Newly surfaced 1988 Kurt Cobain mixtape a glimpse into his deep, dark mind

A young Kurt Cobain in his childhood home in Aberdeen, Wash. (Courtesy Kim Cobain)

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was always known for pushing the envelope of sound and now a newly surfaced audio recording from 26 years ago gives fans a glimpse into Cobain's deep, dark mind.

"Montage of Heck" is a mixtape Cobain reportedly created around 1988, although it doesn't sound like most mixtapes music lovers made in the 1980s. Instead of cramming about 15 songs onto a tape, Cobain includes spoken word, a toilet flushing, William Shatner crooning, Cobain imitating James Brown and snippets from then-unreleased Nirvana recordings. It also includes songs from Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and The Beatles.

The mixtape surfaced on the site Live Nirvana, which writes "It features sounds from Kurt's extensive and bizarre collection, manipulated recordings of the radio, elements from Nirvana demos, and sounds created or recorded by Cobain."

The site also notes the collage was made using a 4-track cassette recorder while the band was working on tracks for their first album.

There are two versions of the recording. A long stereo version runs 36 minutes and a short mono version runs eight minutes. Not all sounds or songs are found on both versions. Part of the short version was used as an intro to "Love Buzz."

The Guardian spoke to Cobain's ex-girlfriend, Tracy Marander, who said he made the mixtape using sounds from TV and other sounds he recorded. She said there "are a lot of copies out there" and she doesn't know where the copy is that Cobain gave her. She added that Cobain may have been stoned when he created the mixtape.

In 1988, the 21-year-old Cobain was two years removed from the band Fecal Matter and it was a year before Nirvana would release their debut album Bleach. Nirvana exploded onto the rock scene and following the success of their sophomore album Nevermind was labelled "the flagship band" of Generation X. Cobain struggled with depression and a heroin addiction in the latter years of his career before taking his own live at the age of 27. He and the other Nirvana members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Montage of Heck Track List:

The following Nirvana recordings can be heard in "Montage Of Heck":