Pre SpongeBob Demo Recording from 1997 

Always imagined early production having this jaunty, unpolished sound and look to it, and this is just the thing. Thank you for this.

5:16 WHAT ARE YOU SIMPLETONS DOING

You deserve more views. You, Tom Kenny and Stephen Hillenberg helped shape Spongebob as the iconic show we know today.

Holy Krabby Patties, a frozen cepholapod!

There's such a weirdly wonderful vibe to all of this, where it sounds so familiar but so unfamiliar at the same time. Like it's still SpongeBob under it all, but it's such a far departure from what the show sounded like by the time it actually came out and I love it!

So cool. Thanks for sharing!

They have almost a feeling of uncanniness to them, really interesting

Interesting that this demo would be reused in SB-129.

5:16 HOLY CRAP, THE FREAKING FUTURE VERSION OF THE CLOSING THEME WAS ACTUALLY A PROTOTYPE ALL ALONG, THAT JUST FREAKING BLOW MY MIND!!! 🤯

Thank you so much for uploading this! I've loved Spongebob since it came out in 1999. But i had no idea that the show was truly being built from the ground up as early as 1997. That's the year i was born, and that gives me a new found connection with the show!

now im just waiting for the next Spongebob creepypasta to use the audio at 5:17

I thought these were part of a leak, not uploaded by *THE* Steve Belfer himself! Thanks for the upload! All of this behind the scenes/production stuff we've been getting lately has been such a blessing for Spongebob fans.

It's so great how we get to now finally hear these 27 years later. 💛

It's crazy how much this sounds like a forced "parallel universe" version of the soundtrack, except it was actually made before the version we know. It's amazing.

I don’t understand. How do you not have more views/subscribers? It’s not everyday that never before heard/high quality music comes from an official source and from an incredible popular tv show gets posted. Thank you so much!

These are some unique tones, haunting at times. Thanks for sharing with us

It's pretty interesting hearing this recording since it's part of SpongeBob's history

A real nice blast from the past. Insane to know a world before SpongeBob

Something so whimsical and fun that is so unique to SpongeBob's sound. Thanks for sharing, yours and Steve Hillenburg's work is really special to me.

The unsung hero of our childhoods, you really helped build something so impactful for millions of people that will be treasured forever. The atmosphere these songs have is so perfect for the show; incredible job man and thank you!

Loved these, so cool how they still have the same style as cues like Gator Seaweed and even includes the one used in SB-129

Wow this is so cool. I'm actually a ukulele player myself so it's always nice to hear some from somebody else. The Spongebob music is so chill, it must feel amazing to be such a big influence and part of it.

I adore this! Thank you so much for preserving these! ❤

Did Steve talk about the heavy Ween influence on the show? Apparently he loved bands like them, Wilco, The Flaming Lips and a lot of Alternative Bands from the 90's

I'm so happy I get to hear this and to have it uploaded from the original musician makes it even more special. Thank you Steve

Wow what a treat. Your work immediately set a perfectly zany tone for the other creative folks to work off.

Sounds a little spooky, yet such a silly vibe. Thanks for this!

1:36 Sea Cavern

It's so cool to finally be hearing some early versions of the tracks we know and love. "Seaweed" and the closing theme still stand as two of my favorite tracks of all time.

This is fantastic! Your music is so dear and familiar to me and people my age who grew up with SpongeBob. Thank you so much for sharing!

I love that early credits theme particularly

Wow, these are incredible! Super cool to hear these tracks!

never thought id hear demos of spongebob background music lmao. thank you for uploading this!

"We'll use a cool island song to melt his frozen heart." "...or was it a hot island song?"

Great stuff, Steve! Thanks for sharing this music. It seems so obvious as the perfect match to SpongeBob imagery. Almost as if the music might have been developed before the characters. Cheers.

Wow you really left a dent in history, these are iconic.

Man, this is such an incredible piece of history right here! Thank you so much for sharing this!

Can never get enough of that slide guitar

Holy shit if this actually real then man you’re really shape so many peoples childhood I turned 18 tomorrow all i can say is thank you for helping me and many others through some really dark times

Early spongebob's soundtrack just has such an atmosphere that can't be replicated

It’s like me trying to remember SpongeBobs ost from memory really cool!

This music is WAY goofier than what ended up in the show! Which I really like tbh

The pre-pilot spongebob aesthetic is a strong one.

