Nirvana – In Utero (1993)
New month, new theme: In June, revisiting records celebrating milestone anniversaries, enjoy!
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[Album 189/1001]
In 1993, In Utero had the unpleasant/nearly impossible task of following up Nevermind. Much was made of its rough sound at the time, a deliberate reaction to the polish of its predecessor.
The question is, how does In Utero hold up 20 years later?
I’ll categorize each song under the following ‘3G’ system:
a) Great – Still powerful as ever, solid supporting evidence for the group’s impressive legacy.
b) Good – No complaints, doesn’t harm the resume at all.
c) Generic – The song hasn’t aged well or is noticeably inferior.
Here goes!
1. Serve The Servants – Excellent opener, from the first dissonant chord onwards. GREAT
2. Scentless Apprentice – I recently read a Chuck Klosterman piece about this record. Not sure if he coined the term, but I believe he accurately deemed much of In Utero as the sound of ‘Guilt Rock.’ Nirvana was massively successful and as a response, created a ‘difficult’ record for listening (to maintain artistic cred). This tune is the exemplary guilt rock song: just as the band settles into a groove, Cobain throws in a scream, decreasing accessibility. It feels too calculated, too much of an effort to be ‘scrappy’ and ‘unpolished’ and is not terribly interesting.
GENERIC
3. Heart Shaped Box – back on track with the lead single. Not a great song to begin with but still sounds just fine on the radio in 2013.
GOOD
4. Rape Me – Musically at least, a Smells Like Teen Spirit knockoff below Cobain’s songwriting ability level.
GENERIC
5. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle – Nirvana might have been criticized for their frequent employment of the soft verse/loud chorus template but they apply that framework effectively.
GREAT
6. Dumb – Might be the best of the bunch here. An understated triumph.
GREAT
7. Very Ape – One of those songs that is tough to dissect. It is what it is, and it’s good.
GOOD
8. Milk It – The song has potential, the recording/performance feels like it was never fully achieved.
GENERIC
9. Pennyroyal Tea – Also in the conversation for the album’s finest. Nice Leonard Cohen reference.
GREAT
10. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter – Hands down the best song name in the Nirvana catalogue. The song itself isn’t quite as impressive.
GOOD
11. Tourette’s – Perhaps a nod to Sonic Youth’s Goo, making the penultimate track a one-minute thrash out. Both fine albums, neither track (Scooter + Jinx & Tourette’s) is particularly memorable.
GENERIC
12. All Apologies – The star here is Dave Grohl. There’s nothing flashy but as usual, it is perfectly appropriate. Listen to the beat in the verses: 99.9% of drummers would open the hi-hat cymbal at the end of bars 2 & 4 (or maybe just the end of 4). He opens it slightly to wrap up bars 1 & 3. Simple, but beyond effective. It’s that sort of unique touch that makes him one of the best drummers in the world.
GREAT
All in all (is all we are): 5 Great, 3 Good, 4 Generic.
8/12 songs are good or greater.
My grade 9 math class would tell you that fraction could be reduced to 2 out of 3. They may or may not get the reference that such a reduced fraction ain’t bad!
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) | 1001albumsin10years
- Nirvana – Nevermind (1991) | 1001albumsin10years
- Hole – Celebrity Skin (1998) | 1001albumsin10years
- The Who – My Generation (1965) | 1001albumsin10years
- Neil Young – Tonight’s The Night (1975) | 1001albumsin10years
- Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) & Fear of Music (1979) | 1001albumsin10years
- the Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs (1999) | 1001albumsin10years
- 1993 | 1001albumsin10years
1001albumsin10years 
The “3G” system! I like it. Well done! And I think the math works out well too.
My thanks – anytime math solutions end up in a Meatloaf reference, I’ll take it!
My CD also has international bonus track ‘Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip’ on it, which I’d categorize as “generic,” so that’s 8/13. But wait, I’d move ‘Rape Me’ up to “good,” so then it’d be 9/13. Damn though, then it doesn’t reduce!!
6.923 out of ten songs on In Utero are good or greater!! (I like the grade 9 math version of the CD better.)
lousy decimals – mathematically at least, it’s a shame they didn’t trim a couple of the ‘generic’ tunes to make it a nice neat score out of 10!
Nice write-up and I like you’re grading system, although I disagree about “Rape Me,” which is one of my favorite Nirvana songs (I’ve never been a huge fan, so my opinions may differ from the faithful). I completely agree that “Pennyroyal Tea” is one of the best things they did. My impression is that the title is an intentional misspelling of “penny royalty,” which was probably a commentary on the small amount of money earned by the band for each album sale while the record company raked in the dough. I worked in Royalties at a major label at the time, which may explain that interpretation.
Of the 3 people to comment so far, 2 have suggested a rating upgrade for ‘Rape Me’ – so 2 decades later, the criticism of the song may be subsiding!
That’s another interesting take on the lyrics: I remember seeing the math once from a $16 CD sale.
After the label expenses/promotion/distribution/packaging/management…so little went to the artists. I suspect many have justified downloading music as ‘the royalties weren’t going to the artist anyways.’
Great review, although I disagree strongly about Scentless Apprentice, I think it’s the best song on the album. The drumming is unbelievable.
No slight was meant to Mr. Grohl’s contributions, that is for sure! As a singer/guitarist, I guess I typically hear those parts first, and I wasn’t as impressed with Kurt’s performance on track 2 as I was on others. But yes, Dave Grohl, he’s the drummer in my supergroup (if you could choose one singer,guitarist,bassist & drummer), no question!
Dave Grohl is THE go-to drummer for supergroups these days.