Fecal Matter (band)
| Fecal Matter | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Brown Towel, Brown Cow |
| Origin | Aberdeen, Washington, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1985–1986 |
| Associated acts | |
| Past members |
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| Illiteracy Will Prevail | |
|---|---|
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| Demo album by Fecal Matter | |
| Released | 1986 |
| Recorded | December 1985 (Azzerad) Easter 1986 (Gaar) |
| Genre | Punk rock |
| Length | 58:21 |
Fecal Matter was a short-lived punk rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. The group was formed in 1985 by Kurt Cobain, the future front man of the grunge band Nirvana, along with Dale Crover of The Melvins and drummer Greg Hokanson. Melvins members Buzz Osborne (also known as "King Buzzo") and Mike Dillard appeared in a later version of the band during rehearsals the following year.
Songs from group's sole recording session were issued as the Illiteracy Will Prevail demo tape. With the exception of the song "Spank Thru" the tracks from this session remain unreleased officially. A re-recording of "Downer" was also released on the first Nirvana album, Bleach.Illiteracy Will Prevail is the earliest documentation of Cobain's songwriting in circulation, and helped Cobain to establish himself as a composer and performer among his peers in the underground rock scene in Washington state.
Fecal Matter was formed early in 1985, after Kurt Cobain had dropped out of Aberdeen High School. One of "several joke bands" that arose from the circle of friends associated with the Melvins, it initially featured Cobain singing and playing guitar, Melvins drummer Dale Crover playing bass, and Greg Hokanson playing drums. They spent several months rehearsing original material and covers, including songs by The Ramones, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix.
In the Burien home of Cobain's aunt Mari Earle, Cobain and Crover recorded the Illiteracy Will Prevail demo on a 4-track recorder. The date of the recording session has been disputed: many have followed Michael Azerrad's dating of the session to December 1985 in his Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana biography from 1993, while Gillian Gaar contends in her 2012 biography Entertain Us!: The Rise of Nirvana that Easter break in 1986 is more likely. With Crover playing both bass and drums, the two recorded 13 original songs in total, which Cobain would later remember as a "totally abrasive" batch of punk songs reflecting his dual interest in Black Sabbath and Black Flag. Although Crover later dismissed the demo as amateurish, Melvins front man Buzz Osborne recalled a "certain magic" in the band's simple but effective recording, citing as memorable their "ability to put something together in an interesting way."
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