173. Nirvana, "In Utero"

 

After upending American rock with 1991's Nevermind and instantly changing music forever, a lot of artists would choose to capitalize on their newfound success and maybe tweak the sound a little but otherwise keep the hits coming.  Kurt Cobain was not a lot of artists.

This album was a corrective, a purposefully harsh and often inaccessible record, designed to weed out the kind of meatheads that showed up to Nirvana shows to sing along to "Polly."  He was very conscious of the fact that the record label and the fans wanted another Nevermind, and he was intent on not delivering on that desire.

The fist two lines of the album, from the song "Serving the Servants" are, famously, "Teenage angst has paid off well/Now I'm bored and old," and the song itself, despite a hooky guitar riff, is no "Smells Like Teen Spirit."  It's a sludgy, grimy affair, with a muddy mix.  It all seems designed to ward people off on first listen.  "Scentless Apprentice," the second song, is similar in sound and effect; it's abrasive and harsh, with Cobain screaming atonally over a wall of distorted guitars.  Once you get through these, you get to "Heart-Shaped Box," the first song that could even conceivably be called a single (and it was, in fact, the first single).  The second single, "All Apologies," was the last track on the album.  Not coincidentally, these are both two of the quietest, most forgiving songs on the record.  Also not coincidentally, both songs were remixed by Scott Litt to make them more radio-friendly than iconoclastic producer Steve Albini's initial mixes.

"Dumb" is actually a pretty song, almost Beatlesesque with its lilting melody and strings.  And just when you think Cobain is all gloom, "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" reminds that he had a great sense of humor and a wry perspective on what it meant to be in a million-selling band.  

I would be remiss to fail to mention Dave Grohl's drumming on this record; it's absolutely brutal and intense and makes you wish he had stayed a drummer instead of moving out to front the Foo Fighters, who became their own brand of wildly successful after Cobain's death, despite being about 10 percent as interesting as Nirvana.

Do you remember where you were when you heard Cobain was dead?  It's the Gen X equivalent of the Keendy assassination.  Now we have the three major Nirvana studio albums and the MTV Unplugged disc and some ephemera and Frances Bean Cobain (who's apparently dating Tony Hawk's son - worlds colliding!) and the lingering feeling of sadness and the memories of clove cigarettes and 40's in a dirty alley.  For the best, really.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Yes, most assuredly.