On September 21, 1993, "In Utero", "Nirvana's" third and final studio album was released.
Here are some interesting facts about "In Utero":
1. The album was supposed to be called "I Hate Myself and Want to Die", which refers to a sentence Kurt Cobain said in 1992. Kurt thought it would be fun to call the album that way.
2. Bassist Krist Novoselic asked Kurt Cobain to think of another name. He feared lawsuits such as "Judas Priest" and Ozzy Osbourne following the suicide cases allegedly caused due to negative messages in the lyrics of the two artists.
3. Another name that came up was "Verse, Chorus, Verse", but in the end, everyone agreed on "In Utero" taken from a song by Courtney Love.
4. "Nirvana" wanted to stay as far away as possible from "Nevermind" and sound as primal and immature as possible.
5. Kurt Cobain enlisted producer Steve Albini to help "Nirvana" sound like the "Pixies". Cobain admired the "Pixies" and stated that he was also very much influenced by them, so he chose Albini who had worked with them in the past.
6. Albini was initially not keen on working with "Nirvana". He was eventually persuaded but one of his terms was to receive a global sum of $ 100,000 for his work. no more! He also refused to accept royalties from the sales as is customary, because it is unfair to continue and "milk" the band for work he has already done.
7. Albini used to make practical jokes about Eddie Vedder during the recordings. He would call him and introduce himself as Tony Visconti producer of David Bowie and tell him he would be very happy to work with him if he left "Pearl Jam".
8. Albini's production result was as immature, rough, and dirty as Cobain had hoped it would be. However, the record company did not like the result which led to the re-production of some of the songs, this time by producer Scott Litt who worked with "R.E.M." And was asked to give the songs a more accessible sound. The only re-produced songs were: "Heart-Shaped Box", "All Apologies" and "Pennyroyal Tea" which were also the only singles released from the album
9. The three members of "Nirvana" celebrated the end of the recordings by burning their pants.
10. The entire album was recorded in 14 days. Less than the time it took for the band to record "Nevermind".
11. Nirvana recorded a total of 18 songs for the album, including "I Hate Myself And Want To Die" and "Marigold". In the end, only 12 entered the album.
12. The song "Marigold" was written by Dave Grohl. He was released as a b-side for the song "Heart-Shaped Box" and later also appeared on the acoustic live album of "Foo Fighters" "Skin And Bones".
13. Unusually, all three members of the band received credit for the song "Scentless Apprentice". This is unlike most of Nirvana's songs for which Kurt Cobain received credit alone.
14. Dave Grohl wrote the guitar and drum roles for the song.
15. The song "Scentless Apprentice" was also recorded in one take.
16. Cobain wrote the song "Heart-Shaped Box" in a closet. Courtney Love says she heard him play the guitar and asked him to write her a riff. Cobain wrote it in five minutes and Courtney Love loved it very much and asked Cobain if she could take it for her album. Cobain answered her FUCK YOU !.
17. Cobain claimed the song was influenced by documentaries about children with cancer. In a biography he wrote about Cobain, Michael Azerrad claimed it was not true and the song was written about Love. Courtney Love herself tweeted in 2012 that the song is about her vagina, the tweet was deleted immediately afterward.
18. The original name of the song was "Heart-Shaped Coffin", Cobain wrote the lyrics to the song "I am buried in a heart-shaped coffin for weeks" but again this time pressure was exerted on Cobain to change the lyrics.
19. Courtney Love gave Cobain a heart-shaped box in 1990 and filled it with things that Cobain loved. He kept the box as a symbol of their love.
20. The commercial chains "Wal-Mart" and "Kmart" refused to sell the album in their branches because of the song "Rape Me" and the photos on the back cover of the album. Cobain compromised and changed the name of the song on the back cover to "Waif Me" and moderate the pictures that appeared on it.
21. The original photo collage on the back cover was created by Cobain himself on the floor of his house.
22. The song "Rape Me" also caused a scandal at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards when the network threatened the band that if they played the song they would immediately interrupt the live broadcast and move to commercials. Eventually, Cobain was persuaded not to play the song and played only i's intro from which he switched to the song "Lithium".
23. Cobain wrote the song against rape and disrespect for women, but the media misinterpreted it.
24. Cobain wrote the song "Pennyroyal Tea" back in 1990, but he did not think it was good enough for the album "Nevermind".
25. The word "Pennyroyal" in the title of the song refers to a plant that is claimed to cause miscarriage.
26. The song was slated to be the third single from the album but was eventually canceled due to the suicide of Kurt Cobain.
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