Incesticide Curios: Gentle Morning Post (Late…In Early Afternoon…)

There’s an undeniable appeal of the underdogs, the underrated, the overlooked — when everyone is saying “its brilliant” then joining in may be an aid to social bonding, may make one feel part of the ‘pack’, but it doesn’t salve the desire to separate and distinguish oneself. Certainly I’ll admit that played a part in my curiosity regarding Incesticide — everyone knows Bleach, knows Nevermind, knows In Utero pretty darn well. Talking about what was less spoken of seemed more interesting and valuable to me, as a fan and as someone who prefers not to regurgitate others’ work.

The result of writing Dark Slivers has been that an awful lot of very cool people have been in touch sharing stories, songs, new materials — it’s been a really good experience. One part of what they share has been unusual pieces of Incesticide memorabilia, my favourite two here:

The poster above came up for sale on eBay, an original 1992 promo poster for the album — there can’t be many of them about. It’s crucial feature is of course the enhanced detail of the image, the lower flower I’ve rarely paid much eye to, the withered hand with the seaweed tendril fingers…Oh, and see that in the bottom corner? Kurt Cobain’s signature on the original artwork. That’s a feature not present on the album cover, cut out — this is the only time I’ve seen it restored to place and emphasises to me, once again, that Kurt Cobain took a personal interest in the ‘wrapping’ of the compilation.

The second piece is yet another promo poster, this time with a different angle:

It’s hilarious that Kurt Cobain’s comments on these songs, often sarcastic, self-depreciating and rude about his own creations was chosen for an advertisement in support of the album. How many adverts do you see with the word “masturbatory” featured?