Nirvana

Before the triumphs of the grunge era, before the fame that would turn them into icons of '90s rock. There was a time when Nirvana, still unknown, played in the unlikeliest of venues around their hometown of Aberdeen, Washington. Thanks to archivist Mike Ziegler, a curious home-video clip of Kurt Cobain and co. has surfaced for the first time: the complete footage of a performance by the future grunge idols, then still known as Ted Ed Fred, dating back to January 24, 1988. The lineup — which at the time featured singer Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic on bass, and, on drums, Dale Crover, later of the Melvins — performed in a store belonging to the Radio Shack electronics chain in Aberdeen.

What makes the video special, previously available only in fragments, is that it shows the future Nirvana performing with only Crover playing live, while Cobain and Novoselic mime along to a demo recorded just the day before. Cobain asked his new friend Eric Harter, who ran the store, to film the band on video as they played "Paper Cuts," one of the 10 tracks on the demo tape.

Watch the video below of Nirvana, still going by the name Ted Ed Fred.

Another vintage video — shared by the magazine Open Culture — shows footage of Harter talking about the clip filmed at Radio Shack and handing a copy of the recording to Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, who appears alongside her friend Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland. At one point, Harter mentions a Ted Ed Fred show at the Community World Theater in Tacoma. The full footage of that concert, held the night before the Radio Shack recording (and just a few hours after the demo tape recording session), can be seen on this page.

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27/01/2026