6 Songs for Bruce

6 Songs for Bruce
Demo album by Soundgarden
Recorded	April 24, 1985
Genre	Grunge
Language	English
Producer	Jack Endino

6 Songs for Bruce, also commonly known as 4-Track Demo, is an early single-sided demo tape by the American rock band Soundgarden.

Overview

The band, at the time a three-piece named Sound Garden, composed of guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, and Chris Cornell on drums and vocals,^[1] recorded the demo in Jack Endino's basement four-track studio,^{[nb 1]} on April 24, 1985, for their friend Bruce Pavitt,^[3] hence the name of the tape. "Incessant Mace" was featured on the 1986 C/Z Records limited edition cassette only compilation Pyrrhic Victory,^[4][5] but was re-recorded in 1988 for the band's first full-length album Ultramega OK;^{[nb 2]} while "Tears to Forget" was re-recorded in late 1985 for the C/Z Records compilation album Deep Six^{[nb 3]} released in 1986, and was re-recorded a third time in 1987 for the band's debut EP Screaming Life.^{[nb 4]} As a bonus song, the tape includes a Cornell's solo recording titled "The Storm", which was re-recorded with Endino in May 2014 as "Storm" for the band's rarities box set Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path.^{[nb 5][1]} The side B of the cassette, humorously titled Zen Deity Speaks, contains no recordings. The demo tape was among many of the artifacts displayed at the EMP Museum's Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit in Seattle, Washington.^[6]

According to Kim Thayil in Greg Prato's book Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music,^[7] this was actually Soundgarden's second demo cassette. Their first demo, titled The First 15, was previously recorded in 1984.

Track listing

Side A: 6 Songs for Bruce
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"I Think I'm Sinking"
2.	"Bury My Head In Sand"
3.	"Tears to Forget"
4.	"The Storm" (bonus track)	Chris Cornell
5.	"Incessant Mace"
6.	"In Vention"
7.	"Out of My Skin"

Side B: Zen Deity Speaks (blank side)
No.	Title	Length

Personnel

Sound Garden Chris Cornell – vocals and drums, all instruments on "The Storm" Kim Thayil – guitar Hiro Yamamoto – bass, vocals on "Tears to Forget"

Production Jack Endino - production

Notes

1. "... I already knew Soundgarden pretty well, since they and Skin Yard had shared the stage many times in Seattle’s tiny club scene circa 1985-1986. ... I had a basement 4-track setup and had done some demos for them and others..."
                                   – Jack Endino, Seattle 2013^[2]
2. SST #SST 201
3. C/Z #CZ 01
4. Sub Pop #SP 12
5. A&M #B0022156-02

References

1. Kreps, Daniel (October 28, 2014). "Soundgarden Unveil Three-Disc 'Echo of Miles' Rarities Collection: The band also revive 30-year-old track for menacing new song 'Storm'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
2. "Soundgarden on Sub Pop Records". Sub Pop Records. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
3. (April 10, 2012). "April 24, 1985 - Sound Garden (Soon to be Soundgarden) recorded this 4-Track Demo for Bruce Pavitt". The Grunge Scene. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
4. Tow, Stephen (2011). The Strangest Tribe: How a Group of Seattle Rock Bands Invented Grunge. Sasquatch Books. ISBN 9781570617430. p. 167.
5. Various Artists, Pyrrhic Victory. Discogs. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
6. Lipp, Chaz (August 26, 2011). "Book Review: Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind by Jacob McMurray". Blogcritics. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
7. Prato, Greg (2009). Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. ECW Press. ISBN 9781550228779.