“Breed” by Nirvana

"Breed" is the fourth track on Nirvana's Nevermind, released on September 24, 1991, but it was already an old song by then. Kurt Cobain wrote it in 1989, while the band was still touring behind Bleach, and it first went by the name "Imodium", after the anti-diarrhea medicine Tad Doyle of Tad relied on during the two bands' shared European tour. Only it and "Polly" on Nevermind go back that far.

The early demo was slower. Butch Vig first recorded it at Smart Studios in Madison in April 1990, for what was meant to be a second Sub Pop album, and the Nevermind take he produced is a sprint: Cobain's buzzsaw guitar and scream, Krist Novoselic's rumbling bass and Dave Grohl's pummeling, both of them hollering backup, with Andy Wallace's mix keeping it razor-sharp. It never came out as a single, but it stayed in their live set until Cobain's death in April 1994.

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