More success means more money, more money means the possibility of a higher quality sound. That’s why the uniqueness of the Nirvana album, released in 1993, becomes more evident with each passing year. Neither before nor since has there been a band that, in response to a global hit, tried to intentionally (!) give the following work a simpler, louder and at the same time harder to bear sound. No star – and Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic were rock stars at the time “In Utero” was recorded – has ever dared to do that. Pearl Jam’s Seattle colleagues also tried their hand at protesting after “Ten,” but “Vs.” was still classic rock, or more likely: complaint rock.
A flirtation with imperfection
And “Nevermind” was actually still that: a global success with punk rock that was essentially pop and was called grunge. But does that make “In Utero” really punk punk? “Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old,” sang Cobain in “Serve The Servants” and coughed – flirting with imperfection – into the microphone. He wanted to call the record “I Hate My Self And I Want To Die,” and Steve Albini reproduced the bone-crunching drum sound of Cobain’s idols, the Pixies, for Nirvana. They became famous with “Surfer Rosa”, but not successfully – perhaps Cobain wanted to use the homage to calm his conscience, to reassure his people that he knew who he owed what to.
But as rough as the recordings were, most of the songs were very pop. From brutal ideas, Cobain crafted melodic all-round treats for tortured souls: “Rape Me,” a silly, loud-mouthed mockery of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which would make waves today because of its rape fantasy; Added to this is the more successful “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter”, albeit titled with typical childish grunge sarcasm, which couldn’t be a “seller” because it is supported by feedback loops. Without Albini there would probably never have been the fire roller called “Scentless Apprentice”, the jewel of the Nirvana discography, rightly described by Dave Grohl as their best song – and the only one on earth that is better than the novel on which it is based on Patrick Süskind’s murder story “Perfume”.
“In Utero” was of course a global success, highly praised at the time and revered by many today as Nirvana’s best output
Finally, “Heart-Shaped Box” is a single in which the girlfriend’s vagina is described as a trap with a safety lock. “In Utero” was of course a global success, highly praised at the time and revered by many today as Nirvana’s best output. Cobain’s plan to live more inconspicuously from now on didn’t work. Instead, another plan worked: to regain the credibility of the early years with an album like this. Shortly afterwards, Cobain was somewhere else. He loved the REM album “Automatic For The People”, released a year earlier, and for Nirvana’s fourth studio album, which never came, he planned to use more acoustic guitars. The “In Utero” final statement “All Apologies” that follows this approach remains their bridge song. A bridge song to nowhere.
Cobain might have laughed at the efficient marketing of his estate. The “30th Anniversary Edition” is even more opulent than the one for the 20th anniversary, but contains the same outtakes and B-sides on eight LPs and five CDs, as well as two more complete concerts – unfortunately not their final one, in Munich in 1994. Plus posters, fanzines and scruffy backstage passes as facsimiles. They will now be in the hands of buyers who have really spent a lot of money on them.
SIMILAR REVIEWS
Pretenders :: “Relentless” – Melodic Journey
Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders make another very good album.
30 years of “In Utero” by Nirvana: Everything hurts
It remains the masterpiece of Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic that their record company released the album with this…
Foo Fighters: “But here we are”
Grieving and Enduring: Dave Grohl’s White Album
SIMILAR ARTICLES
Raffle: “In Utero: 30th Anniversary” by Nirvana
ROLLING STONE is giving away three CD boxes from the grunge band.
September 24, 1991: Nirvana, RHCP, Pixies, Primal Scream and Soundgarden release albums on the same day
Has there ever been a more concentrated batch of essential indie rock albums released on the same day?
John Lydon names “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as one of the best “pop songs”
Nirvana’s album title “Nevermind” initially made him extremely angry.