While Kurt Cobain's solo demos from the Montage of Heck soundtrack may be important to avid Nirvana fans, they did not do well sales-wise. Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings, which accompanied the HBO documentary, only grossed 5,000 copies in the first week.
According to Billboard, the home recordings album reached No. 1 on the soundtracks chart and No. 6 on alternative albums, plateauing at No. 121 on the Billboard 200.
It is surprising how little the album sold, considering the hype that surrounded it. Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings is a compilation of cassette tapes that gives the listener an intimate view into Cobain's private musical works and includes a raw version of "Been a Son" from the 1989 Blew EP, "Sappy" and a cover of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night song, "And I Love Her." It also features some spoken-word segments by Krist Novoselic and Cobain himself.
The Home Recordings was specifically put in chronological order to mimic the rise of the rocker's career and life before extreme fame. The Montage of Heck director Brett Morgen was in charge of assembling the album in time-sensitive order and spoke on just how challenging it was, especially to compile the spoken-word segments recorded at Cobain's ex-girlfriend Tracy Marander's house.
"I knew the spoken word stuff on the soundtrack was all recorded at Tracy's apartment," Morgen said, "'Been a Son' was from that period as well. But Kurt did not date stuff. One of the things that made his journals complicated was he would go back and rewrite stuff. Even his journals were not necessarily chronological."
As reported by Fuse, Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings is available as either a 31-song vinyl release or a 13-track CD; both are also available in digital form.
