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In Utero
Studio album by Nirvana
Released	September 21, 1993
Recorded	February 12, 1993 – February 26, 1993 at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota
Genre	Grunge
Length	41:11 (U.S.), 68:58 (Europe)
Label	DGC
Producer	Steve Albini & Scott Litt
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A) link Entertainment Weekly (B+) link NME (8/10) link Q link Rolling Stone link
Nirvana chronology
Incesticide (1992) In Utero (1993) MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) Back cover Featuring a collage created by Kurt Cobain

In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American grunge band Nirvana, released on September 21, 1993 by DGC Records. The album's abrasive and aggressive sound was a departure from the polished production of the band's breakthrough, Nevermind, due in part to the selection of recording engineer Steve Albini. It became controversial for its sound production and the subject matters of its songs. The album's dark lyrical content included dysfunctional family, cancer, privacy, and abortion. In Utero's abrasive sound was, according to bassist Krist Novoselic, intended as a figurative "litmus test" for Nirvana's audience following the band's mainstream success.^[1]

"Heart-Shaped Box" was the first single released from the album, followed by "All Apologies/Rape Me", which was released as a double A-side single due to the explicit nature of the latter song. Both singles topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. "Pennyroyal Tea" was intended to be released as the third single in April 1994, but was cancelled after the death of the band's frontman, Kurt Cobain.

While In Utero did not sell as well as Nevermind, it was a commercial and critical success. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America by the end of 1993; it was most recently certified 5x platinum, and now ranks in the top 100 bestselling albums in the US. The album also topped Rolling Stone's year-end poll.

Nirvana, an Aberdeen, Washington band formed in 1987, had found surprise commercial success with their major label debut, Nevermind. Despite modest sales estimates — their record company, DGC Records, forecasted that 50,000 copies would be sold (roughly half of Sonic Youth's DGC debut Goo)^[2]— Nevermind became a huge commercial success. The album popularized both Seattle grunge and alternative music in general.^[3]

The band's frontman, Kurt Cobain, had married Hole frontwoman Courtney Love in early 1992, and later that year the two had their first (and only) child named Frances Bean Cobain. At the same time, Cobain was struggling with an addiction to heroin. He had first tried heroin in 1986, and by 1990 was using the drug habitually. Kurt had seen dozens of different chemical dependency experts in 1992 alone, and submitted himself to various detox programs.^[4] Still, he frequently relapsed, and overdosed four times before the album was released: the first time after a performance on Saturday Night Live in January 1992^[5], the second time soon after his daughter's birth in August 1992^[6], the third time at home in May 1993^[7], and the fourth time shortly before a performance at the Roseland Ballroom in July 1993^[8]. Courtney Love claimed that Kurt "almost died," and that "[Kurt's drug dealer] said that she'd never seen someone so dead."^[9]

Nirvana chose Steve Albini, the former frontman of the influential noise rock band Big Black (and current frontman of the "minimalist rock trio" Shellac), to record their much-anticipated follow-up to Nevermind. Albini had a reputation as a principled and opinionated individual in the American independent rock scene. While there was speculation that Albini was chosen to record the record due to his underground credentials, Cobain told Request magazine in 1993, "For the most part I wanted to work with him because he happened to produce two of my favorite records, which were Surfer Rosa [by the Pixies] and Pod [by the Breeders]." Inspired by those albums, Cobain wanted to utilize Albini's technique of capturing the natural ambiance of a room via the usage and placement of several microphones, something previous Nirvana producers had been averse to trying.^[10] This effect is most noticeable in the drum sound Albini is known for; on albums like Surfer Rosa, Shellac's At Action Park (Albini's own band), and In Utero, the drum sound has been commonly described as sounding "raw", "open", "aggressive", and "alive". Months before the band had even approached Albini about the recording, rumors had been circulating that he was slated to record the next Nirvana album. Albini eventually sent a disclaimer to the British music press refuting the allegations, only to get the call from Nirvana's management a few days later.^[11] Although Albini considered Nirvana to be "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and "an unremarkable version of the Seattle sound," he told Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad he accepted because he felt sorry for the band, whom he perceived to be "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with" at the mercy of their record company.^[12]

Nirvana entered Pachyderm Studios in February 1993 to record In Utero. Albini did not meet the band until the first day of recording, though he had spoken to the band beforehand about the type of album they wanted to make. Albini observed that "they wanted to make precisely the sort of record that I'm comfortable doing."^[13] Before embarking on the sessions, Albini was sent a tape of demos the band had cut in Brazil in January 1993. The only others present for the duration of the session were Robert S Weston IV (studio maintenance technician), Carter Nicole Launt (chef) and her dog, Z. During the sessions Albini instituted a strict policy of ignoring everyone except for the band in order to prevent the band's managers and label from interfering.^[14]

