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{{future stadium|Olimpico}}
{{Infobox Album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
'''Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos''' is a multi-use [[stadium]] in [[Barcelona, Anzoátegui|Puerto La Cruz]], [[Venezuela]]. It is currently used mostly for [[football (soccer)|football]] matches and will be the home stadium of [[Deportivo Anzoátegui SC]]. It will host some matches during [[Copa América 2007]]. The stadium holds 41,000 people and will be completed in [[2007]].
| Name = In Utero
| Type = studio
| Artist = [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]
| Cover = InUteroNew1.jpg
| Released = [[September 21]], [[1993]]
| Recorded = [[February 12]], [[1993]]–[[February 26]], [[1993]] at [[Pachyderm Studios]] in [[Cannon Falls, Minnesota]]
| Genre = [[Alternative rock]]<br>[[Grunge music|Grunge]]
| Length = 41:11 <small>([[United States|U.S.]])</small>, 68:58 <small>([[Europe]])</small>
| Label = [[DGC Records]]
| Producer = [[Steve Albini]]
| Reviews =
*[[All Music Guide]] {{rating-5|5}} [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aqv59kectjq79 link]
*[[Robert Christgau]] (A) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Nirvana link]
*''[[NME]]'' (8/10) [http://www.nme.com/reviews/nirvana/7373 link]
*''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' {{rating-5|4}} [http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=122742&resource=122742&fixture_artist=146000 link]
*''[[Rolling Stone]]'' {{rating-5|4.5}} [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/256512/nirvana?pageid=rs.ArtistDiscography&pageregion=triple1 link]
| Last album = ''[[Incesticide]]''<br />(1992)
| This album = '''''In Utero'''''<br />(1993)
| Next album = ''[[MTV Unplugged in New York]]''<br />(1994)
{{Extra album cover 2
| Upper caption = ''In Utero''
| Type = studio
| Cover = Back Cover of In Utero.JPG
| Lower caption = Back cover, featuring a collage created by Kurt Cobain.
}}
}}
 
{{Venezuela-stub}}
'''''In Utero''''' is the third and final [[studio album]] by the [[United States|American]] [[Grunge music|grunge]] band [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], released in September 1993 by [[Geffen Records]]. The album's abrasive and aggressive sound was a departure from the polished production of the band's breakthrough, ''[[Nevermind]]'', due in part to the selection of new producer [[Steve Albini]]. It became controversial for its sound production and the subject matters of its songs. The album's dark [[Lyrics|lyrical]] themes included dysfunctional family, [[cancer]], [[privacy]], and [[abortion]]. ''In Utero''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s abrasive sound was, according to bassist [[Krist Novoselic]], intended as a figurative "[[Litmus test (chemistry)|litmus test]]" for Nirvana's audience following the band's mainstream success.<ref>Gaar, Gillian G. ''In Utero 33⅓'', Continuum , 2006. ISBN 0-8264-1776-0. p. 3</ref>
{{SouthAm-stadium-stub}}
 
[[Category:Football venues in Venezuela|Olímpico Luis Ramos]]
"[[Heart-Shaped Box]]" was the first single released from the album, followed by "[[All Apologies]]/[[Rape Me]]", which was released as a double [[A-side]] single due to the explicit nature of the latter song. Both singles topped the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Modern Rock Tracks]] chart. "[[Pennyroyal Tea]]" was intended to be released as the third single, but was cancelled after the death of the band's frontman, [[Kurt Cobain]].
[[Category:Planned or proposed stadiums|Olimpico Luis Ramos]]
 
[[es:Estadio José Antonio Anzoátegui]]
While ''In Utero'' did not sell as well as ''Nevermind'', it was still a commercial and critical success. The album was [[Music recording sales certification|certified]] platinum by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] by the end of 1993; it was most recently certified 5x platinum, and now ranks in the top 100 bestselling albums in the US. The album also topped ''[[Rolling Stone]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s year-end poll.
[[no:Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos]]
 
==Recording==
Booking in under the [[moniker]] "The [[Simon Ritchie]] [[Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] [[musical ensemble|Ensemble]]", Nirvana entered [[Pachyderm Studios]] in early 1993 to record their much-anticipated follow-up to ''Nevermind''.
 
Long before the band had even approached Albini about the recording, rumors had been circulating that he was slated to produce the next Nirvana album; such was the media feeding the frenzy regarding the most successful band of the '90s and how they proposed to follow up an album which had shifted multi-millions of units. Albini eventually sent a disclaimer to the British music press refuting the allegations, only to get the call from Nirvana's management a few days later.
 
Though the band sensed Geffen were unhappy with their choice of producer, they had sufficient clout to record with whomever they wanted. The attraction of Albini, as a reaction to Nevermind, was that he would simply record them as they sounded. "I've always respected him as a producer, mainly, probably solely, because of [[The Pixies]] record and [[The Breeders]] record," Cobain explained. "That sound is as close to the sound that I hear in my head that I've ever found, so I just had to do it." Albini himself famously disavows the notion that he 'produces' records at all - he gets sounds rather than arrangements.
 
