#173 Nirvana, 'In Utero' (1993)
Previously #435
Following their earth-shattering commercial success with ‘Nevermind,’ and thanks to their ubiquitous mainstream success, Nirvana gained thousands of new fans, some of whom Kurt Cobain detested. In December 1992, they released ‘Incesticide,’ a compilation album of B-sides, demos and rarities and in the liner notes for that record, Cobain wrote “If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.” Cobain, as well as fellow bandmate, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, felt that their breakthrough was too polished (no offense, Butch). They decided to make a record that was a complete departure for the sound that they were now known. They employed the noisiest producer they could think of, the antithesis of Butch Vig; Steve Albini, the man who had produced two of Cobain’s favourite records, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’ (#390) and The Breeders’ ‘Pod.’
When Nirvana delivered the record to their label, David Geffen Company Records, the label was apprehensive to release it in its current state, feeling it was not commercially viable. Scott Litt, a producer who had produced 6 of R.E.M.’s records, was brought in to remix the singles, ‘Heart-Shaped Box,’ and ‘All Apologies.’ You can completely hear the difference when comparing to the rest of the tracks on the record. Other than those two songs, which I do love, this album is superb. It’s loud and it’s noisy. It’s exactly what Nirvana was before they hit the big time. Cobain’s voice is raw and tormented. ‘Serve The Servants’ and ‘Scentless Apprentice’ are two of the greatest album openers, and I especially love Grohl’s drumming in the latter. ‘Rape Me’ follows the loud soft technique to perfection that the band used on the previous record, a technique they’d borrowed from Pixies. This is probably the only similarity to ‘Nevermind.’ ‘Dumb,’ a Beatles song from a parallel universe, reminds me of ‘About A Girl’ from their debut record. ‘Pennyroyal Tea’ features some of my favourite Cobain lyrics; “Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld/So I can sigh eternally.” ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’ could really be a Pixies song and last song and second single, ‘All Apologies’ features one of my favourite Cobain guitar riffs. Similar to the liner notes in ‘Incesticide,’ in this album Cobain wrote “If you’re a sexist, racist, homophobe or basically an asshole, don’t buy this CD. I don’t care if you like me, I hate you.” This would be Nirvana’s last record as Cobain would sadly take his own life less than 7 months later (27 years ago last Monday, actually; the same age Cobain was when he died).
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