The band recorded the tracks live and kept virtually everything they recorded.^[15] Novoselic stated, "We had focused intensely on rehearsing ... We had the songs down tight. So we showed up in Cannon Falls, set up our gear and started playing. We tracked almost all the songs in the first two days. Some of the songs, I think over half the songs, we did first take ... The record was recorded real[ly] fast."^{[citation needed]} Albini and Weston estimate that it took 4 or maybe 5 days to record the basic tracks, a couple of days for overdubbing and a final few days mixing. They finished slightly ahead of the 2-week deadline, and the album was mixed in under a week; Cobain added additional guitar tracks to about half the songs, then added guitar solos, and finally vocals. In an interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Albini states that one night, Cobain sat down infront of a microphone and recorded mostly all the vocal tracks in one session. The total recording costs for In Utero were $24,000, and on top of that, Albini took a flat fee of $100,000. Albini refused points on record sales since he considers the practice to be immoral.^[12]

Albini commented that, "On a couple of songs [Cobain] used this broken guitar amplifier that had a really brutal sound and he was talking about how he had to keep it away from the technicians that they toured with because he was afraid that they were going fix it and then the sound would go away."^{[citation needed]} Cobain is believed to have employed his Sunburst Univox Custom on most of the guitar parts. On one song he played a rare all-aluminium guitar called a Veleno, which Albini had brought along specifically. According to Albini the "strained, distorted guitar sounds" came from the use of a Fender Twin Reverb amp, with three of its four power tubes broken or missing.^{[citation needed]} Everything was recorded on a vintage 24-track analog board (Neve console). For the most part there was no studio trickery utilized during recording; the only "special effect" Albini could recall was a vocal effect on "Milk It" and "Rape Me", "There's a really dry, really loud voice at the end of 'Milk It' [. . .] that was also done at the end of 'Rape Me,' where [Cobain] wanted the sound of him screaming to just overtake the whole band."^[16]

Cobain later claimed in Ooz magazine that lyrics finished for only half the songs and the rest came from messing around in the studio.^[17] Yet in the biography, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, he claimed he again finished writing most of the lyrics within days of recording the vocals, culling most of them from notebooks full of poetry. This assertion (that Cobain wrote a considerable portion of In Utero lyrics in the studio), is readily refuted. All album tracks except "Serve the Servants", "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" and "Very Ape" had been played live prior to recording the album, in most cases with identical lyrics, and minor additions or changes to "Rape Me" and "All Apologies".^{[citation needed]}

During the initial playback everyone was very happy with the results. Albini remembers the scene after the tracks had been recorded: "When we played it back in the studio everyone was just giddy . . . Everyone was ecstatic when we were listening back to it on playback." Cobain was thrilled, and admitted, "It was the easiest recording we've ever done, hands down."^{[citation needed]} In total, at least eighteen songs were recorded during the sessions, many of which had different titles. According to his Journals, Cobain had originally planned to include the songs "Sappy" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" on the album. Gaar enquired of Albini whether there were any further outtakes, besides the B-sides already known, to which he responded: "I'm sure some of that stuff exists as master tapes, but I really don't know. It's normal for some stuff to be generated that doesn't get followed up on."^{[citation needed]} Following the release of With The Lights Out in 2004, at least two more outtakes, entitled "Dave Solo" and "Lullaby", are known to exist. Of those recorded, twelve were released on In Utero and three ("Moist Vagina", "Marigold" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die") as single B-sides.

After Albini mixed the album, unmastered tapes were sent off to Geffen president (Ed Rosenblatt), A&R executive Gary Gersh, their lawyer and the inner circle of Nirvana's management company, Gold Mountain.

Cobain recounted Gersh's reaction in an interview for Melody Maker: "My A&R man called me up one night and said 'I don't like the record, it sounds like crap, there's way too much effect on the drums, you can't hear the vocals.' He didn't think the song-writing was up to par. And having your A&R man say that is kind of like having your father or stepfather telling you to take out the trash. I was kind of hurt by it on a personal level, because I wanted him to like it, and it was surprising to hear so many negative things about it. And he wasn't alone in his opinion. A few other people - our management, our lawyers - didn't like the record either." Albini then received a call from a journalist, Greg Kot, in Chicago, who claimed that "several people in the Geffen hierarchy, including high-placed people", (i.e. not obstreperous publicists), had informed him that the album was awful and unreleasable and it was his [Albini's] fault. Albini suspected that Gersh had tipped off the journalist, perhaps to try to exert pressure on Cobain to remix the album. Greg Kot then published his article in the Chicago Tribune entitled Record Label Finds Little Bliss in Nirvana's Latest, the theme of which was then echoed in other magazines.

