Grunge Takes Over
Record labels, radio, and MTV used to help drive what was popular. These gatekeepers could reach big audiences whose tastes were more homogenous than they are today because the resources for discovering music were less fragmented.
Grunge—one of the last music trends to suddenly explode, dominate rock, and penetrate the culture beyond music—came and went in the early 1990s.
It started in the mainstream when Pearl Jam released “Ten” in August 1991 on Epic. Then Nirvana released “Nevermind” in September on DGC/Geffen. Soundgarden released “Badmotorfinger” in October on A&M. And Alice in Chains, having already released “Facelift” and its big single “Man in a Box” in 1990, released “Dirt” in September 1992 on Columbia.
Singles from these records played on radios and TVs everywhere, and the grunge style—flannel shirts, ripped jeans, Doc Martens, soul patches and goatees—was suddenly ubiquitous.
“Badmotorfinger” and “Dirt” are my favorite grunge albums, but Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was by far the most popular. In fact, it is one of the best-selling albums of all time.* None of the other grunge albums—not even Pearl Jam’s highly successful “Ten”—come close.
“Nevermind” and Kurt Cobain
Grunge, like many youth trends, caused some handwringing. The musicians looked depressed, and parents worried about the kids.
But “Nevermind” sounds bright, and the songs are really catchy.
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana’s founder, singer, guitar player, and primary songwriter, said he wanted the album to mix pop simplicity with darker influences, like "the Knack and the Bay City Rollers getting molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath." Listen to “In Bloom.” The song screams pop. “Lithium” also broke out—its “Yeah, yeah, yeah” sing-song-style chorus invokes “She Loves You” by The Beatles and sticks like a nursery rhyme.
But after the success of “Nevermind,” Cobain repeatedly dismissed the album and said he was embarrassed by the record and would rather die than make another like it.
So Nirvana set out to make “In Utero.” The sonic change from “Nevermind” would be profound.
“What else should I write?”
The mixing and production of “In Utero” was a struggle. The band recorded an initial mix with Steve Albini. Cobain wanted Albini because he had produced two of Cobain’s favorite albums, “Surfer Rosa” by the Pixies and “Pod” by the Breeders. Albini had indie credibility. The bands on his resume were cool, and he hated major labels and the way they treated bands. He even refused to take royalties. Getting Albini signaled that Cobain did not intend to make another “Nevermind.”
But Geffen wanted another “Nevermind”—it wanted to sell records—and disliked the unmastered “In Utero” tapes. The new album so far wasn’t sounding like its mega-successful predecessor.
Cobain wanted to go ahead anyway, saying, “Of course they want another ‘Nevermind,’ but I'd rather die than do that. This is exactly the kind of record I would buy as a fan, that I would enjoy owning."
But then Cobain and the band grew dissatisfied, too.
Why? I don't know.
At the time, Albini suggested the label pressured Nirvana and fooled the young band into thinking the label was on their side. Then Nirvana issued an open letter saying the label had “supported our efforts all along in making this record.”
I think people—maybe the label, maybe Courtney Love, maybe Cobain himself—were in Cobain’s ear, saying that if “In Utero” lacked commercial appeal, then he would be known as a one-hit wonder and be rejected by both the purists who already saw him as a sellout and by mainstream audiences who’d reject a raw album with too few hooks.
I think Cobain, who was still so young, started to care about success. And his next album was at risk of commercial and critical failure.
Releasing “In Utero”
Bob Ludwig, an engineer with major label experience who had his own mastering facility, mastered “In Utero” and helped assuage some of the label’s and band’s concerns. But Cobain, his mind now realigned with the label’s, still had doubts. Albini reluctantly surrendered the masters, and the band brought in Scott Litt, the producer for super-successful REM, to redo singles “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies.”
Following a breakout album is hard. “Nevermind” was on the way to being certified Diamond and selling thirty million copies. Cobain must have felt intense pressure.
And, to further complicate things, success forced a contradiction on Cobain, who presented himself as a loser relegated to the margins.
In the end, “In Utero” didn’t sell even half as much as “Nevermind.” And once the album—this project Cobain had labored and stressed over—was out in the world, the reality must have been a letdown.
Listening to “In Utero”
"Teenage angst has paid off well—now I'm bored and old" is an all-time great album-opening line. “Nevermind” and its ubiquitous single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," paid off for the band and the label. But Cobain was losing his passion, according to his suicide note. And the industry, always hungry for the next big thing, would inevitably grow bored, too—especially if sales dropped.
