With the Lights Out was planned for release in 2001, but was delayed by a legal battle with Courtney Love, the widow of Nirvana singer, Kurt Cobain.

[3] It was later announced that a 45-track box set would be released in September 2001, to mark the 10th anniversary of the band's breakthrough album, Nevermind, but it was delayed by a legal battle with Cobain's widow, Courtney Love.

[4] Love's lawsuit asserted that "the parties have fundamentally different concepts of how to manage the musical and artistic legacy of Kurt Cobain", which resulted "in a stalemate of decision making".

[15] Each of the three CDs loosely represents the rare recordings from three periods in Nirvana's history, in line with the band's three studio albums, Bleach, Nevermind and In Utero, which were released in 1989, 1991 and 1993 respectively.

It includes a 60-page booklet which contains liner notes by Thurston Moore of the American rock band Sonic Youth and the journalist Neil Strauss, as well as photographs and a chronological catalog of the band's recording history, including studio sessions, television and radio appearances, live performances and home demo recordings sessions.

Julian Marshall of the NME called it "a humanising, comprehensive and often heartbreaking document of a man who, in five years, changed the face of music, almost by accident".

"[22] Tim O'Neil of PopMatters wrote, "The majority of the material presented here will appeal only to a select group of hardcore fans, music historians and critics.

The cover photograph depicts a cardboard box filled with Nirvana and Cobain tapes, including a copy of the Fecal Matter demo.