Assumedly as a response to this media furore, and presumably under intense pressure from Geffen, Cobain called Albini suggesting that some of the songs perhaps ought to be remixed. Albini called Cobain back to say he did not think he could do any better than what he had already done. Novoselic then called Albini, mentioning that he also didn't think the recording sounded as good as it had in Minnesota. Albini reiterated that he felt that they had got the best they could from the Pachyderm masters. Indeed, Albini was reluctant even to hand over the master tapes, citing that it had been agreed that the recording would be unalterable without his intervention (even though a contract was never signed).

There is evidence that Cobain had himself changed his mind, and was not just following orders from above. "The first time I played it at home, I knew there was something wrong," he told the Melody Maker. "I wasn't interested in listening to it at all, and that usually doesn’t happen. I got no emotion from it, I was just numb. So for three weeks Krist and Dave and I listened to the record every night, trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and we talked about it and decided the vocals weren't loud enough, the bass was inaudible and you couldn't hear the lyrics. That was about it. We knew we couldn't possibly re-record because we knew we'd achieved the sound we wanted - the basic sound was typical Steve Albini, which was the sound we wanted really bad. So we decided to remix two of our favorite tracks, just as a litmus test, and we left it at that because to remix any more would've destroyed the ambience of the whole thing."

The band became determined to remix the singles "All Apologies" and "Heart-Shaped Box". Albini agreed to let someone else tinker with them, given that he didn't think he could improve on them. Novoselic elucidates why he felt this was necessary: "But you know why we had to remix 'Heart-Shaped Box'? You should hear the original version of that song, the guitar solo had this effect on it, it just sabotages the whole song. Steve and Kurt were colluding! I would go to Kurt, "Why are you this beautiful song by putting this hideous abortion in the centre of it?". He'd be like, "Well I think it sounds cool". I don't even remember what their arguments were, some statement against commercial radio or something, the popular mainstream aesthetic ... I dunno! I guess I finally got my way. Scott Litt was an opportunity to change things." Nirvana did remix "All Apologies" and "Heart-Shaped Box" (recording another acoustic guitar part and backing vocals for "Heart-Shaped Box") at Seattle's Bad Animals studio in early May. "Pennyroyal Tea" was also remixed, but this remix was only released on Wal-Mart/K-Mart versions of the album and on the "Pennyroyal Tea" single.

Newsweek then ran a story, following on from Greg Kot's, about how the record label were forcing Nirvana to remix the songs. Geffen released a statement, quoting Kurt: "There has been no pressure from our record label to change the songs we did with Albini. We have 100% control of our music. The band felt that the vocals were not loud enough on a few of the tracks. We want to change that." Nirvana retaliated against Newsweek saying that they had gone on "totally erroneous information". This letter was reprinted in Billboard as a full-page advertisement. A Geffen press-release also saw the President, Ed Rosenblatt, stress that they would release whatever the band brought them.

In Utero was mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine. According to Azerrad, apart from the minor modifications to "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" (with Scott Litt), the rest of album was left as it was recorded, and all that was done at the final mastering stage was to sharpen up the bass and boost the vocals by 3 decibels.

However, according to Albini, a lot of mastering processing was done, taking days instead of the usual few hours. He opined: "The mastering session that was done took several days, at a studio where the mastering engineer is famous for being very manipulative of the material. A normal album mastering session is a couple of hours. So obviously they thought they should butcher it in some way to try to satisfy these people and to try to satisfy their own expectations. The dynamic range was narrowed, the stereo width was narrowed, there was a lot of mid-range boost EQ added, and the overall sound quality was softened. And the bass response was compromised to make it sound more consistent on radio and home speaker. But the way I would describe it in non-technical terms is that they fucked it up. The end result, the record in the stores doesn't sound all that much like the record that was [recorded by me]." Weston was similarly negative: "[The band wanted to] change the overall sound of the album. The stereo doesn't sound as wide. The guitar has been flattened out a bit. On the original mixes the guitar would just leap out". He felt that they had done a lot in the mastering. Albini felt the same, and was disappointed with the end result. Novoselic, however, thinks differently: "It's a beautiful record. I'm really proud of it".