And, of course, sales did.
MTV and radio played the “In Utero” singles over and over, but the success of “Nevermind” was not repeatable.
Compared to “Nevermind,” the songs sound muddy, the riffs aren’t as catchy, and the lyrics are sad.
Cobain was preoccupied with media coverage of Courtney Love and their relationship. Bass player Krist Novoselic would later comment on the album lyrics: “And it's not so much teen angst anymore. It's a whole different ball game: rock star angst.”
“In Utero” is a powerful album, nonetheless.
After the opening statement of “Serve the Servants” comes the album’s first single: "Heart-Shaped Box" was all over radio and MTV. The Hey-Wait and guitar-bend construction is probably the most recognizable moment on “In Utero.” You can become numb to a song when you have heard it so many times, but the lyrics on "Heart-Shaped Box" remain strikingly evocative.
She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black
Cancer is Courtney Love’s astrological sign, and Pisces was Cobain’s. He referred to it in his suicide note. The lyrics are a poetic, tragic-romantic casting of the media’s portrayal of Cobain’s relationship with Love. The narrative then—and now, in many circles—is that Love was a starfucker, eager to build a career off his success. (Cobain and Love were a couple by early 1992.)
"Rape Me," another single from the album, features a chord progression and rhythm that resemble a numbed “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The song was an anti-rape song when Cobain wrote it in 1991. By the time the band recorded it for “In Utero,” the song had acquired a second meaning—again, a characterization of media coverage. Cobain stressed over and protested his media coverage.
"Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" best captures the grunge sound. The song includes moments of beautifully raw feedback. The song’s namesake was an actress and Seattle native who drew negative, sensationalized media coverage and was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment. In Cobain’s lyrics, Farmer was railroaded by a system—a story with which Cobain and Love identified.
"Dumb" is the quiet outsider amid a loud album. It reminds me of a slower, opiated version of “Lithium.” The song channels the vibe of the times, when being a loser was something to own up to but not own. Cobain was comparing himself to others. He had so much but enjoyed so little, and he wanted to understand why dumb people seemed to him so satisfied. It’s an excellent song. The cello struggles to resolve the melodic tension, and Grohl loosens up on the snare and ride cymbal to ride out the song with a soft swing.
The closest to “Nevermind” Nirvana would ever get on this album is "Very Ape." This song rocks—the one glowing song in a dark, bitter album.
One of my two favorite songs on “In Utero” is "Milk It." I love the attitude and abandon in the loud chorus; but the verse—neurotic and withdrawn—is somehow louder and more dangerous. And it has Cobain’s best lyrics:
I am my own parasite
I don't need a host to live
We feed off of each other
We can share our endorphins
Doll steak
Test meat
Look on the bright side, suicide
Lost eyesight, I am on your side
Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing
Lack of iron, I'm not sleeping
I love the guitar sound on “Pennyroyal Tea," and the song has Cobain’s best vocal. The song has the makings of a good pop song, including an excellent guitar part at the bridge.
My other favorite song is "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter." The riff is great, the rhythm drives, and the pitch-perfect snare just hits and hits and hits.
The American version of the album closes with "All Apologies." It is the brightest song on the album—not hopeful, but it has a lift with quiet-loud dynamics and resigned lyrics:
In the sun
In the sun, I feel as one
In the sun
In the sun
Married
Married
Married
Buried
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
All in all is all we are.
Cobain described the song's mood as "peaceful, happy, comfort—just happy happiness," and he associated that mood with Love and their daughter, Frances Bean: "I like to think the song is for them ... but the words don't really fit in relation to us ... the feeling does, but not the lyrics."
We feed off of each other
“In Utero” was released in September 1993. Cobain died in early April 1994. By then, grunge was already being subsumed by the expansive genre label “alternative.” Alternative playlists could include Alanis Morrisette, Radiohead, Spin Doctors, and Korn.
But in 1991, it seemed like Cobain and grunge were conquering the world and killing off the hair metal that dominated the 1980s.
One trend does not kill another. Trends kill themselves. In the 1970s, rock began to seem pretentious. Punk seemed like a renewal. Then punk bands played disco. Disco partied. Hair metal promised to make rock exciting again. Then authenticity became important, and grunge arrived. Everything new is its own parasite.
*Calculating album sales in different eras, especially with streaming now, in a consistently meaningful way is hard.