Albini did not meet the band until the first day of recording, though he had spoken to Cobain beforehand about the type of album he wanted to make. Albini claims that Cobain requested, "...a more atmospheric sound and slightly more ominous tone at times". Prior to embarking on the sessions, Albini was sent a tape of demos the band had cut in [[Brazil]] in January 1993.
 
Albini inserted a clause in the contract specifying that if anything were to be altered subsequently, he would prefer to do it himself; believing it impossible for someone to remix songs they themselves did not record.
 
The only others present for the duration of the session were Robert S Weston IV (studio maintenance technician), Carter Nicole Launt (chef) and her dog, Z. The band had insisted that no-one from Geffen or Gold Mountain visit at any point.
 
Although it was ostensibly a low-budget project, Albini revealed Nirvana were not above typical indulged rock star behavior. The band didn't actually show up with their equipment and instead had it shipped, then wasted the better part of three days waiting for it to arrive. Albini said the band wanted someone to [[Fed Ex]] a [[boombox]] to them instead of just going out and buying one; when Kurt began having trouble tuning his guitar, they wanted to fly in their guitar tech Earnie Bailey. "When you've got millions of dollars, maybe you go a little crazy and start doing stuff like that," Albini quipped. The band also played some practical jokes during the sessions: they engaged in prank phone calls (to [[Evan Dando]], [[Gene Simmons]] from [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] and [[Eddie Vedder]], amongst others), and indulged in some indoor pyrotechnics.
 
Work began in earnest on [[February 14]], [[1993]]. The set up was the same for each song, except for the faster more abrasive ones (for example "[[Tourette's (song)|Tourette's]]" and "[[Very Ape]]") where the drumming was recorded in a kitchenette adjacent to the main recording space, which was found to have its own natural reverb.
 
According to Cobain, there were 30 microphones on the drums alone. Similarly, microphones were placed everywhere in the studio. "We had big old German microphones taped to the floor and the ceiling and the walls, all over the place," Cobain raved. "I've been trying to get producers to do this ever since we've been recording. I don't know anything about recording, but it just seems so obvious to me that is what you need to do. I tried to get Butch Vig to do it, I tried to get Jack Endino to do it, and everyone's response was, 'That isn't how you record'. Steve Albini proved to me on these songs, although I don't know exactly how he did it; I just knew that it had to be that way. He had to have used a bunch of microphones. It's as simple as that. Which is why live recordings of punk shows sound so good. You really get a feel of what was going on."
 
Albini commented on proceedings: "Nirvana had been practicing these songs pretty intently and they're just intuitive really good musicians who knew each other quite well, so the basic recording was almost effortless. All the songs were recorded with a live band take and then Kurt had a little notebook that had ideas that he wanted to try. On a couple of songs he used this broken guitar amplifier that had a really brutal sound and he was talking about how he had to keep it away from the technicians that they toured with because he was afraid that they were going fix it and then the sound go away."
 
Cobain is believed to have employed his [[Sunburst]] [[Univox]] Custom on most of the guitar parts. On one song he played a rare all-aluminium guitar called a Veleno, which Albini had brought along specifically. According to Albini the "strained, distorted guitar sounds" came from the use of a [[Fender Musical Instruments Corporation|Fender]] Quad Reverb amp, with three of its four power tubes broken or missing.
 
Everything was recorded on a vintage 24-track analog board (Neve console). For the most part there was no studio trickery conjured up during recording; the only "special effect" Albini could recall was on "[[Milk It]]", "The vocal had to sound more crazy than it had up to that point, so I had to find a way to make the vocal leap forward at the end."
 
Albini recalls: "[The band] knew the[ir] material, they'd figured out all the little details ... They were as prepared as any band I've ever worked with."
 
Novoselic concurs: "We had focused intensely on rehearsing ... We had the songs down tight. So we showed up in Cannon Falls, set up our gear and started playing. We tracked almost all the songs in the first two days. Some of the songs, I think over half the songs, we did first take ... The record was recorded real[ly] fast."
 
