“It fundamentally changed my life”: Butch Vig reflects on the legacy of Nirvana album ‘Nevermind’
Every producer of note has one album that changed their life beyond recognition. Whether it be George Martin’s first effort with The Beatles or Rick Rubin and the Beastie Boys’ debut, Licensed to Ill, all undisputed maestros of the sound desk have that singular body of work that altered the direction of their careers, the artist involved, and made a lasting imprint on culture. This is the same for Butch Vig, who has worked on his fair share of classics but holds dear the record that transformed his life for good.
Although Vig had been a powerhouse in the underground scene during the late 1980s, his first high-profile work came with two influential records in 1991. The first was Nevermind, Nirvana’s second album, and the other was Gish, the debut of Chicago innovators The Smashing Pumpkins. Gish, which arrived in May of that year, saw moderate success initially before later being certified platinum. However, it was Nevermind, released in September, that made an almost immediate impact, catapulting Vig and Nirvana into the mainstream.
Over the latter part of the 1980s, underground rock music had been bubbling away, refreshingly fusing hardcore punk, metal, and hard rock. Bands such as Dinosaur Jr, Hüsker Dü, Melvins, Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and Nirvana, with their 1989 debut, Bleach, made an impression on their generation. They provided genuinely compelling and authentic music that voiced their complex emotions with Ronald Reagan’s America as their backdrop.
Nevermind was the sonic equivalent of boiling point for the underground. After the release of the lead single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – the definitive Generation X anthem that revolutionised the sound of guitar bands for this new epoch – popular culture started to evolve rapidly. Spandex, big hair and ridiculous guitar solos of the glam metal era were out, and flannel shirts, crunching bar chords and dark introspection were in. Off the back of their 1991 album, Nirvana became the poster boys of this cultural revolution, with frontman Kurt Cobain hailed as the voice of a generation.
As we have seen so many times throughout history, too much of a good thing can prove a terrible reality for those experiencing it. Shortly after Nirvana were thrust into the spotlight, the end was nigh. Cobain and his bandmates, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, loathed the trappings of fame and came to hate the clean sound of the ubiquitous Nevermindso much that they would hire another underground tastemaker, Steve Albini, to produce its raw 1993 follow-up, In Utero. Then, following the writing being firmly on the wall for some time, in April 1994, Cobain tragically took his own life, bringing a bleak end to one of the most consequential bands of all time.
Naturally, this deeply miserable end to a band that changed many lives and made music much better for their presence soured memories for all involved, from the bandmates and their families to Vig himself. He not only produced Nevermind but, with his old-school, multi-layered approach, facilitated Nirvana’s appeal to the masses.
Just like Novoselic and Grohl, Vig did have a period where he was sick of Nirvana and Nevermind talk, particularly after he formed Garbage in 1993 and sought to enter a new creative chapter a while before Cobain’s death. However, it wasn’t until the three started collaborating on the 20th-anniversary box set of the record and unearthing archival tracks that he started to revisit the record, and be at peace with the fact it changed his life.
When speaking to Songfacts, Vig was confronted with the reality that he was the man who produced Nevermind. He then recalled an experience when he realised just how much “it fundamentally changed my life.”
He said: “When we went on this tour for the last year in Garbage, I did a lot of press for Garbage, but almost every time we would do a meet and greet, there would be a lot of fans that would bring Nirvana CDs or vinyl to sign. And I have no problem signing that, because I’m really proud of that record. It fundamentally changed my life.”
Just as Dave Grohl realised he couldn’t outrun Nirvana when exploring Ireland in the aftermath of Cobain’s death, Butch Vig also knows that his ultimate cultural addition was of such consequence that it has taken on a life of its own and can never be contained.
