Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor

nuc5002@psu.edu

[TW: discussions of sexual violence]

It is interesting to culturally see where Nirvana is in 2023. No matter what store you go into, you can likely find a band tee blazoned with Nirvana’s name. Either with one of the band’s album covers, a picture of the trio, or an “edgy” smiley face that legitimately has no real connection to the band whatsoever. With no new music, Nirvana has become a brand milked for nostalgic profit. 

I find this to be very interesting. As I see people walk around campus wearing various Nirvana shirts, I wonder if they at all understand the sociopolitics that the band held during the early 90s. While the band was signed to a major label, Kurt Cobain and the rest of Nirvana were very much anti-establishment. This stance is quite obvious looking at “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” With overbearing and wailing guitars set upon Cobain’s graveled and obtuse lyrics, the song was primed to explode the current musical ideals and bring in the grunge era. 

As Nirvana’s “Nevermind” made massive cultural waves in 1991 and music became more “real,” the grunge genre was infected by cash-grabbing capitalistic businessmen. They searched for any bands that remotely sounded like the Seattle trio and propped them up with promises of fame and only to let them fall when they did not automatically bring in money. 

By 1993, Nirvana was being pushed once again to release another album. Likely to give themselves a challenge, the new record was recorded in just 14 days. This record was “In Utero” and was released on September 21. 

Consisting of twelve tracks, the album is considerably more lo-fi when compared to the cleaner “Nevermind,” likely due to the short recording time. This choice gives the record a feel closer to the band’s debut “Bleach” with Kurt’s screams sounding like a tearing of vocal cords. 

While I could talk endlessly about how I find this record to be a massive improvement over “Nevermind,” I would rather focus on “In Utero’s” fourth track today. Titled “Rape Me or “Waif Me” depending on which issue you own, the song is a lyrical loop. The song concerns poetic justice: a guy rapes a girl; he ends up in jail and is in turn raped there. I feel though, there is an additional level to this song. Mainly, this is Kurt’s call for help to escape the rising capitalistic music industry. 

While written before his passing, thinking of this song’s lyrical content in context with Kurt’s death brings a different light. The calls of “rape me” are set behind guitar riffs similar to “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a song tainted and malformed by popular culture. In essence, the crime discussed is not inherently sexual, it is financial. These suits are robbing and raiding all money they can from Kurt. Even before his death, the Nirvana brand was constantly being milked to appeal to the youth. Since Kurt’s 1994 suicide, there have been countless deluxe editions, compilations, collections, documentaries, and everything else that can be made with the Nirvana logo slapped onto it. What Nirvana stood for is meaningless in the capitalistic music industry. All they want is cash.

Kurt is not just talking about himself in this song. The refrain of “I’m not the only one” signals that this is just a perpetuated cycle. Artists are picked up, chewed, and spit out when they are not making the money they should for the brand. Music executives do not care what you stand for, they just care that you make them a profit. 

Before I end, I want to touch on Nirvana’s “MTV Unplugged” performance. During one of the most well-known live albums to date, a fan asks for the band to play “Rape Me” during a section of requests. Partially taken aback, Kurt says “I don’t think MTV would let us play that.” While this just might be a funny comment, it points to the silencing of artists. With Nirvana making a statement on the problems with the music industry, why would a massive conglomerate like MTV want a band to spread that message to their audience? 

Nonetheless, with Kurt’s passing and Nirvana’s messaging muddled to the point of nonexistence, the brand will live on as a t-shirt that a majority of the public does not understand.