Cobain later claimed in ''Ooz'' magazine that lyrics finished for only half the songs and the rest came from messing around in the studio. Yet in the biography, ''Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana'', he claimed he again finished writing most of the lyrics within days of recording the vocals, culling most of them from notebooks full of poetry. This assertion (that Cobain wrote a considerable portion of ''In Utero'' lyrics in the studio), is readily refuted. All album tracks except "[[Serve the Servants]]", "[[Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle]]" and "[[Very Ape]]" had been played live prior to recording the album, in most cases with identical lyrics, and minor additions or changes to "[[Rape Me]]" and "[[All Apologies]]". Nirvana has also practised many of the songs whilst in the studio in Brazil in January 1993. Cobain told Azerrad that "[[Dumb (song)|Dumb]]" was written in summer 1990, just before Nirvana signed to Geffen and debuted on the 09/25/90 KAOS FM radio appearance. "[[Pennyroyal Tea]]" was written in the apartment Cobain and Grohl shared on Pear Street, winter 1990: "Dave and I were screwing around on a four-track and I wrote that song in about thirty seconds. And I sat down for like half an hour and wrote the lyrics and then we recorded it."
 
An average day would begin at 10 o'clock with breakfast. Recording would then begin at noon and would continue until the evening. Lunch would be delivered to the studio at mid-afternoon, with dinner around a big table in the evening. Launt recalls that Novoselic was a [[vegan]], Grohl an all-American eater and Cobain had an erratic eating schedule, particularly liking frozen pizza. Then perhaps some TV and back into the studio until about 12, maybe to 1am. The group did not diverge from this daily routine except for a few visits to the local mall and a weekend trip to [[Minneapolis]] to see The Cows.
 
Albini and Weston estimate that it took 4 or maybe 5 days to record the basic tracks, a couple of days for overdubbing and a final few days mixing. They finished slightly ahead of the 2-week deadline. This is more or less consistent with other sources for this information: Gaar commented that the band booked the studio for 14 days, but according to Albini only used 12. In the Radio One documentary ''Entertain Us: The Story of Nirvana'', we are told that: "The album took six days to record, and was recorded live (meaning bass, drums and guitar were recorded simultaneously). The band kept virtually everything they laid down. It took Steve Albini a week to mix the tracks."
 
[[Michael Azerrad]] gives few temporal details, aside from mentioning that the album was mixed in under a week, but notes that Cobain added another guitar track to about half the songs, then added guitar solos, and finally vocals.
 
A little over a week into recording, [[Courtney Love]] flew in with baby [[Frances Bean]]. Love's presence wasn't exactly welcomed. Albini said she tried to butt in on the proceedings, but wouldn't be drawn on the details. "I don't feel like embarrassing Kurt by talking about what a psycho hose-beast his wife is," he said, "especially because he knows it already." "It did affect things, definitely," Carter Nicole Launt elaborated. "I think it was stressful for Kurt. I think she put a lot of pressure on him and wasn't always as approving of the way the songs were. She was very critical of his work, and actually was kind of confrontational with people there. Yeah, it definitely was stressful. I just think it made people uncomfortable, to bring a lot of their personal things into the public arena. Because we were strangers, basically, to them. It made him uncomfortable."
 
On playback, however, everyone was very happy with the results. Albini remembers the scene after the tracks had been recorded: "When we played it back in the studio everyone was just giddy. I remember thinking that we had really pulled something off, like we had really made a record that was as they had imagined it in the beginning. It had a very big ominous sound, but it wasn't uncultured. It was entirely ugly but it had an ugliness built into it that I thought suited the songs really well. Everyone was ecstatic when we were listening back to it on playback." Cobain was thrilled, and admitted, "It was the easiest recording we've ever done, hands down."
 
In total, at least eighteen songs were recorded during the sessions, many of which had different titles. According to his ''[[Journals (Cobain)|Journals]]'', Cobain had originally planned to include the songs "[[Sappy]]" and "[[I Hate Myself and Want to Die]]" on the album. Gaar enquired of Albini whether there were any further outtakes, besides the B-sides already known, to which he responded: "I'm sure some of that stuff exists as master tapes, but I really don't know. It's normal for some stuff to be generated that doesn't get followed up on." Following the release of ''With The Lights Out'' in 2004, at least two more outtakes, entitled "Dave Solo" and "Lullaby", are known to exist. Of those recorded, twelve were released on ''In Utero'' and three ("[[Moist Vagina]]", "[[Marigold]]" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die") as single B-sides:
 
 
#"Serve the Servants"
#"Scentless Apprentice" (entitled "Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck")
#"Heart-Shaped Box" (entitled "Heart-Shaped Coffin")
#"Rape Me"
#"Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle"
#"Dumb"
#"Very Ape" (entitled "Perky New Wave")
#"Milk It"
#"Pennyroyal Tea"
#"Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (entitled "Four Month Media Blackout")
#"Tourette's" (entitled "The Eagle Has Landed" and "Eustacian Tube Turrets")
#"All Apologies" (entitled "La La La (Alternateen Anthem)")
#"Moist Vagina"
#"Sappy"
#"I Hate Myself and I Want to Die"
#"Marigold" (Grohl on vocals, guitar and drums, Novoselic on bass)
#"Dave Solo" (Grohl on all instruments)
#"Lullaby" (Grohl on all instruments)
 
 
The total recording costs for In Utero were $24,000, and on top of that, Albini took a flat fee of $100,000 up front instead of points on record sales which Gold Mountain offered (and which would have netted him much more), since Albini considers this system to be immoral.
 
