Music Demos you find interesting - Early versions, "lost" music from bands, hard to find demo tapes, etc.

[Nameless One]

Here's a gigantic find for me personally. This Hye Enk version of P.L.U.C.K. from System Of A Down has finally been found in a high quality after like 4+ years of me searching for it due to the hangman part. I hope someday we finally get the demos for their Mezmerize and Hypnotize album duology (and maybe more toxicity demos).

Full album it was found on:

I'm shocked this hasn't already gotten a thread but share any music demos and early versions that you like.

 

[Daddy's Angry Juice]

Don't have any that come to mind ATM but I want to bump the thread.

 

[Mortan Shekelstorm]

Pocketwatch by Late! AKA Dave Grohl, a solo album he recorded in 1990-91 released in 92 during his time in Nirvana as their drummer up until 94. You can hear a lot of early versions of songs that would later be tweaked and eventually released on different Foo Fighters records The Skin in Bones album and In Your Honor album in particular, notably Friend of a Friend and Color Pictures of a Marigold. "Just another Story About Skeeter Thompson" is probably my favourite off the album pretty funny.

 

[Contra Pozz]

Not better than the final album but interesting nonetheless imo:

And a death metal demo I love

 

[Nameless One]

Chamber Of Reflection (superior version)

 

[cool4thcat]

All weezer demos are magnitudes better than final release. THE BEST SONGS ARE JUST UNREASED YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT THEM!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTu_WVvKjv4
vs

 

[beautiful person]

I've really liked this Thriller-era demo from Michael Jackson ever since I found out about it right after he croaked. It was finally released officially a couple years ago by being tacked onto a 40th anniversary edition of Thriller.

Sunset Driver:

 

[Carlos Thin]

Probably the most famous unreleased album outside of SMiLE, Weezer's Pinkerton was originally a rock opera set in space. He worked on this for about a year before scraping the entire project because the bassist released a solo album about space. Rivers' demos are equally fascinating because he's done this about 4 times over his career, and more often than not his demos are better than his actual output.

Likewise, Randy Newman's Good Old Boys was a concept album, not about the South in general, but a singular character. A good listen because a lot of the demos are worthy of being on the album, and he narrates the story and the production of the album

 

[Lovely Kin]

Let Me Love You - CL

Poor quality, but she originally was supposed to sing this song. There were multiple attempts to debut her in the west, but her company was really shit. To be fair, I don't think CL would have succeeded in the west, but it's an interesting find.

 

[beautiful person]

Let Me Love You - CL

Poor quality, but she originally was supposed to sing this song. There were multiple attempts to debut her in the west, but her company was really shit. To be fair, I don't think CL would have succeeded in the west, but it's an interesting find.

2NE1 was my shit back in the day. Kinda sad what happened to CL.

 

[Lovely Kin]

Wonder Girls - Tell Me

This may or may not count as a demo, since it's behind the scenes. The original demo with HyunA singing Tell Me is more than likely lost, so all we have is this music video before she left Wonder Girls. It's mostly similar, but the choreography and clothes have some slight differences. Many of the songs in the Wonder Years album still have HyunA's vocals before they replaced her with Yubin.

2NE1 was my shit back in the day. Kinda sad what happened to CL.

I was never much of a 2NE1 fan, but I genuinely felt bad about them. Before I burned out of kpop around generation three, I remember there was a joke about BLACKPINK being "2NE1 but pretty" and that some of their early songs were meant for 2NE1. As If It's Your Last was confirmed to be a 2NE1 song. I will always be of the belief BLACKPINK was there at the right time, right place, that's how they took off in the west unlike WG and 2NE1.

 

[Ventrue]

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun (Demo Version)

Chris Cornell was experiencing a creative block when he sent a demo tape with songs to his producer who rejected all of them. He told Chris to listen to music that he likes in his free time and to draw inspiration from that. Later, he misheard a TV news anchor say blah blah black hole sun blah blah and he felt that was a good song title. From there it all came together, Chris Cornell played all of the instruments in the song. When he sent the tape to the producer, he expected it would be rejected like the last tape. When the producer heard Black Hole Sun he knew they had a hit. He called Chris on the phone afterwards and to Chris' surprise, the producer loved it, even calling him a genius.

 

[Nameless One]

That's a fascinating story of one of my favorite Soundgarden songs, thank you for sharing. I never knew that.

 

[Lovely Kin]

Another 2NE1 demo that went to BP. Melody is much different and very early.

 

[Spergichu]

Ween's Caesar Demos. 29 demos that were either reworked or cut from of Quebec, one of their best (if not the best) albums. They were uploaded by Dean Ween himself over a decade after they were recorded in 2011. For the most part, you can see why they chose to drop these songs but there are a few gems in there that I just can't fathom why they wouldn't officially release in some way.

 

[ModerateRock]

I don't really like Nirvana that much, and by association, I don't really like Kurt Cobain that much. However, I can't help but appreciate some of the stuff on Kurt's pre-Nirvana Fecal Matter demo

 

[Muskie]

Earliest Primus demo I know of. Recorded with a drum machine because the the band lacked a drummer at the time. It sounds like a wierd new-wave version of Primus. Highlight is definitely Too Many Puppies.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Hawaii pt. 2 was a wonderful concept album. Was to my college years what The Dreadnoughts' Foreign Skies was to... also my college years.

Then we get this. One commenter described it as feeling like exploring an incomplete amusement park. If the link doesn't work, look up Hawaii pt. 2 pt. 2. If you know the album like the back of your hand, this is such a fun treat to hear these little snippets, like vignettes, little variations on the original.

 

[cleanerfromvenus]

I always liked the Boowy demos more than their actual recordings. This channel has pretty much all of them, I don't know how but it does.

 

[Art Corvalay]

Darkthrone's "Land of Frost" demo is an interesting one, and not just because the band themselves hate it and wish everyone would forget it exists. Not only is it pretty different from their sound at any point later (and actually has Fenriz on vocals, even), but the 15 second, weirdly out-of-place interlude melody around the 1:40 mark of the first track would pretty much be sampled by and become the backbone for two different songs by more known bands (Metallica's "The Unforgiven", and Katatonia's "In Silence Enshrined")