Really good stuff here. I really appreciate the tunes you created for the show 🙏

0:21 Everyone is talking about SB-129 music but...NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THE BETA VERSION OF GATOR!!!ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4A2ygNnUMGY.htmlfeature=shared

simply majestic

This is awesome! I've loved SpongeBob for years, so it's cool being able to listen to some of the music that was made before it became such a big phenomenon

this is nice for the 25 year anniversary

Sounds seriously spooky. Just noodling around on a hawaiian guitar never sounded so... Backrooms

youre my idol, steve!! i love all of your music for this show AND your personal projects so much

i'm so happy that you shared this. i'm a big fan of spongebob, and have an interest in its history and production. this music warms my heart. thanks, steve

Where's the documentary about this music and the musician behind it? I feel like it's long overdue, a documentary about the sound design and music of the show. I also have to wonder how much Hawaiian lap-steel guitar was used in the making of this. Reminds me of theremin music sometimes this stuff. Truly, an inspiration to us all 😃

We finally get to hear this after all these years

Dawg you are a legend. This all sounds so good

Have at it, analog horror creators

5:17 FUTURE FUTURE.....FUTURE

Thank you for sharing this sincerely

Theres something so odd about this. Like its alternate universe spongebob music. Like were diving into a history we werent supposed to see, or we just no clipped into pre production of all of our favorite childhood shows. This definitely feels like the show.

I love this!!!! Spongebob/spongeboy is amazing 😃 💗

Very uncanny I don’t know why but I love this uncanny sounding stuff. It just hits different. 😂

Things like these really make my day. It felt so nice to have these in my recommendations two days ago, and... "FUTURE! FUTURE! FUTURE!"

It sounds awesome! I love the sound of slide guitar

I love this! Keep up with the good work!

Interested to know what instruments you used to record this, specifically the pedal steel, or is it just slide guitar? Very cool sounds nonetheless, thanks for posting!

Just like my grandpa, always skipping the best parts while playing tape reels... :/

Oh my god this is incredible

1997 SpongeBob Is so wired

I love these so much!

This is just the Hylics soundtrack with added ukulele.

So cool. Someone send this to ween

Well… 5:16 evoked something special in me when I heard it just now ❤

Welcome to the future!

Im waiting im waiting im waiting

He sounds like he learnt to play lapsteel on this recording 😂

Sweet Hawaiian Jams Steve!

These are really good

Welp, I have new music to play in the mornings. ☺️

How did you record these songs back then? Tape, digital?

Thank you

The real Steve belfer as in the one who went to cal arts with Steve? (Also Steve you got the original theme song hillenburg made?)

Was this music used on the presentation of the show to the Nick excecutives?

Does the video have some audio glitches at 3:20 or us that just me? either way this is super cool!

nice, we got a beta version of the credits theme well not really beta since it appeared in sb-129

I must ask you… How far was the show into development at this point… How far along was help wanted… And IS there a cut of help wanted out there that actually was animated that refers to him as SpongeBoy? WITH a SpongeBoy name tag at the end instead of SpongeBOB? What do you remember from the early production days… I NEED to know I’ve been dying to hear these things for literally forever… I wonder if you can at least give us any insight on anything we haven’t seen… I am seriously fascinated with the early development process of this show. I even hear that there are SpongeBob sketches that Steve, not you other Steve lol, did that date back as far as 1994 that sort of resemble SpongeBob… I wonder how true all of this is…

I noticed the theme at 5:15 appears to be the "primitive" version of the theme in SB-129. The "future" version has an added lead (my most viewed video has a decent audio extraction of it) and I'm wondering if you have that lead anywhere

first recording sounds like help wanted's title card

I can see why they didn’t use such spooky music at 3:39, lol

This is amazing!

Wow that is just a great and interesting thing to hear, thanks for sharing! :)

5:15

What electric guitar did you use on the spongebob closing theme? The lower chord notes have always had such a particular sound to them and I've never been able to figure out exactly why. I'm guessing a strat of some kind, anything else special?

i love spongebob 💛💛💛💛

do you have the sb129 closing theme used in the future scene?

this is really good

Sponge Boy is the best show

Goat sim music lol

I love this✨💕

probably might be impossible, but bandcamp page when?

Nice Music

this entire bit is extremely similar to the hylics 1 soundtrack to the point where i think mason lindroth did it on purpose