After Albini mixed the album, unmastered tapes were sent off to Geffen president (Ed Rosenblatt), A&R executive Gary Gersh, their lawyer and the inner circle of Nirvana's management company, Gold Mountain.
 
Cobain recounted Gersh's reaction in an interview for [[Melody Maker]]: "My [[A&R]] man called me up one night and said 'I don't like the record, it sounds like crap, there's way too much effect on the drums, you can't hear the vocals.' He didn't think the song-writing was up to par. And having your A&R man say that is kind of like having your father or stepfather telling you to take out the trash. I was kind of hurt by it on a personal level, because I wanted him to like it, and it was surprising to hear so many negative things about it. And he wasn't alone in his opinion. A few other people - our management, our lawyers - didn't like the record either."
 
Albini then received a call from a journalist, [[Greg Kot]], in Chicago, who claimed that "several people in the Geffen hierarchy, including high-placed people", (i.e. not obstreperous publicists), had informed him that the album was awful and unreleasable and it was his [Albini's] fault. Albini suspected that Gersh had tipped off the journalist, perhaps to try to exert pressure on Cobain to remix the album.
 
Greg Kot then published his article in the [[Chicago Tribune]] entitled ''Record Label Finds Little Bliss in Nirvana's Latest'', the theme of which was then echoed in other magazines.
 
Assumedly as a response to this media furore, and presumably under intense pressure from Geffen, Cobain called Albini suggesting that some of the songs perhaps ought to be remixed. Albini called Cobain back to say he did not think he could do any better than what he had already done. Novoselic then called Albini, mentioning that he also didn't think the recording sounded as good as it had done in Minnesota. Albini reiterated that he felt that they had got the best they could from the Pachyderm masters. Indeed, Albini was reluctant even to hand over the master tapes, citing that it had been agreed that the recording would be unalterable without his intervention (even though a contract was never signed).
 
Certainly, there is evidence that Cobain had himself changed his mind, and was not just following orders from above. "The first time I played it at home, I knew there was something wrong," he told the Melody Maker. "I wasn't interested in listening to it at all, and that usually doesn’t happen. I got no emotion from it, I was just numb. So for three weeks Chris and Dave and I listened to the record every night, trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and we talked about it and decided the vocals weren't loud enough, the bass was inaudible and you couldn't hear the lyrics. That was about it. We knew we couldn't possibly re-record because we knew we'd achieved the sound we wanted - the basic sound was typical Steve Albini, which was the sound we wanted really bad. So we decided to remix two of our favourite tracks, just as a litmus test, and we left it at that because to remix any more would've destroyed the ambience of the whole thing."
 
The band became determined to remix the singles "[[All Apologies]]" and "[[Heart-Shaped Box]]". Albini agreed to let someone else tinker with them, given that he didn't think he could improve on them.
 
Novoselic elucidates why he felt this was necessary: "But you know why we had to remix 'Heart-Shaped Box'? You should hear the original version of that song, the guitar solo had this effect on it, it just sabotages the whole song. Steve and Kurt were colluding! I would go to Kurt, "Why are you this beautiful song by putting this hideous abortion in the centre of it?". He'd be like, "Well I think it sounds cool". I don't even remember what their arguments were, some statement against commercial radio or something, the popular mainstream aesthetic ... I dunno! I guess I finally got my way. Scott Litt was an opportunity to change things."
 
Nirvana did remix "All Apologies" and "Heart-Shaped Box" (recording another acoustic guitar part and backing vocals for "Heart-Shaped Box") at [[Seattle]]'s Bad Animals studio in early May. "Pennyroyal Tea" was also remixed, but this remix was only released on Wal-Mart/K-Mart versions of the album and on the "Pennyroyal Tea" single.
 
[[Newsweek]] then ran a story, following on from Greg Kot's, about how the record label were forcing Nirvana to remix the songs. Geffen released a statement, quoting Kurt: "There has been no pressure from our record label to change the songs we did with Albini. We have 100% control of our music. The band felt that the vocals were not loud enough on a few of the tracks. We want to change that." Nirvana retaliated against Newsweek saying that they had gone on "totally erroneous information". This letter was reprinted in Billboard as a full-page advertisement. A Geffen press-release also saw the President, Ed Rosenblatt, stress that they would release whatever the band brought them.
 
The veracity of the above paragraph is difficult to assess: it may well be the case that the band realised that their anti-commercial stance was untenable. Love, presumably, would have been influencing Cobain to remix in a more radio-friendly direction. The pressure from Geffen (via Gersh) must also have been a decisive factor.
 
