Artist: Nirvana
Label: MVD
Release: 2006
Even though I personally was never a die-hard NIRVANA follower, I’ve always respected them, knowing the mark they left on the music industry of the 80s. The truth is, though, that they skimmed the cream off the top of the Seattle cake, the holy grunge trinity of the day, alongside the by-then legends Soundgarden and the newcomers Pearl Jam.
Their genius, uniqueness and originality still stand unshaken, even now, 12 years after the tragic death of Kurt Cobain. His senseless death, and at the same time the “pathetically soft” end to his life’s troubles, turned the band and him into legends. “Heroes die young,” and so Kurt joined Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison and the rest. Kurt never managed to come to terms with the success and fame that literally shot him into superstardom overnight. No matter how hard he personally tried to hit the brakes on things, it didn’t work. It had the opposite effect on him, inversely proportional and even more destructive. His personality and the intoxicating substances that came as a consequence of it all did the rest.
The release, IN UTERO: CLASSIC ALBUM UNDER REVIEW, represents their peak, reached with the debut NEVERMIND. At the time of its release in 1993, audiences were completely under the spell of the rigid grunge sound. Post punk-rock themes had conquered the world’s rock scene with Nirvana at the helm, and Kurt Cobain became the rock icon of the day. That’s why IN UTERO: CLASSIC ALBUM UNDER REVIEW isn’t just video footage of the recording of the album IN UTERO, but takes us (in the vein of Metallica) from NIRVANA’s garage days to superstardom, or from legends to catastrophe.
The most interesting thing you can spot on this DVD is Cobain’s constant resistance and contradiction toward the all-around success of NIRVANA and the album NEVERMIND. In almost every interview Cobain makes it loud and clear that the band’s visible success flat-out disgusts him. This fact, which he had to live with and which management and the signed contracts directly forced on him, got under his skin. The burden was too heavy for him, and for him there was no way out.
The DVD shows us in the best possible way how this burden was the main driving force and inspiration behind the recording of the album IN UTERO. Instead of recording a dazzling album full of radio hits, the band chose to hire the legendary punk producer Steve Albini and record the gloomy, rigid album IN UTERO with him. The album was the exact opposite of what was expected, and of what the radio airwaves of the time were used to and found acceptable. Songs like “Rape Me”, despite their message, still had a decent and enviable listenability. The band repeated their success with the songs “All Apologies”, “Serve The Servants”, “Milk It”, “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” and even gave a boost to Cobain’s wife Courtney Love and her band HOLE with the song “Heart Shaped Box”. Listening to the album IN UTERO today, you quickly realize that NIRVANA were on the verge of collapse back then, and it’s a shame their message wasn’t presented properly. As it happened, the bullet in Kurt Cobain’s temple marked him with eternal fame and immortality. Fame he fought off, immensely and unsuccessfully, during his lifetime. Watching the DVD IN UTERO: CLASSIC ALBUM UNDER REVIEW will leave you, just like it did me, wondering whether Kurt would simply have stepped away from the rock waters or carried on with his schizophrenic battle against success. We’ll surely never find out!
Lineup
Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar
Chris Novoselic – bass guitar
Dave Grohl – drums
Production
Jack Endino
