On September 24th, 1991, Nirvana released their second studio album, Nevermind. Here are 50 things you might not know about the legendary record to commemorate its anniversary:
1. The album was tentatively titled Sheep, a joke about the people singer Kurt Cobain intended to buy the record. Kurt composed a fictitious record label advertisement, Sheep, in his journal. “Because you wish to not; because everyone else is,” it stated.
2. Despite the fact that the name was grammatically erroneous and a metaphor for his outlook on life, Kurt chose to rename the record Nevermind instead.
3. After viewing a program about water births, Cobain had the inspiration for the cover painting for Nevermind. Art Director Robert Fisher looked for footage of water births, but it was too graphic to use on the cover. He also discovered pictures of children playing in a swimming pool, but the licensing business wanted $7,500 a year to use them, so he hired a photographer to take fresh pictures. Spencer Elden, a son of one of that photographer’s friends, was the naked youngster on the cover.
4. The infant boy’s penis was to be censored by Nirvana’s label, but Kurt would only permit a sticker that read, “If you’re bothered by this, you must be a closet pedophile,” to cover the penis.
5. Kurt made the collage seen on the album’s back, behind the monkey, using images of raw beef from a grocery advertisement, Dante’s Inferno, and sick vaginas from a collection of his own medical images.
6. Kurt once claimed that if you examine the back cover closely, you can make out an image of Kiss standing atop a piece of steak.
7. The band included unused lyrical fragments that Kurt made into a poem along with a random selection of song lyrics in the liner notes instead of including all of the song lyrics.
8. Kurt was influenced by bands like The Melvins, R.E.M., The Smithereens, and the Pixies when he began writing the music for Nevermind.
9. Nirvana selected Butch Vig as their producer because they enjoyed his work with Killdozer, a noise rock band. “We want to sound as heavy as that record,” they even remarked to him.
10. In April 1990, Nirvana started recording Nevermind at Butch’s Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
11. Kurt strained his voice on “Lithium,” ending the band’s session after they had arranged eight songs in Wisconsin and intended to record more.
12. The lads used Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, in May and June of 1991 to record the album.
13. Only “Polly,” a tape from Wisconsin that included cymbal smashes by original drummer Chad Channing, made it into the official album production.
14. Although Butch recognized that twice tracking Kurt’s vocals would give the songs the desired deeper tone, Kurt refused to do so. Kurt agreed to do it after Butch told him, “John Lennon did it,” realizing that Kurt was an admirer of the rock star.
15. Because they had practiced the tracks so much, the group just needed a few tries to lay them.
16. According to Vig, Kurt would occasionally get gloomy and challenging, saying, “He’d be terrific for an hour, and then he’d sit in a corner and say nothing for an hour.”
17. The band requested a list of mixers from their label since they were dissatisfied with the way Vig was mixing the record. Andy Wallace, who co-produced Slayer’s 1990 album Seasons in the Abyss, was the final name on the list. Though Cobain claimed he was embarrassed by the production in retrospect, saying, “It’s closer to a Motley Crue song than it is a punk rock record,” Nirvana initially praised what he done on Nevermind.
18. Cobain compared the sound of “The Knack and Bay City Rollers getting abused by Black Flag and Black Sabbath” to his original description of his vision for Nevermind.
19. Kurt’s somewhat rambling singing style was once described by Vig as “intense as hell,” despite the fact that it was difficult to understand what he was singing about.
20. It’s said that a lot of the lyrics to Nevermind discuss Kurt’s unhealthy connection with Tobi Vail, a member of Bikini Kill and riot grrrl. The tracks “Lithium,” “Lounge Act,” and “Drain You” are a few that make reference to her.
21. Nirvana’s biggest hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” peaked at number six on the Hot 100.
22. According to Cobain, who told Rolling Stone, “I was aiming to write the ideal pop song,” he wrote “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the vein of the Pixies. In essence, I was attempting to plunder the Pixies. I have to acknowledge that. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so intensely that I should have been in that band – or at least a Pixies cover band. We employed their dynamic sensibility, going from soft and quiet to loud and forceful.
23. Krist Novoselic thought “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was “crazy” when he first heard it. Kurt demanded the band play the riff for 90 minutes. During that time, Krist slowed it down and drummer Dave Grohl added a beat. The studio version, which they co-wrote, is the only song on Nevermind that has the names of all three of them on it.