In Utero was then mastered at Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in [[Portland, Maine]]. According to Azerrad, apart from the minor modifications to "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" (with Scott Litt), the rest of album was left as it was recorded, and all that was done at the final mastering stage was to sharpen up the bass and boost the vocals by 3 decibels.
 
However, according to Albini, a lot of mastering processing was done, taking days instead of the usual few hours. He opined: "The mastering session that was done took several days, at a studio where the mastering engineer is famous for being very manipulative of the material. A normal album mastering session is a couple of hours. So obviously they thought they should butcher it in some way to try to satisfy these people and to try to satisfy their own expectations. The dynamic range was narrowed, the stereo width was narrowed, there was a lot of mid-range boost EQ added, and the overall sound quality was softened. And the bass response was compromised to make it sound more consistent on radio and home speaker. But the way I would describe it in non-technical terms is that they fucked it up. The end result, the record in the stores doesn't sound all that much like the record that was [recorded by me]."
 
Weston was similarly negative: "[The band wanted to] change the overall sound of the album. The stereo doesn't sound as wide. The guitar has been flattened out a bit. On the original mixes the guitar would just leap out". He felt that they had done a lot in the mastering. Albini felt the same, and was disappointed with the end result.
 
Novoselic, however, thinks differently: "It's a beautiful record. I'm really proud of it".
 
==Release==
In Utero entered the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' charts at number one.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=5316&model.vnuAlbumId=810092 | title=Nirvana Artist Chart History| publisher=Billboard.com| accessdate=2007-06-17}}</ref>
 
==Music==
{{Sound sample box align right|Music samples:}}
{{Listen|filename=Dumb.ogg|title="Dumb"|description="Dumb" is the sixth track from ''In Utero'' and, despite never being released as a single, found moderate radio airplay. This sample contains the second verse and the chorus.|format=[[Ogg]]}}{{sample box end}}
Sonically, ''In Utero'' falls between ''[[Bleach (album)|Bleach]]'' and ''Nevermind''; it is absent of the sludgy songwriting of the former, but is more abrasive than the latter.
 
===Lyrical content===
''In Utero'' was the first Nirvana album that included lyrics in its [[liner notes]], partly because Cobain wanted to be taken more seriously as a songwriter, and partly because Cobain's singing style often made it difficult to understand his lyrics.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 82</ref>
 
Though Cobain himself stated that "for the most part [''In Utero'']'s very impersonal,"<ref>Savage, Jon. "Sounds Dirty: The Truth About Nirvana". ''The Observer'', August 15, 1993.</ref> much of the album is related to his personal life. "[[Serve the Servants]]" references Cobain's personal experiences, both recent and past. The opening line "Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I'm bored and old" references Nirvana's unexpected success and acclaim. The song also references the treatment of [[Courtney Love]] in the press through a metaphor about [[witch-hunt]]s ("If she floats then she is not a witch"), and belittles the impact of his parents' divorce ("That legendary divorce is such a bore"). However, most of the song is about Cobain's father; in a rough draft of the album's liner notes, he wrote that "I guess this song is for my father, who is incapable of communicating at the level of affection in which I have always expected."<ref>Cobain, Kurt. ''Journals'', Riverhead Hardcover, 2002. ISBN 978-1573222327. p. 225-226</ref>
 
Similarly, "[[Rape Me]]" contains a reference to a ''Vanity Fair'' article about Courtney Love, that accused her of taking heroin while [[Pregnancy|pregnant]] and included an anonymous quote from a close friend of the band.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://homepage.mac.com/kia/magick/courtney.html| title="Strange Love"| author=Hirschberg, Lynn| publisher=''Vanity Fair''| date=September 1992| accessdate=2007-06-16}}</ref> The article was so hurtful to Cobain that he contemplated a double suicide with Love the day after their child, [[Frances Bean Cobain]], was born.<ref>Cross, 2001. p. 247</ref> The line "my favorite inside source" from the [[Bridge (music)|bridge]] of "Rape Me" reflects Cobain's feelings of betrayal at the anonymous source in the article. The title "Rape Me" thus alludes to the idea that Cobain, Love, Nirvana and its music had been metaphorically "raped" by the media.
 
Other songs contain thinly-veiled attacks on the media. "[[Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle]]" was inspired by actress [[Frances Farmer]], who Cobain was fascinated with, particularly the fictionalized account of her life presented in the novel ''[[Shadowland (Arnold novel)|Shadowland]]''.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 50-51</ref> Although inspired by an outside influence, Cobain draws a parallel to his own life, and compares the unfair treatment of Farmer to the treatment he received in the press. The song "[[Radio Friendly Unit Shifter]]" is an attack on the [[music industry]]. In the music industry, the term "radio friendly" refers to a song which radio stations consider "airable", while the term "unit shifter" refers to a song that can sell an album. Ironically (and intentionally) the song is among the most abrasive on the album.
 
