To say that Nirvana's third and ultimately final studio
album In Utero was 1993's most polarizing record would be the understatement of
a decade. The unadorned sonic rawness of Steve Albini's recording laid bare
every primal nuance of the most confrontational yet vulnerable material Kurt
Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl would ever record. And with its 1991
predecessor Nevermind having sold some 30 million copies, singlehandedly
returning honest rock 'n' roll to the top of the pop charts, In Utero was
essentially the first record Nirvana would make with any expectations from the
public. So from the opening quasi-shamble melodics of "Serve The
Servants" through the bittersweet closing strains of "All
Apologies," In Utero was the sound of the most incredible yet conflicted
rock 'n' roll band of the era at the peak of its powers coming to terms with a
generational spokes-band mantle they'd never seen coming-and ultimately
surmounting these struggles to make the record they needed to make. As Rolling
Stone's David Fricke said in his review at the time, "In Utero is a lot of
things-brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once.
But more than anything, it's a triumph of the will."
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