Privately, Cobain toyed with the idea of releasing two different versions of the album. Cobain detailed in his journals that the original mix of the album would be released on "vinyl LP, cassette and 8-track" under the name I Hate Myself and Want to Die and only sold to "small mom and pop stores or anywhere vinyl can be found." After "many lame reviews and reports" on the "uncompromising" release, the remixed version with rerecorded bass and acoustic guitar would be released under the name Verse Chorus Verse with a sticker affixed to it that would say, "This album is radio-friendly, unit-shifting, compromise version which, by the way, Nirvana is extremely proud of."^[18]

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (October 2007)

In Utero entered the Billboard charts at number one.^[19] The band was convinced that In Utero would not be as successful as Nevermind. Cobain told music critic Jim DeRogatis, "We're certain that we won't sell a quarter as much, and we're totally comfortable with that because we like this record so much."^[20]

Music samples:

"Dumb"

"Dumb" is the sixth track from In Utero and, despite never being released as a single, found moderate radio airplay. This sample contains the second verse and the chorus.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

In Utero was the first Nirvana album that included lyrics in its liner notes, partly because Cobain wanted to be taken more seriously as a songwriter, and partly because Cobain's singing style often made it difficult to understand his lyrics.^[21]

Though Cobain himself stated that "for the most part [In Utero]'s very impersonal,"^[22] much of the album is related to his personal life. "Serve the Servants" references Cobain's personal experiences, both recent and past. The opening line "Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I'm bored and old" references Nirvana's unexpected success and acclaim. The song also references the treatment of Courtney Love in the press through a metaphor about witch-hunts ("If she floats then she is not a witch"), and belittles the impact of his parents' divorce ("That legendary divorce is such a bore"). However, most of the song is about Cobain's father; in a rough draft of the album's liner notes, he wrote that "I guess this song is for my father, who is incapable of communicating at the level of affection in which I have always expected."^[23]

Similarly, "Rape Me" contains a reference to a Vanity Fair article about Courtney Love, that accused her of taking heroin while pregnant and included an anonymous quote from a close friend of the band.^[24] The article was so hurtful to Cobain that he contemplated a double suicide with Love the day after their child, Frances Bean Cobain, was born.^[25] The line "my favorite inside source" from the bridge of "Rape Me" reflects Cobain's feelings of betrayal at the anonymous source in the article.

Other songs contain thinly-veiled attacks on the media. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" was inspired by actress Frances Farmer, with whom Cobain was fascinated, particularly the fictionalized account of her life presented in the novel Shadowland.^[26] Although inspired by an outside influence, Cobain draws a parallel to his own life, and compares the unfair treatment of Farmer to the treatment he received in the press. The song "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" is an attack on the music industry. In the music industry, the term "radio friendly" refers to a song which radio stations consider "airable", while the term "unit shifter" refers to a song that can sell an album.

Although Cobain had flirted with medical themes in the past, it had never been to the extent as on In Utero. In addition to the medical-themed artwork, many of the songs contain mentions of or references to semen, hymens, open sores, parasites and abortion. "Milk It" and "Pennyroyal Tea" are perhaps the most medical-oriented songs on the album.

"Heart-Shaped Box" is a song which references many related themes, including all of those mentioned previously. The song concerns Cobain's relationship with Courtney Love, while at the same time could be interpreted as his relationship with heroin.

The song "Scentless Apprentice" was written about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a historical horror novel about a perfumer's apprentice born with no body odor of his own but with a highly developed sense of smell, and who attempts to create the "ultimate perfume" for himself by killing virgin women and taking their scent.^[27]

Michael "Cali" Dewitt, one of Frances Bean Cobain's nannies, is pictured crossdressing on the In Utero CD.

The art director for In Utero was Robert Fisher, who had designed all of Nirvana's releases on DGC Records. Most of the ideas for the artwork for the album and related singles came from Cobain. Fisher recalled that "[Cobain] would just give me some loose odds and ends and say 'Do something with it.'"^[28]

The cover of the album is an image of a Transparent Anatomical Mannikin, with angel wings added in later. Cobain originally brought in a postcard of a TAM intended for the cover of "Lithium" or another single from Nevermind, though the idea was scrapped at the time. Initially there was difficulty acquiring rights to the image and an alternative illustration was suggested, though permission was eventually obtained. Images inside the booklet are mostly of the band performing live, but also include a Republican campaign office that was destroyed by fire, an illustration by Alex Grey of a skinless pregnant women, and a small audio diagram.