Although Cobain had flirted with medical themes in the past, it had never been to the extent as on ''In Utero''. In addition to the medical-themed artwork, many of the songs contain mentions of or references to [[semen]], [[hymen]]s, [[open sore]]s, [[parasite]]s and [[abortion]]. "[[Milk It]]" and "[[Pennyroyal Tea]]" are perhaps the most medical-oriented songs on the album. Through medical [[wordplay]], the lyrics of "Milk It" also reference another underlying theme on ''In Utero'', which is [[co-dependency]]; for example the lines "We feed off of each other/We can share our [[endorphin]]s".
 
"[[Heart-Shaped Box]]" is a song which references many related themes, including all of those mentioned previously. The song concerns Cobain's relationship with Courtney Love, while at the same time could be interpreted as his relationship with [[heroin]]. For example Cobain sings in the opening verse "She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak/I've been locked inside your Heart-Shaped box for weeks" and "I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap", likening it to dependency. The lyrics also compare [[vagina]]s to [[orchid]]s, where Cobain sings of "meat-eating orchids" in the second verse.
 
The song "Scentless Apprentice" was written about ''[[Perfume (novel)|Perfume: The Story of a Murderer]]'', a [[historical novel|historical]] [[horror fiction|horror]] novel about a [[perfumer]]'s [[apprentice]] born with no [[body odor]] of his own but with a highly developed [[Olfaction|sense of smell]], and who attempts to create the "ultimate perfume" for himself by killing [[virgin]] women and taking their scent.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 43</ref>
 
==Imagery==
[[Image:In Utero CD.JPG|thumb|Michael "Cali" Dewitt, one of [[Frances Bean Cobain]]'s nannies, is pictured [[crossdressing]] on the ''In Utero'' CD.]]
The art director for ''In Utero'' was [[Robert Fisher]], who had designed all of Nirvana's releases on DGC Records. Most of the ideas for the artwork for the album and related singles came from Cobain. Fisher recalled that "[Cobain] would just give me some loose odds and ends and say 'Do something with it.'"<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 79</ref>
 
The cover of the album is an image of a [[Transparent Anatomical Mannikin]], with [[angel]] wings added in later. Cobain originally brought in a [[postcard]] of a TAM intended for the cover of "[[Lithium (Nirvana song)|Lithium]]" or another single from ''Nevermind'', though the idea was scrapped at the time. Initially there was difficulty acquiring rights to the image and an alternative illustration was suggested, though permission was eventually obtained. Images inside the booklet are mostly of the band performing live, but also include a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Political campaign|campaign]] office that was destroyed by fire, an illustration by [[Alex Grey]] of a skinless pregnant women, and a small audio diagram.
 
Cobain created the [[collage]] on the back cover, referred to as "Sex and woman and ''In Utero'' and vaginas and birth and death", which includes [[fetus]]es and body parts lying in a bed of [[Orchidaceae|orchids]] and [[Lilium|lilies]]. The collage had been set up on the floor of Cobain's living room and was photographed by [[Charles Peterson]] after an unexpected call from Cobain. According to Peterson, "one Sunday afternoon, Kurt calls me up, and is like 'Hey, I want you to take that picture now.' [...] I rummaged for whatever film I had in the fridge, and went over."<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 83</ref> The album's track listing and re-illustrated symbols from Barbara Walter's ''The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects'' were then positioned around the edge of the collage.
 
The photograph of the heart-shaped box on the "Heart-Shaped Box" single was taken by Cobain and given to Fisher with the request that he "make something pretty."<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 85</ref> Though Cobain would be less involved with the creation of the cover for "All Apologies/Rape Me", he had told Fisher to use [[seahorse]]s giving birth; seahorses would also be on a promotional t-shirt and pin sold on several of Nirvana's tours. Cobain had no input for the artwork accompanying "Pennyroyal Tea".
 
===Album title===
The original title for ''In Utero'' was to be ''I Hate Myself And Want to Die'', sharing its title with a [[I Hate Myself And Want To Die|song]] that was planned for the album. The phrase had originated in mid-1992 from one of Cobain's journal entries, and, although intended as [[gallows humor]], Cobain often mentioned the phrase in his journals in legitimate self-hatred. The tentative album title would be changed after Novoselic convinced Cobain that ''I Hate Myself And Want to Die'' could potentially result in a [[lawsuit]]. The band considered the title ''Verse Chorus Verse'', a title shared with "[[Verse Chorus Verse]]" and an earlier working title of "[[Sappy]]". The final title was taken from one of [[Courtney Love]]'s poems,<ref>Cross, 2001. p. 277-278</ref> and is a [[Latin]] term meaning, literally, "in the [[uterus]]".
 
