Kurt Cobain, farewell 32 years ago. A Nirvana top ten
I asked the two authors of “Smell of grunge. The Seattle scene and its records” (Arcana – in the news photo), who have already contributed to our newspaper with this article published last Marchto choose the ten songs that they consider most significant by Nirvana, to remember Kurt Cobain on the anniversary of his death, which occurred on April 5, 1994. Below is their personal selection.
SCHOOL
Taken from the debut album “Bleach”, “School” is one of the best examples of Nirvana’s early sound. Dark and claustrophobic, the energy of School is certainly influenced by the Melvins, with obsessive guitar riffs, a pulsating rhythm and minimal lyrics. In particular, the short text is a veiled criticism of the Seattle music scene, which Cobain perceived as elitist and snobbish: a feeling of isolation not unlike the one he felt at school, manifested with a symbolic “You’re in high school again”.
ABOUT A GIRL
A white fly within the tracklist of “Bleach”, “About a Girl” is the pop ballad that already gave a glimpse of Cobain’s good taste for melody. Dedicated to his girlfriend at the time (“I need an easy friend”) Tracy Marander, it is a song that the Nirvana singer initially did not want to publish, fearing opposition from Sub Pop Records. Luckily, Krist Novoselic and producer Jack Endino convinced him, making it one of the band’s most iconic songs, also thanks to the acoustic version played years later at MTV Unplugged in New York.
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
Without “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Grunge-Mania would never have happened.
Four simple agreements that revealed the fury and anger of youth. The title was inspired by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill who wrote “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the wall of Cobain’s apartment, alluding to the famous brand of deodorant that bandmate Tobi Vail used. Despite the cryptic lyrics in full cut-up style, “Teen Spirit” will unintentionally become the anthem of Generation
DRAIN YOU
Among Cobain’s favorite songs, “Drain You” is one of the most fitting examples of the Nirvana leader’s way of composing. Not just the structure quiet-loud is taken to the highest levels (with a powerful interlude by Dave Grohl on drums), but in the lyrics images of purity (“One baby to another says, “I’m lucky to’ve met you”) are juxtaposed in opposite ways with purely medical themes (“I travel through a tube and end up in your infection”), in a sort of mystical and carnal relationship between two kindred souls.
SLIVER
The only single from the “Incesticide” collection, “Sliver” is probably Cobain’s clearest and clearest childhood memory, who in the chorus launched into a pleading “Grandma, take me home” as if it were the desperate request of a child. Supported by an incisive bass line played by Novoselic (on drums is Dan Peters, on loan from Mudhoney), “Sliver” is a jaunty manifesto of alienation in a punk-rock style: a way to ease the tension of the success of “Nevermind”. In the official video clip, little Frances Bean, the daughter of Cobain and Courtney Love, appears for a few frames.
SERVE THE SERVANTS
“Teenage angst has paid off well, Now I’m bored and old”, with this sincere confession opened “In Utero”, Nirvana’s third album, as well as the highly anticipated sequel to “Nevermind”.
With a more strident and punk sound, “Serve the Servants” is an uninterrupted stream of consciousness that touches on everything that had hurt and disturbed Cobain in the last 18 months: from the weight of global success, to the invasion of the tabloid media in his private life, passing through the difficult relationship with his father.
“Serve the Servants” was played on the Rai 3 “Tunnel” broadcast hosted by Serena Dandini: it is remembered in particular because it was Nirvana’s last official television performance; it was February 1994.
HEART-SHAPED BOX
First single from “In Utero”, “Heart-Shaped Box” marks the definitive transition towards a more visceral and instinctive sound. Produced by Steve Albini, the song is built on a hypnotic guitar riff capable of exploding into a tension-filled chorus. The lyrics were inspired by a gift that Courtney Love gave to Cobain (a heart-shaped box, in fact), although in some interviews the singer referred to a documentary on children’s cancer (“I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black”).
The record company, considering Albini’s mix unsatisfactory, commissioned Scott Litt to remix the song as we know it today.
ALL APOLOGIES
In the final part of the Reading concert in the summer of 1992, Kurt Cobain presented an embryonic version of “All Apologies”, dedicating it expressly to Courtney Love, who was under the scrutiny of the tabloid press at that time. The following year “All Apologies” not only closed the tracklist of “In Utero”, but in a certain sense represented his sincere epitaph, sculpted between a cello melody and a peremptory “All in all is all we are”.
WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT?
This song closed the New York Unplugged of November 1993 with pathos and emotion. Cover of the legendary Lead Belly song, “Where did you sleep last night?” it is a sincere and free performance by Cobain (remember the final howl of a consummate artist?), who, joking with the audience, confessed his passion for the Louisiana bluesman and how he would not have been able to afford the purchase of his precious guitar, which had just been sold at a million-dollar auction. It still remains today, on television, one of the most touching and intense performances of an entire era.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE RIGHT
In 2002 a bolt from the blue burst onto MTV programming. There was a posthumous Nirvana song, recorded in January 1994 at Robert Lang Studios and left in a drawer for almost ten years amidst legal battles and gossip. “You Know You’re Right” has the flavor of rediscovery and regret (“Things have never been so swell / I have never failed to fail”), of an anger that remained there under the ashes, never quelled. It is proof of the talent and sensitivity of a symbolic artist of the nineties. Simply Kurt Cobain.
