Pen Cap Chew

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"Pen Cap Chew" is a song written by Kurt Cobain and recorded by Nirvana on January 23, 1988. It was one of the first songs that Cobain wrote and is very different from any of the songs from Nevermind or In Utero. It has the sound of an early Melvins song, with its sludgy, low key guitar sound and bears a resemblance to the song "Curmudgeon". The best known recording of the song, made with Jack Endino in 1988, fades out prematurely because the band ran out of tape. A complete (albeit lyrically unfinished) version of the song was cut the previous year at the KAOS radio session.

The name of the song was a name juggled for the name of the band in 1987. According to the liner notes in the With the lights out box set, they played at least 3 shows under the name 'Pen Cap Chew'.

The song by fans is considered to be the definition of Nirvana's original sound, indicating a bit of a heavy metal influence, before breaking into the more Alternative Rock/Grudge sound.

After showing up on bootlegs such as Outcesticide, the song was officially released in 2004 on the With the Lights Out boxed set.