Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain brought the following impressions to the studio in 1992: He was taken by Süskind’s book “Perfume”, which is about an obsessive-compulsive neurotic; he had seen the actor biopic Frances, about the supposedly mentally ill actress Frances Farmer, like Cobain a Seattle kid; and he wrote a ballad-like song in which he described his girlfriend’s vagina as a trap with a safety lock. He also wanted to make a record to call it I Hate Myself And Want To Die. Enough material, then, to let yourself go really badly.
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So the conditions couldn’t have been worse. “Teenage Angst Has Paid Off Well, Now I’m Bored And Old” was Cobain’s first line of the album, later called “In Utero”, the follow-up to the million-selling “Nevermind” (1991). Her first hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was about “Teenage Angst”, the success of which at times unsettled the heroin-addicted singer so much that he wanted to give up everything. Now, however, Cobain seemed to react to expectations with “boredom” and “aging” in the new recordings. However, no one could have foreseen Cobain’s suicide in April 1994.
From suffering to screaming
With Steve Albini as producer, Kurt Cobain not only wanted to emulate his role models, the Pixies. It was also possible that his conscience was at stake. The young Nirvana were more successful than all the established indie rock bands of the 80’s combined: Pixies, Dinosaur J., Mudhoney, Sonic Youth. Cobain wanted to publicize the Albini-furnished, buyer-unappreciated Pixies work Surfer Rosa (1988) by having him reproduce the same sound.
He succeeded: There are few albums by two bands that sound as similar as “Surfer Rosa” and “In Utero”. Albini, who places little value on vocals but all the more on the effect of a painful-sounding drum kit, has done a great job in songs like “Scentless Apprentice” – which tells the story of the “Perfume” killer: It’s the hardest Nirvana- Become a piece, Cobain’s voice changes from suffering to screaming in a tour, while Dave Grohl on the drums rearranges every hair in the listener’s inner ear with unbelievable volume.
Had Cobain known that fans would prefer the raw session-sounding “In Utero” to the grunge-pop of “Nevermind,” he might have cranked up the distortion on the recording. His goal was recognition only from the right people, no longer from the MTV audience. “In Utero” received almost positive reviews at the time – but like its predecessor it sold millions of copies, which may have surprised Cobain. The former competitor Pearl Jam, on the other hand, still sounded like classic rock with “Vs.”, which was released almost at the same time. So it remains Cobain’s, Grohl’s and bassist Krist Novoselic’s masterpiece that their record company released the album with this sound at all.
Bridge song to nothing
If anything, it was the song material itself that wasn’t quite as good as the songs on Nevermind. With “Frances Farmer Has Her Revenge On Seattle”, “Very Ape” and especially “Rape Me” there were also fillers on a Nirvana studio album for the first time. While it’s arguable that Cobain’s audible cough on “Serve The Servants” was merely flirtation with the imperfect, “Rape Me”‘s self-parody is arguable. The guitar riff is an intended “Smells Like Teen Spirit” twist à la we-shit-on-our-biggest-hit, the lyrics feel helpless, the victim role in them uncomfortably helpless. But fortunately there is also “Scentless Apprentice”, “Tourette’s” and “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” on the record, which – despite the once again silly-sarcastic title – could keep you awake for hours with its feedback loops.
Kurt Cobain is said to have been thrilled when he first heard REM’s Automatic For The People album, released a year earlier. That’s why he wanted more acoustic guitars for Nirvana’s fourth studio album. The “In Utero” closing song “All Apologies” that follows this approach will unfortunately remain their bridge song, a bridge song to nothing.
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The 20th Anniversay Edition (double CD) contains the album as a remaster (try pretending to hear the difference to the original), as well as various extra songs that didn’t make it onto the 1993 album. For example “Sappy” (which appeared as hidden track “Verse Chorus Verse” on the “No Alternative” sampler), “I Hate Myself And Want To Die” and the rather useless instrumentals advertised as new songs “Forgotten Tune” and “jam”. The edition also includes new mixes (“Original Steve Albini 1993 Mix” and the record in “Original Album: 2013 Mix”), in which the sound mainly benefits from the more offensive lead guitar. But the sound is now less dirty – too bad.
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