==Track listing==
 
All songs by Kurt Cobain unless otherwise noted.
#"[[Serve the Servants]]" – 3:34
#"[[Scentless Apprentice]]" (Cobain/Grohl/Novoselic) – 3:47
#"[[Heart-Shaped Box]]" – 4:39
#"[[Rape Me]]" – 2:49
#"[[Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle]]" – 4:07
#"[[Dumb (song)|Dumb]]" – 2:29
#"[[Very Ape]]" – 1:55
#"[[Milk It]]" – 3:52
#"[[Pennyroyal Tea]]" – 3:36
#"[[Radio Friendly Unit Shifter]]" – 4:49
#"[[Tourette's (song)|tourette's]]" – 1:33
#"[[All Apologies]]" – 3:50
 
*"[[Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip]]" (Cobain/Grohl/Novoselic) – 7:33 ''(This "devalued American dollar purchase incentive track" is available on European and [[Australia]]n copies of ''In Utero'', as well as various other non-U.S. pressings. It is a jam recorded in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] in January 1993, and does not get a separate track position on the disc, starting about 20 minutes after the end of "All Apologies").''
 
==Chart positions==
===Album===
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Chart
! Position
|-
| 1993
| [[Billboard 200|Billboard Top 200]]
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| [[UK Albums Chart|Official UK Albums Chart]]
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| Official Sweden Albums Chart
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| [[ARIA Charts|Official Australian Albums Chart]]
| No. 2
|-
| 1993
| [[Recording Industry Association of New Zealand|Official New Zealand Albums Chart]]
| No. 3
|-
| 1993
| Official Portugal Album Charts
| No. 4
|-
| 1993
| Official Finland Albums Chart
| No. 5
|-
| 1993
| Official Norwegian Albums Chart
| No. 7
|-
| 1993
| Official Austrian Albums Chart
| No. 8
|-
| 1993
| Official Holland Albums Chart
| No. 10
|-
| 1993
| Official Spanish Albums Chart
| No. 13
|-
| 1993
| Official Japanese Albums Chart
| No. 13
|-
| 1993
| Official German Albums Chart
| No. 14
|-
| 1993
| Official Switzerland Albums Chart
| No. 16
|-
| 1993
| Official Hungarian Albums Chart
| No. 40
|}
 
===Singles===
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Single
! Chart
! Position
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[UK Singles Chart|Official UK Singles Chart]]
| No. 5
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| [[UK Singles Chart|Official UK Singles Chart]]
| No. 32
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Irish Singles Chart|Official Irish Singles Chart]]
| No. 6
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| [[Irish Singles Chart|Official Irish Singles Chart]]
| No. 20
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Recording Industry Association of New Zealand|Official New Zealand Singles Chart]]
| No. 9
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| [[Recording Industry Association of New Zealand|Official New Zealand Singles Chart]]
| No. 20
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[ARIA Charts|Official Australian Singles Chart]]
| No. 17
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| [[ARIA Charts|Official Australian Singles Chart]]
| No. 58
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Official French Singles Chart
| No. 37
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| Official French Singles Chart
| No. 20
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Official Finland Singles Chart
| No. 14
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Official Sweden Singles Chart
| No. 16
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Official Belgium Singles Chart
| No. 31
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Official Holland Singles Chart
| No. 32
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Modern Rock Tracks]] (U.S.)
| No. 1
|-
| 1994
| "All Apologies"
| [[Modern Rock Tracks]] (U.S.)
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| Heart-Shaped Box
| [[Mainstream Rock Tracks]] (U.S.)
| No. 4
|-
| 1994
| "All Apologies"
| [[Mainstream Rock Tracks]] (U.S.)
| No. 4
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Hawaiian Island Charts]]
| No. 3
|-
| 1993
| "Rape Me"
| [[Hawaiian Island Charts]]
| No. 3
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies"
| [[Hawaiian Island Charts]]
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[ARIA Charts|Australian Alternative Music Chart]]
| No. 1
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Triple J|Triple J Hottest 100]]
| No. 20
|-
| 1994
| "All Apologies/Rape Me"
| Hot 100 Brasil
| No. 94
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| French Airplay Charts
| No. 52
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies"
| French Airplay Charts
| No. 21
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| [[Polskie Radio#Airplay Charts|Polish Airplay Charts]]
| No. 13
|-
| 1993
| "All Apologies"
| [[Polskie Radio#Airplay Charts|Polish Airplay Charts]]
| No. 2
|-
| 1993
| "Heart-Shaped Box"
| Slovakian Airplay Charts
| No. 4
|-
| 1994
| "Rape Me"
| Slovakian Airplay Charts
| No. 16
|-
| 1994
| "All Apologies"
| [[Latvian Airplay Charts]]
| No. 3
|-
| 1994
| "Rape Me"
| [[Latvian Airplay Charts]]
| No. 12
|-
| 1994
| "Pennyroyal Tea"
| [[Latvian Airplay Charts]]
| No. 20
|}
 
