Hormoaning

Hormoaning is an extended play (EP) by the American rock band Nirvana. It was released on January 27, 1992,^[1] through DGC Records and Geffen Records. It was released in Australia and Japan only, during the band's tour there.^[3]

Hormoaning
Australian cover
EP by Nirvana
Released	January 27, 1992 (1992-01-27)^[1]
Recorded	October 21, 1990 January 1, 1991 ^[2]
Length	18:51
Label	DGC, Geffen
Producer	Dale Griffin, Craig Montgomery
Nirvana chronology
Nevermind It's an Interview (1992) Hormoaning (1992) Incesticide (1992)
Japanese cover

Songs

Four of the songs on Hormoaning are covers which had not been released previously. The remaining two songs are Nirvana originals which previously appeared as B-sides to singles for Nevermind.

"Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth", two Nirvana originals produced and engineered by Craig Montgomery, also appear as B-sides on the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single. This version of "Aneurysm" later appeared on disc two of the rarities box set With the Lights Out in 2004 and is different from the version released on Incesticide in 1992.

The other four songs are from a Peel Session, recorded for BBC Radio on October 21, 1990. "Turnaround" (originally by Devo), "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips" (originally by The Vaselines) appear on the Incesticide album. "D-7" is a cover of the Wipers song and appears on the UK version of the "Lithium" single and later on disc 2 of With the Lights Out in 2004.

Release and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]
Tom Hull – on the Web	B+ (  )^[5]
The Village Voice	A−^[6]

In Australia, 15,000 official copies were released: 4,000 on burgundy 12-inch vinyl, 10,000 on CD, and 1,000 on cassette. There were two different pressings of the Australian CD, one with a silver CD and one with a blue CD. In Japan it was released on CD in large quantities. The Australian and Japanese releases have entirely different artwork. The Australian version is considered rare due to the limited numbers. There were only two official Japanese pressings, both on CD with barely noticeable variations in artwork. The Japanese CDs were rushed out without prior consent from the US parent company and as a result the cover art is taken from the inside artwork of the Nevermind album. All Japanese vinyl copies were counterfeit. Counterfeit versions of the Japanese CDs also exist and the Australian blue CD version has also been counterfeited. The Australian silver CD is the only official version of which counterfeit copies are not known to exist.^{[citation needed]}

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave Hormoaning an "A−" and found it almost as good as their second album, Nevermind (1991), and far superior to their first record, Bleach (1989), particularly because "without David Grohl they're sludge monkeys".^[6] He named it the 33rd best album of 1992 in his list for the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.^[7] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Bekkala gave the EP four out of five stars and called it "a revealing entry in the catalog of the most influential rock band of the '90s".^[8]

Hormoaning was officially re-released on Record Store Day (April 16, 2011) as a 12-inch vinyl. Only 6,000 unnumbered copies were released.^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Turnaround"	Gerald Casale Mark Mothersbaugh	2:21
2.	"Aneurysm"	Kurt Cobain Dave Grohl Krist Novoselic	4:49
3.	"D-7"	Greg Sage	3:47
4.	"Son of a Gun"	Eugene Kelly Frances McKee	2:50
5.	"Even in His Youth"	Cobain Novoselic	3:07
6.	"Molly's Lips"	Kelly McKee	1:53
Total length:			18:51

Personnel

Nirvana

• Kurt Cobain – guitar, vocals
• Krist Novoselic – bass guitar
• Dave Grohl – drums

Production

• Mike Engles – engineering on "Turnaround", "D-7", "Son of a Gun", and "Molly's Lips"
• Dale Griffin – production on "Turnaround", "D-7", "Son of a Gun", and "Molly's Lips"
• Fred Kay – engineer on "Turnaround", "D-7", "Son of a Gun", and "Molly's Lips"
• Craig Montgomery – production, engineer on "Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth"
• Andy Wallace – mixing on "Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth"

Charts

1992 original release

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[10]	2
Australian Alternative Albums (ARIA)^[11]	1
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[12]	67

2011 Record Store Day re-release

Chart (2011)	Peak position
U.S Billboard Tastemaker Albums Chart^[13]	20

Release history

The following table shows the release history of official releases of Hormoaning.

Year	Country	Type	Number of copies produced	Record label
1992	Australia	CD (blue)	5,000^[3]	Geffen Records
		CD (silver)	5,000^[3]
		Cassette	1,000^[3]
		Vinyl (burgundy)	4,000^[3]
	Japan	CD (two versions)	Unknown	Geffen Records (Japan)
2011	United States	Vinyl (black)	6,000	Universal Music Group

See also

• Whores Moaning

References

1. "New Release Summary – Product Available from: 27/01/92 > Albums (from The ARIA Report No. 104)". ARIA. Retrieved July 25, 2020 – via Imgur.com.
2. Borzillo-Vrenna, Carrie (2003). Nirvana - The Day to Day Illustrated Journals (1st ed.). Barnes & Noble. p. 66. ISBN 0-7607-4893-4.
3. Gaar, Gillian G (March 31, 2020). "A look at Nirvana's collectible recordings". Goldmine. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
4. Steve Bekkala (January 1992). "Nirvana - Harmoaning". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
5. Hull, Tom (May 24, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
6. Christgau, Robert (June 2, 1992). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
7. "Pazz & Jop 1992: Dean's List". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
8. Bekkala, Steve. "Hormoaning – Nirvana". AllMusic. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
9. . Bull Moose. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
10. Steffen Hung. . australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
11. "ARIA Top 20 Alternative Charts". ARIA Report. No. 108. February 23, 1992. p. 11. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
12. "Hormoaning" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
13. Nirvana Tastemaker Albums billboard.com. Retrieved April 27, 2014.

External links

• Hormoaning at Discogs (list of releases)