Frozen Embryo

Back at the wheel.

Over the weekend was the anniversary of Nevermind by Nirvana. Ask anyone and they'll tell you all about how it was such an influential record and it changed everything and yeah, yeah, yeah. At a certain point it becomes noise. I love that album, if it hasn't become apparent from related subjects. It is, indeed, fantastic - not a bad song on there, in fact. But while Nevermind gets all the clout, no one seems to give any props to the follow up.

 In Utero, released in 1993, is a more interesting album, one could argue. Nevermind was the band breaking big with fairly simply songs that just go verse-chorus-verse (to borrow an oft-used phrase from the singer himself) with repeated lyrics. As great as it is, there's not a lot of depth beyond that which we assign to it. In Utero, with its broader sounds and more twisted lyrics, becomes a more unique experience as years go by. It's a great album that always seems to be a "oh, yeah, that one too" inclusion in the band's canon, where it should be seen for the important evolution it signified. While we have these albums frozen in time to remind us of what a sea-change the band's breakthrough was, it's the wonder of what could have been that fascinates me. Where would Nirvana have gone to, had they not been abruptly halted? This album gives subtle indication of that elusive, unattainable alternate reality where Cobain persevered and made more music. 

Impossibly high hopes no doubt affected how the album was written. Nevermind was so omnipresent and adored that any meaningful following efforts would pale in comparison to the mega-seller. Cobain, being his normal difficult and confrontational self, made an album that was intentionally challenging and jarring. Nevermind was slick and polished, ready for the radio. In Utero was harsh, discordant a series of broken guitars and thudding drum and bass arrangements. For every accessible single like 'All Apologies' there was a bleating fury from the likes of 'Scentless Apprentice', which comes to such an unpleasant close that anyone but the most diehard fans are put off. There's the disarmed Beatles-inspired 'Dumb' juxtaposed with the band falling apart at the seams in 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter'. When you try to find a common ground between all the tracks on In Utero, the closest you could come would most likely be the dynamic start-and-stop fury of 'Milk It'. The sounds in this song are carried throughout the album - the weirdly atonal little licks of clean guitars, the indistinct yet bobbing bassline and the absolutely massive drums parts. Elements of this sonic essence are found in 'Heart Shaped Box', 'Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle' and 'Rape Me.' 

While the record is definitely a challenge to get acquainted with, there are certainly pop elements that were emerging in Cobain's writing as his career edged towards the end. 'Dumb' is practically sedated in it's demeanor. 'Pennyroyal Tea' was a genuine radio-friendly single with its power pop chorus. The melody and riff in 'Very Ape' are, at their heart, quite catchy and hypnotic - they're just hidden under a layer of distortion and aggression. Had the album opener 'Serve the Servants' been played in their Unplugged concert it would have been almost too upbeat for the band. 

I feel like all of these signs pointed towards a band in mid-evolution, one that no matter the outcome would be unrecognizable in short time. Considering the change they experienced from the sludge of their debut album Bleach to their still-stunning Unplugged album, they were hardly a one trick pony. It's easy to forget this when all anyone talks about is the punk-meets-heavy metal grunge of Nevermind. They had their nuances, they were just overlooked in favor of their commercial successes. Had they been able to carry on, we most likely would have seen more of this weirdly experimental pop side to the band, Cobain becoming more and more comfortable with his softer side as his career went on. Instead, we have a band whose canon is heavily slanted towards negative energy and painful wailing, something that really only showed a part of their personality. Granted, they excelled at it. But that doesn't mean they couldn't write interesting, engaging pop songs. We'll just never know what would have been.

We would also (most likely) never have gotten the legendary Foo Fighters out of it either. Maybe that's more important.