Gillian G. Gaar - Nirvanas In Utero

In Utero

Praise for the series:

It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch. The series, which now comprises 29 titles with more in the works, is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration The NewYork Times Book Review

Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just arent enough Rolling Stone One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet Bookslut These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it down in startling minutiae. We love these. We are huge nerds Vice A brilliant serieseach one a work of real love NME (UK) Passionate, obsessive, and smart Nylon

Religious tracts for the rock n roll faithful Boldtype

[A] consistently excellent series Uncut (UK) We...arent naive enough to think that were your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way...watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, youd do well to check out Continuums 33 1/3 series of books.

Pitchfork

For reviews of individual titles in the series, please visit our web-site at www.continuumbooks.com and 33third.blogspot.comAlso available in this series:

Dusty in Memphis by Warren Zanes

Armed Forces by Franklin Bruno

Forever Changes by Andrew Hultkrans

Exile on Main Street by Bill Janovitz Harvest by Sam Inglis

Grace by Daphne Brooks

The Kinks Are The Village Green

Murmur by J. Niimi

Preservation Society by Andy Miller

Pet Sounds by Jim Fusilli

Meat Is Murder by Joe Pernice

Ramones by Nicholas Rombes

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by John Endtroducing... by Eliot Wilder

Cavanagh

Kick Out the Jams by Don McLeese

Abba Gold by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Low by Hugo Wilcken

Electric Ladyland by John Perry

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Kim

Unknown Pleasures by Chris Ott

Cooper

Sign O the Times by Michaelangelo

Music from Big Pink by John Niven

Matos

Pauls Boutique by Dan LeRoy

The Velvet Underground and Nico by Joe Doolittle by Ben Sisario

Harvard

Theres a Riot Goin On by Miles

Let It Be by Steve Matteo

Marshall Lewis

Live at the Apollo by Douglas Wolk

Stone Roses by Alex Green

Aqualung by Allan Moore

Bee Thousand by Marc Woodsworth

OK Computer by Dai Griffiths

The Who Sell Out by John Dougan

Let It Be by Colin Meloy

Highway 61 Revisited by Mark

Led Zeppelin IV by Erik Davis

Polizzotti

Forthcoming in this series:

Loveless by Mike McGonigal

The Notorious Byrd Brothers by Ric Menck Court and Spark by Sean Nelson

London Calling by David L. Ulin

Daydream Nation by Matthew Stearns

Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by Shawn Taylor 69 Love Songs by LD Beghtol

Use Your Illusion I & II by Eric Weisbard Songs in the Key of Life by Zeth Lundy and many more...

In Utero

Gillian G. Gaar

2006

The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038

The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

www.continuumbooks.com

Copyright 2006 by Gillian G. Gaar

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers or their agents.

Printed in

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a

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gaar, Gillian G., 1959-In utero / Gillian G. Gaar.

p. cm. -- (33 1/3)

Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN-13: 978-1-4411-8609-6

1. Nirvana (Musical group). In utero. 2. Nirvana (Musical group) I. Title.

II. Series.

ML421.N57G33 2006

782.42166092'2--dc22

2006016043

_________

iv

Acknowledgments

Thanks to David Barker for commissioning this book.

Thanks to all my interviewees over the years: Steve Albini, Bill Arnold, Earnie Bailey, Anton Corbijn, Jack Endino, Robert Fisher, Craig Montgomery, Krist Novoselic, Charles Peterson, all of whom answered repeated inquiries. Special thanks to my transcriptionists, especially Carrie Stamper and Natalie Walker; also Katie Hansen, Nick Tamburro, Julia Voss. Thanks to Dr. Chris Belcher and Carol Nicholson for keeping my hands and arms working. Thanks to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna, Kris Sproul, Alex Roberts, Mike Ziegler, and mom, for services rendered. And of course, thanks to Nirvana, for all their music.

To Jack Endino

for wanting to dig into the details as much as I do Chapter 1

Life on the Verge

As 1993 began, it was the best of times and the worst of times for Nirvana.

On the plus side, in the fall of 1991 theyd vaulted seemingly overnight (in reality, the result of five years hard work) from near obscurity to global domination. Their second album, 1991s Nevermind, wasnt just a breakthrough for the band, it was a high watermark for the entire alternative rock scene. Indeed, when Nevermind supplanted Michael Jacksons Dangerous at the top of the Billboard record charts in January 1992 it symbolized a changing of the musical guard as the very term alternative rock finally entered the mainstream lexicon, a genre quickly divided into pre-Nirvana and post-Nirvana markets.

But ironically, the bands very success also threatened to implode the trio, comprised of lead guitarist, singer, and GILLIAN G. GAAR

primary songwriter Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl. Though denied at the time, Cobains escalating heroin use had severely curtailed the bands touring schedule, and when they did tour, shows were occasionally cancelled due to illness (in 1991 the band played 88 shows; in 1992, they played 35). Cobain entered various detox programs during the year, but when an article in the September 1992 issue of Vanity Fair claimed Cobains wife, Courtney Love, used heroin while pregnant (a charge she has always denied), the couple tem-porarily lost custody of their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, born August 18. A dispute over songwriting royalties nearly split the group in the spring. They were even sued over their name by two members of a 1960s-era British group also called Nirvana (a case eventually settled out of court for $100,000).

But by the end of 92, things had somewhat stabilized in the Nirvana camp. Defying rumors of their break-up, the band headlined Englands Reading Festival on August 30, widely considered one of their best performances. At the end of October, they entered a recording studio for the first time in nearly seven months to begin work on