==Accolades==
 
Information taken from AcclaimedMusic.net.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/061024/A873.htm| title=In Utero| publisher=AcclaimedMusic.net| accessdate=2007-06-12}}</ref>
 
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Publication
!Country
!Accolade
!Year
!align="center"|Rank
|-
|''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''
|[[United States]]
|Best Albums of 1993
|1993
|#3
|-
|''Rolling Stone''
|US
|Album of the Year - Critics Pick
|1993
|#1
|-
|''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
|US
|Top Albums of the Year
|1993
|#5
|-
|''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
|[[United Kingdom]]
|Top 100 albums of 1993
|1993
|#13
|-
|''[[Kerrang!]]''
|UK
|100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - Editors Choice
|1998
|#1
|-
|''Kerrang!''
|UK
|100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - Readers Choice
|1998
|#2
|-
|''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
|UK
|Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime
|1999
|#20
|-
|''Spin''
|UK
|50 Most Essential Punk Records
|1999
|#13
|-
|''Spin''
|UK
|90 Greatest Albums of the 90s
|1999
|#18
|-
|''[[Magnet (magazine)|Magnet]]''
|US
|Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003
|2003
|#2
|-
|''Rolling Stone''
|US
|[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]
|2003
|#439
|-
|[[Pitchfork Media]]
|US
|Top 100 Albums of the 1990s<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36737-staff-list-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/page_9| title=Pitchfork Feature: Top 100 Albums of the 1990s: 013: ''In Utero''| author=Tangari, Joe| publisher=PitchforkMedia.com| accessdate=2007-06-06}}</ref>
|2003
|#13
|-
|''Spin''
|UK
|100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/covers/2005/06/0507_cover_greatest_albums/| title=SPIN.com: 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005| publisher=''Spin''| date=2005-06-20|accessdate=2007-06-23}}</ref>
|2005
|#51
|-
|''Q''
|UK
|Best 100 Albums Ever
|2006
|#22
|}
 
==Credits==
Information from [[All Music Guide]].<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:anfixqrgld6e~T2
| title=In Utero: Credits at All Music Guide
| publisher = allmusic.com
| accessdate = 2007-06-06}}</ref>
 
*[[Kurt Cobain]] – [[bass guitar|bass]], [[guitar]], [[vocals]], art direction, design, [[photography]]
*[[Krist Novoselic]] – bass
*[[Dave Grohl]] – [[drums]]
*Kera Schaley – cello
*[[Steve Albini]] – engineer
*Adam Kasper – assistant engineer
*[[Bob Weston]] – technician
*Scott Litt – [[Sound mixing|mixing]]
*[[Bob Ludwig]] – [[audio mastering]]
*Robert Fisher – art direction, design, photography
*Karen Mason – photography
*Charles Peterson – photography
*Michael Lavine – photography
*Neil Wallace – photography
*[[Alex Grey]] – illustrations
 
==Pressings and re-releases==
[[Image:NevermindInUtero3.jpg|thumb|Re-released: Nevermind & In Utero collectors boxset 1999.]]
 
*The first [[vinyl record|vinyl]] pressing of ''In Utero'' came on clear vinyl. There were 15,000 of these records pressed.
*''In Utero'' was reissued by [[United Kingdom|British]] label [[Simply Vinyl]], and as a gold [[compact disc|CD]] by [[Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab]].
*In 1999 In Utero was re-released in a collectors boxset along with the 1991 album ''Nevermind''.
*In 2003 what is believed to be the original Albini mix of In Utero was issued as a vinyl-only release by [[Universal Records]] in the UK. This is believed to be the result of a mistake at the factory when the wrong master tapes were used to have the album recut. The discs were manufactured in [[Germany]]. They can be indentified by the numbers A33 9124 536 S1 320 pressed into the [[deadwax]], or the catalog numbers 424 536-1 on the disc.
*In 2004 the In Utero album was re-released in Europe in a collectors boxset with the 1992 album ''Incesticide''.
 
==References==
*Azerrad, Michael. ''Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana'', Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-86369-746-1.
*Cross, Charles. ''Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain'', Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9.
*Gaar, Gillian G. ''In Utero 33⅓'', Continuum, 2006. ISBN 0-8264-1776-0.
 
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
 
==External links==
*[http://www.livenirvana.com/official/inutero.html Live Nirvana Companion to Official Releases - In Utero]
*[http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/january-1993.php Live Nirvana Sessions Guide - January 1993]
*[http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/feb-march-1993.php Live Nirvana Sessions Guide - February 1993]
*[http://www.nirvanafreak.net/faq/faq27.shtml The ''In Utero'' Symbols Guide]
 
{{Nirvana (band)}}
 
[[Category:Nirvana albums]]
[[Category:1993 albums]]
[[Category:Albums in the 33⅓ Series]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Steve Albini]]
[[Category:Grunge albums]]
 
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