Cobain created the collage on the back cover, referred to as "Sex and woman and In Utero and vaginas and birth and death", which includes fetuses and body parts lying in a bed of orchids and lilies. The collage had been set up on the floor of Cobain's living room and was photographed by Charles Peterson after an unexpected call from Cobain. According to Peterson, "one Sunday afternoon, Kurt calls me up, and is like 'Hey, I want you to take that picture now.' [...] I rummaged for whatever film I had in the fridge, and went over."^[29] The album's track listing and re-illustrated symbols from Barbara G. Walker's The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects were then positioned around the edge of the collage.

The photograph of the heart-shaped box on the "Heart-Shaped Box" single was taken by Cobain and given to Fisher with the request that he "make something pretty."^[30] Though Cobain would be less involved with the creation of the cover for "All Apologies/Rape Me", he had told Fisher to use seahorses giving birth; seahorses would also be on a promotional t-shirt and pin sold on several of Nirvana's tours. Cobain had no input for the artwork accompanying "Pennyroyal Tea".

The original title for In Utero was to be I Hate Myself And Want to Die, sharing its title with a song that was planned for the album. The phrase had originated in mid-1992 from one of Cobain's journal entries, and was meant as humor. It was Cobain's response whenever someone would ask him "how are you?". The tentative album title would be changed after Novoselic convinced Cobain that I Hate Myself And Want to Die could potentially result in a lawsuit. The band considered the title Verse Chorus Verse, a title shared with "Verse Chorus Verse" and an earlier working title of "Sappy". The final title was taken from one of Courtney Love's poems,^[31] and is a Latin term meaning, literally, "in the uterus".

All songs by Kurt Cobain except where noted.

1. "Serve the Servants" – 3:34
2. "Scentless Apprentice" (Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic) – 3:47
3. "Heart-Shaped Box" – 4:39
4. "Rape Me" – 2:49
5. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" – 4:07
6. "Dumb" – 2:29
7. "Very Ape" – 1:55
8. "Milk It" – 3:52
9. "Pennyroyal Tea" – 3:36
10. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" – 4:49
11. "tourette's (song)" – 1:33
12. "All Apologies" – 3:50

"Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 7:33 is a bonus track, labeled a "devalued American dollar purchase incentive track", available on European, Mexican and Australian copies of In Utero, as well as various other non-U.S. pressings. It is a jam recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January 1993, and does not get a separate track position on the disc, starting at exactly 23 minutes and 59 seconds after the end of "All Apologies".

Information adapted from Acclaimedmusic.net.^[32]

• Kurt Cobain – guitar, vocals, art direction, design, photography
• Krist Novoselic – bass
• Dave Grohl – drums, backing vocals
• Kera Schaley – cello
• Steve Albini – engineer
• Adam Kasper – assistant engineer
• Bob Weston – technician
• Scott Litt – mixing
• Bob Ludwig – audio mastering
• Robert Fisher – art direction, design, photography
• Karen Mason – photography
• Charles Peterson – photography
• Michael Lavine – photography
• Neil Wallace – photography
• Alex Grey – illustrations

Re-released: Nevermind & In Utero collectors boxset 1999.

• The first vinyl pressing of In Utero came on clear vinyl. There were 15,000 of these records pressed.
• In Utero was reissued by British label Simply Vinyl, and as a gold CD by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
• In 1999 In Utero was re-released in a collectors boxset along with the 1991 album Nevermind.
• In 2003 what is believed to be the original Albini mix of In Utero was issued as a vinyl-only release by Universal Records in the UK. This is believed to be the result of a mistake at the factory when the wrong master tapes were used to have the album recut. The discs were manufactured in Germany. They can be indentified by the numbers A33 9124 536 S1 320 pressed into the deadwax, or the catalog numbers 424 536-1 on the disc.
• In 2004 the In Utero album was re-released in Europe in a collectors boxset with the 1992 album Incesticide.

• Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-86369-746-1.
• Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9.
• DeRogatis, Jim. Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the 90's. Da Capo, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81271-1
• Gaar, Gillian G. In Utero 33⅓, Continuum, 2006. ISBN 0-8264-1776-0.

• Live Nirvana Companion to Official Releases - In Utero
• Live Nirvana Sessions Guide - January 1993
• Live Nirvana Sessions Guide - February 1993
• The In Utero Symbols Guide