Bands Had No Idea That Their Music Was Destroyed in 2008 Fire

Earlier today (June 11), the New York Times presented "The Day the Music Burned" — a new report on the massive 2008 fire at Universal Studios Hollywood. The story revealed that around 500,000 song titles were lost amidst the blaze, including master recordings from artists such as Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Soundgarden and more.

90s grunge group Hole, led by Courtney Love, apparently had no idea that they were among the artists whose masters were destroyed, according to Pitchfork. The publication reached out to Hole for comment on the matter, in which a representative for the band replied that they were "not aware until the morning."

R.E.M. were another victim of the fire, and have stated that they are trying to find out what happened and "the effect on the band's music, if any."

The original report from 2009 underestimated the extent of the damage caused by the fires by far — it was totaled that the "assets destroyed" was 118,230, with a monetary estimate of $150 million in losses.

It's not entirely clear whether the masters were unreleased files or just copies, but the NY Times article says many of the masters were "super-deep catalog." Decades of music from B.B. King to Nine Inch Nails, that could have eventually been released, may be gone.

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