Steve Albini’s first impression of Nirvana: “I thought they were an unremarkable version of the Seattle sound”
Nirvana was in dire need of a shakeup after recording Nevermind. Though they may not have known it at the time, the massive influence of their sophomore release would mark a sea change in the way rock stars were looked at in the public eye, as fans went from chanting along to hair metal ballads to donning flannel shirts and rocking out to artists like Pearl Jam. All roads pointed away from the mainstream, and Kurt Cobain thought the key to the next record lay with Steve Albini.
Having turned in time working with PJ Harvey and The Breeders, Albini was known for a caustic approach to sound whenever he stepped behind the mixing board. Instead of being produced by Albini, the producer prefers to use the term “recorded by” when describing what he does for certain acts.
Although Albini had been one of the first choices to work on what would become In Utero, he initially had mixed feelings about signing on when he was first asked. When interviewed for the documentary Sonic Highways, Albini didn’t even realise that Nirvana had been interested for the longest time, “There were tendrils of rumours going around that I had been asked to work on the next Nirvana album. I had no contact with the band whatsoever at that point. I remember I had gotten a couple of drunken phone calls. It was some impaired person droning about records, but I didn’t know I was talking to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.”
While Cobain knew Albini’s back catalogue, the producer wasn’t completely sold on what the band had brought to the table. From what he saw at first, Nirvana was just one in a long line of artists that brought about the supposed “alternative revolution”, which set out to exemplify the music meant to be kept underground.
When talking to Michael Azerrad, Albini initially thought that the band’s music wasn’t the style of music that he liked to work on, saying, “I thought they were an unremarkable version of the Seattle sound. I thought they were typical of the bands of this era and that locale.”
Once the band started to talk to him about where they were taking their next project, Albini knew that he could find something that would work. Spending a total of two weeks recording most of the project, Nirvana had come up with a sound much more abrasive than Nevermind, with Cobain shrieking his guts out across songs like ‘Scentless Apprentice’ and ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’.
While the band were proud of what they created, it didn’t sit well with their label, with DGC initially not wanting to release the album because of how uncommercial it was compared to its predecessor. Bringing in Scott Litt of R.E.M. fame to touch up a few songs, the album was mostly kept intact from what was initially recorded.
Even though the band may have had to compromise their sound to suit what the label wanted, Cobain would stand by the record as one of the best projects he has ever participated in. Although Albini has never been a man to mince words about his production style, he even admitted that the final product was phenomenal, saying, “I like it far more than I thought I was going to. I like this record way more than I’ve ever liked a Nirvana record. I find myself listening to it of my own free will, occasionally.”
