nirvana soundgarden

Nirvana, Soundgarden master tapes lost in 2008 fire, report reveals⁠—UPDATED

UPDATED: June 11, 2019 @ 8:00 p.m. EST

Earlier today it was brought to life that Nirvana, Soundgarden and more lost their master tapes in a fire back in 2008. Now, a couple of bands have come forward claiming they had no idea they were among the artists who had their masters destroyed.

Alternative rock band Hole, fronted by Courtney Love, revealed to Pitchfork that they were never told by Universal that their tapes were destroyed. A rep told the outlet they were “not aware until this morning.”

R.E.M. also took to Twitter to reveal they were looking into the matter.

“REMHQ is receiving inquiries from many people concerned about the New York Times article on the Universal Music fire 11 years ago. We are trying to get good information to find out what happened and the effect on the band’s music, if any. We will detail further as and when.”

ORIGINAL STORY: June 11, 2019 @ 1:47 p.m. EST

A 2008 warehouse fire at Universal Studios Hollywood destroyed hundreds of master tapes by Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Soundgarden and more.

A New York Times investigation reveals that the masters by Universal artists throughout the decades were lost, which limits the possibilities for high-quality reproductions in the future.

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At the time of the fire, most of the coverage focused on the burned King Kong theme park attraction and video content, and dismissed the lost music.

The new report suggests that the lost masters were kept under wraps for fear that artists and estates whose masters were destroyed would come after the label.

Other notable loses include “almost all” of Buddy Holly’s masters as well as loses from names like Elton John, No Doubt, R.E.M. Iggy Pop and dozens more.

In total, Universal Music Group estimated that 500,000 song titles were destroyed.

UMG has since disputed the claims and put out a statement via Variety about the fire.

“Music preservation is of the highest priority for us and we are proud of our track record,” the statement reads in part. “While there are constraints preventing us from publicly addressing some of the details of the fire that occurred at NBCUniversal Studios facility more than a decade ago, the incident – while deeply unfortunate – never affected the availability of the commercially released music nor impacted artists’ compensation.”

Other news

Speaking of Nirvana, one Nirvana fan just bought a used paper plate that frontman Kurt Cobain ate pizza off of once for $22,000.

The sale took place at an auction put on by Julien’s Auctions, who put on their “MUSIC Icons” event on Saturday in Times Square.

Besides the sweater, items owned by Queen, Madonna, Prince, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and more were auctions.

The paper plate also had a handwritten setlist in black marker that was used at the 9:30 nightclub in Washington, D.C. in 1990. It was estimated to sell for $1,000 to $2,000 but went for much more. You can see a photo of it below.

Another item sold was a cardigan worn by Cobain during his final photo shoot. It just sold for $75,000 at an auction.

Cobain’s sweater sold for way over its initial estimate of $20,000. He wore it for the album cover of In Utero which was released in September 1993.

You can see what that looked like below.

As for the Queen stuff auction off, the group’s synthesizer that was used to record “Radio Ga Ga” sold for $25,000 after being estimated at $8,000. Also, a shirt that was signed and worn by Freddie Mercury in his last filmed performance in the 1991 single “These Are The Days of Our Lives” sold for $54,400.

You can see the shirt below in the video.

Some other impressive sells were Britney Spears’ handwritten lyrics to “Baby One More Time” sold for more than $10,000. Also, a military-style jacket worn by Michael Jackson that he wore to the birthday party for President Nelson Mandela sold for $76,800.

What do you think of the lost UMG music? Sound off in the comments down below!

See more: 10 concert posters from your favorite bands before they blew up

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