2013[2]
  2. ^ This blank track ostensibly makes tribute, in a joking way, to 4′33″, the 1952 experimental silent composition by John Cage (who was highly influenced by Zen Buddhism); as previously John Lennon and Yoko Ono did through the piece "Two Minutes Silence", from their 1969 album Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions; which in turn, Soundgarden would parodied as "One Minute of Silence" on 1988's Ultramega OK album.[4][5][6]
  3. ^ C/Z #CZ 01
  4. ^ Sub Pop #SP 12
  5. ^ A&M #B0022156-02
  6. ^ SST #SST 201
  7. ^ Sub Pop #SP1172

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Kreps, Daniel (October 28, 2014). "Soundgarden Unveil Three-Disc 'Echo of Miles' Rarities Collection: The band also revive 30-year-old track for menacing new song 'Storm'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  2. ^ "Soundgarden on Sub Pop Records". Sub Pop Records. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016.
  3. ^ (April 10, 2012). "April 24, 1985 - Sound Garden (Soon to be Soundgarden) recorded this 4-Track Demo for Bruce Pavitt". The Grunge Scene. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  4. ^ True, Everett (June 10, 1989). "Soundgarden: The Mutate Gallery" (interview). Melody Maker.
  5. ^ Osborne, Richard (August 21, 2012). "The sounds of silence". New Statesman. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  6. ^ Reiff, Corbin (May 17, 2019). "All 134 Soundgarden Songs, Ranked". Vulture. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Lipp, Chaz (August 26, 2011). "Book Review: Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind by Jacob McMurray". Blogcritics. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  8. ^ Prato, Greg (2009). Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. Toronto, Canada: ECW Press. ISBN 9781550228779. p. 97.
  9. ^ a b Marlowe, Keith (February 5, 2015). "Meet the Guy Who Has Recorded Almost Every Major Seattle Album" (interview). Noisey. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  10. ^ Tow, Stephen (2011). The Strangest Tribe: How a Group of Seattle Rock Bands Invented Grunge. Seattle, Washington: Sasquatch Books. ISBN 9781570617430. p. 167.
  11. ^ Various Artists, Pyrrhic Victory. Discogs. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Reed, Ryan (January 18, 2017). "Soundgarden Finalize 'Ultramega OK' Remix for Reissue". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  13. ^ Lore Mark, Mark (March 9, 2017). "Soundgarden: Ultramega OK: Expanded Reissue Review". Paste. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  14. ^ Johnston, Maura (March 20, 2017). "Soundgarden - Ultramega OK" (review). Pitchfork. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  15. ^ Sub Pop Records. "Soundgarden - Ultramega OK (Expanded Reissue)" (review). Sub Pop Mega Mart. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
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