Hormoaning

by Steve Bekkala

Originally released to promote Nirvana's early 1992 Australian tour (and reissued a month later in Japan for similar purposes, albeit with different cover art), the Hormoaning EP quickly became a much sought-after item to Nirvana fans and collectors alike. Not only was it produced in relatively scarce quantities, but it also gave those who were lucky enough to track down a copy an opportunity to hear an assortment of rare tracks unavailable elsewhere (that is, until Incesticide, which contains most of these songs, was released later in the year). Only two originals are featured on Hormoaning — the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" B-side, "Even in His Youth," and the colossal, foreboding "Aneurysm." However, in the same way that MTV Unplugged in New York would later prove, the four cover songs here tell as much about Nirvana as do the originals. Kurt Cobain's wide-ranging influences are acknowledged as if they were one and the same — the group's love of new wave (shown in their take on Devo's "Turnaround") is treated no differently as their nod to Northwest underground punk stalwarts the Wipers ("D-7") or Cobain's beloved Scottish twee pop heroes the Vaselines ("Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips"). Regardless of the availability of most of this material elsewhere, Hormoaning still serves as a revealing entry in the catalog of the most influential rock band of the '90s.