This was the hardest choice to make out of my three most influential albums, mainly due to the amount of other possible contenders; “Superunknown” by Soundgarden, “Ritual De Lo Habitual” by Jane's Addiction, “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails and any of Tool’s albums were all in the running and, over the past week, I have fought off many temptations to have a change of heart.  But what I found was that I kept coming back to “In Utero”, an album that was brutally honest, thoroughly antagonistic and extremely important to a 16 year old at a time when there was nothing like “Heart Shaped Box” or “All Apologies” in the charts, and carving out an identity for yourself is the most important thing in the world.

Liking the bands I like and owning the albums I do, it may surprise some not to see “Nevermind” as my Nirvana album of choice.  “Nevermind” was undoubtedly a watershed moment for rock music, with its empathetic, raw voice, and it was another one that proved hard to overlook for this exercise.  For me though, it was the release of “In Utero” in 1993 that excited the most, anticipated as much due to the phenomenal success of “Nevermind”, as it was to discover where enigmatic frontman Kurt Cobain would take the band next.  Novoselic, Grohl and Cobain were suddenly in a limelight that they hated and had successfully shunned for so long, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to indulging in the hero-worship of Kurt, and experienced the excited expectation of “In Utero” that so many others did. 

Initially, the mainstream reception for the album was frosty – why did it sound so grimy and where were the radio-friendly unit-shifters promised in the track listing?  Why was noise-monger Steve Albini chief knob-twiddler when surely a stadium-rock record producer was the logical choice?  But these questions had very logical answers for me and Nirvana’s other fans – it was the ginger step-brother of “Nevermind”.  It wasn’t supposed to be more of the same, it wasn’t supposed to conform, it didn’t have to be tuneful all the time and have lighters-in-the-air moments.  Nirvana had successfully channeled all of their punk-rock sensibilities and added the grunge-ethos of “so fuckin’ what?” and spewed out a classic without apparently trying.  And whereas “Appetite for Destruction” (my first influential album) signaled that something new was happening to rock, “In Utero” for me confirmed that something new (and ultimately final) was happening to grunge too – something that would rip it out of the hands of the corporate leeches and give it back to the kids on the street, and it would be through the blood-curdling screams of “Serve the Servants”, “Tourettes”, “Very Ape” and “Milk It” that this would take shape.

Nirvana were always a very reactionary band, so if “In Utero” was Nirvana’s reaction to “Nevermind”, and Unplugged in New York was their reaction to “In Utero”, it makes the passing of Cobain in 1994 even more frustrating as we will never know where they were going next…

Let us know your views on In Utero

Track Listing

Serve the Servants
Scentless Apprentice
Heart-Shaped Box
Rape Me
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
Dumb
Very Ape
Milk It
Pennyroyal Tea
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
tourette's (song)
All Apologies

Line Up

Kurt Cobain – Guitar/Vocals
Krist Novoselic – Bass
Dave Grohl – Drums