While Nirvana only left three official studio albums in its wake, they are some of the purest examples of artistry available. The legendary grunge forefathers brought the sound of Seattle to the globe via deeply personal lyricism and muddy arrangements. There is little left to be said about Nirvana and even less to be desired but as the trend of nostalgia continues to careen us into the future, their angsty thrashing feels more welcoming than ever. As the back half of 2023 crawls by we have landed on a celebratory day worthy of a pause from the hectic cycle of our daily lives. Today, September 21, marks the 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s swan song and most ambitious album of their careers, In Utero. In a hurricane of artistic exploration and face-melting musicianship, Nirvana created what still feels like a creative turning point with their creativity seemingly freefalling into the distorted wonder and vulnerability of their third and final LP.
Nirvana was coming off what is still considered one of the greatest albums ever made with the wild commercial and critical success of their sophomore album Nevermind. Famously, frontman Kurt Cobain claimed their landmark release sounded too “polished” and promised a grittier and dirtier sound for its follow-up. What the band created succeeded any expectations and delivered on Cobain’s promise of pure rawness. The band recruited producer Steve Albini to help achieve their dream sound. On Albini’s suggestion, the band paid for the recording space on their own dime in fear that allowing the band’s label, DGC, to pay for everything would give them too much creative control. In the winter of 1993, Nirvana rented out Pachyderm Studio in Minnesota with a strict two-week deadline to finish the album, and what was created in those fourteen days would ironically become timeless.
In Utero follows a noticeably looser structure than Nevermind, and thankfully so. Cobain’s writing was too hauntingly vague to be screeched over the clean-cut sound of their sophomore release; they needed something equally abstract. The band found a gray area between their breakout LP and their punk-drenched debut Bleach for a larger-than-life tracklist that encompasses the complexities of the artist creating it. Nirvana allowed their third album to be unapologetically representative of their varying musical interest and found cohesiveness in the frantic nature of figuring out life as a rock star. The subtle verses of “Milk It” are contradicted by a crescendo of passionate vocals and neck-breaking tempos while “Dumb” follows a steadier structure but carries the same emotional articulation that is at the core of In Utero. The hits that spawned from this record, songs like “All Apologies” and “Heart-Shaped Box”, went on to be massive singles for Nirvana but without the makings of a radio-ready anthem, proving that Albini’s advice to keep the label at arm’s length was exactly what the band needed.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary, In Utero is getting a massive reissuing. The 30th Anniversary edition of Nirvana’s classic third LP will get two complete live albums, one recorded in LA in ‘93 and the other in Seattle in ‘94. Along with another six bonus live performances, the new reissue will have a total of 72 tracks and concrete a momentous era of one of the most influential bands of their time. Pre-order the 30th-anniversary box set of In Utero here.
