Kurt Cobain did not want to follow the herd when Nirvana first appeared on the scene. According to Vig, “A lot of times I’d be going for a first take, and he would think it was just a warm-up.” He started recording all of his warm-up performances when he was vocally cutting. Although Cobain had no intention of leaving the underground, he did harbor some affection for The Beatles. This was evident during the recording of Nevermind.
Cobain owes “The Fab Four” musical cues throughout Nirvana’s magnum opus. Song titles like “Lithium” and “Come As You Are” borrow melodies from the Lennon/McCartney repertoire, but “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has a unique sound all its own. John Lennon was Cobain’s favorite Beatle, without a doubt, even though The Beatles were always dear to his heart. He expressed this affection for Lennon in an interview with Cheat Sheet. Paul McCartney makes me look bad; I have no idea who wrote what portions of Beatles songs. It was upsetting Lennon. In light of that, I could relate.
When it came time to record double tracks, Butch Vig, the producer, decided to employ a method Lennon often employed: double tracking. Singing the same vocal take twice is the production trick that creates a layered sound when played back. Vig claimed to have forced Kurt Cobain to record vocals again because of Lennon, even though the musician himself had never enjoyed doing so. According to Classic Albums, Vig said, “I had to use the John Lennon reference to get it out of him.” I would tell him, “John Lennon did it,” and he would say, “Okay,” each time he resisted. In between the sessions, Cobain was also renowned for playing brief passages from John Lennon’s Beatles song “Julia.”
Vig also discussed the necessity of recording songs covertly when Cobain wasn’t aware of it in a subsequent interview with Guitar World. According to Vig, “A lot of times I’d be going for a first take, and he would think it was just a warm-up.” He started recording all of his warm-up performances when he was vocally cutting. As many as four takes could be obtained from him if I was lucky. Next, I would construct the master using the fragments from the finest ones.
Even though John Lennon’s husky vocal delivery during his solo career was ahead of its time, the sounds of grunge might not be the ideal combination for him. Lennon’s screams on “Well Well Well” from his solo album Plastic Ono Band resemble Cobain’s thirty years later. This similarity is evident on tracks like “Scentless Apprentice” and “Territorial Pissings.”
The idea behind the record was to keep things fairly simple, even though Cobain would later come to hate how mixed Nevermind was. Dave Grohl talked about that kind of thinking later in the Classic Albums series. He stated: “We intended it to resemble kid-friendly music.” We used to always draw that comparison, as I recall. Keeping things as simple as possible was the aim of each song.
Anything relatable always makes an impression on fans. There is no more basic rock & roll than Lennon’s sincere songwriting, in Cobain’s opinion.
1 comment