7. “All Apologies” – Nirvana: An Artist A Week/A Song A Day – A History of Alternative Music

7. “All Apologies” – Nirvana

(From the album In Utero)

1993

One of the quiet facts about Nirvana’s In Utero that is rarely discussed in the wake of Kurt Cobain’s death is that the band’s desire to shed much of their mainstream audience by making In Utero a harsher, less commercial album than Nevermind had been was working. While In Utero intially sold very well the album’s sales were trailing off much more quickly than Nevermind’s had in the months before Cobain’s death. This was true even though the second single “All Apologies” was a major hit. “All Apologies” was the other song remixed by Scott Litt after Steve Albini had mixed the album and the song does sound like the most commercial song on the In Utero record (although that is due to the poppy and melodic nature of the song as much as Litt’s mixing). “All Apologies” was still Nirvana’s hit single getting regular airpay when Nirvana recorded their session of MTV’s Unplugged series and their acoustic performance of “All Apolgies” from the show, one of the only hits they played at the performance, ended up being the de facto music video MTV used for the song. The success of the “All Apologies” and the MTV Unplugged performance helped sales of In Utero rebound a little but the album didn’t really bounce back until after Kurt Cobain’s suicide in April 1994. Cobain’s death shook the music world because Nirvana had played such a key role in redefining the music scene over the previous few years, but the death didn’t shock many who were paying attention. The media scrutiny on Cobain and wife Courtney Love had been intense and the couple had since become parents, which only added to the attention. Furthermore, Cobain had been battling painful stomach ulcers and depression in the months before his death, which had led to him self-medicating with heroin. There had even been an accidental overdose that had hospitalized him in Rome a month before his suicide that may have been a cry for help. For all intents and purposes Cobain’s death ended Nirvana although their performance on MTV Unplugged was released as MTV Unplugged In New York and sold well. In the years since band memebers Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have battled with Cobain’s widow Courtney Love over control of the band’s catalog and brand but there still have been live albums, compilations, and box sets released. One of these, their eponymously titled hits compilation, even included the final song the band had recorded, a song titled “You Know You’re Right”, which had previously been only been heard in a live version done by Hole on their own MTV Unpugged performance. “You Know You’re Right” was released as a single to promote the Nirvana compilation and went to #45 on the American charts (and #1 on the alternative and mainstream rock charts). In the years since Novoselic and Grohl have been careful with Nirvana’s legacy, doing interviews and making appearances both together and separately, but rarely playing as Nirvana. On the rare times Grohl and Novoselic have played together as Nirvana they have used female vocalists like Lord and Joan Jett to help distance these performances from the band’s past. Of course, Grohl and Novoselic have both moved on in the years since Nirvana’s demise. Grohl as the leader of Foo Fighters and Novoselic with a variety of bands including Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, and more recently 3rd Secret with Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron, among others.

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