24. After talking about anarchy and punk music, Kurt’s buddy, Bikini Kill vocalist Kathleen Hanna, scrawled the lyrics “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his wall. This gave him the title to the song. Hanna was saying that he smelt like Tobi Vail, his girlfriend, when she wore Teen Spirit deodorant. Kurt claimed he was unaware that the song was actually a deodorant brand until after it was released.
25. Because the words to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” were so difficult to read, some radio stations were reluctant to play the song. MTV even added captions to the song’s music video that they broadcast.
26. Cobain once stated that the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is about his pals, adding, “We don’t follow the norms of what’s expected of us to be grownups, therefore we still feel like teens.” Additionally, it features a theme of teen rebellion.
27. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” doesn’t seem to have a message, according to Dave Grohl, who said, “You just kind of find it a little bit hard to believe that the song has a lot to say about something from watching Kurt create the words five minutes before he performs them.” You need something that rhymes or syllables to fill this slot.
28. Kurt wrote “In Bloom” in response to those who didn’t comprehend Nirvana and weren’t part of the underground music scene.
29. Cobain previously claimed that the lyrics of “Come As You Are” are paradoxical and that the song is about “people and what they’re expected to act like.”
30. The theme of the song “Breed” is being stuck in middle-class America.
31. Throughout their 1989 European tour, the band recorded “Breed” live.
32. “Imodium” was the initial name of “Breed.” Kurt verbally diarrhead over that title.
33. In the movie “Lithium,” a suicidal man seeks solace in religion. Kurt claimed he used certain real experiences, such as splitting up with girlfriends and being in unhappy relationships, even though the song is fictional.
34. “Polly” has been around since at least 1988.
35. “Polly” was formerly known as “Hitchhiker” and then as “Cracker.”
36. Kurt removed “Polly” from 1989’s Bleach because the song didn’t fit the grunge aesthetic.
37. After reading a newspaper report about a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped, tortured, and raped following a rock concert in Tacoma, Washington, Cobain was inspired to create “Polly.” When her captor pulled over for gas, she managed to flee.
38. Krist included a portion of the 1967 Youngbloods song “Get Together” in the opening line of “Territorial Pissings.”
39. “Territorial Pissings” reveals that Kurt was a feminist. The line “Never met a wise man/If so, it’s a woman” is one that he inserted.
40. The weird noises in the middle of “Drain You” were from a rubber duck toy.
41. Although Kurt claimed that he wrote the majority of “Drain You” on the spot, he pointed out that the meaning of the song’s first lyric depends on how it is heard. “One infant to another says I’m fortunate to have met you,” is the lyrics.
42. Kurt sings, “I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield,” in the song “Lounge Act.” It alludes to a tattoo that once adorned his shoulder, a shield with the initial K.
43. Because Nirvana thought the bass start of the song resembled something from a corny lounge band, they named it “Lounge Act.”
44. “Pay to Play” was the initial name of “Stay Away.”
45. Kurt declares, “God is gay,” at the conclusion of “Stay Away.” To get his way, he spray-painted that line on a friend’s automobile when he was a high school student. Kurt didn’t aim to offend God; rather, he meant to advocate for gay rights.
46. The song “On a Plain” is about writing a song. It talks about writer’s block and how hard it is to find one’s voice.
47. While it is likely true that Kurt never slept under the bridge in Aberdeen, Washington, where he was homeless when he composed “Something in the Way,” this is not the case. Had Cobain had slept beneath the bridge that is referenced in the song, the Wishkah River’s tide would have probably carried him away. He slept at friends’ places instead.
48. The original pressings of Nevermind inadvertently omitted the hidden track, “Endless, Nameless.” The set’s master, Howie Weinberg, claimed that placing the track at the conclusion was a “verbal thing,” although it’s possible that he misunderstood the directions. Weinberg added ten minutes of silence between the end of “Something in the Way” and the beginning of the hidden track on subsequent pressings when Kurt insisted that Howie fix it after discovering it was missing. However, 50,000 copies are missing it.
49. The band’s label believed that Nevermind would sell 250,000 copies. After charting at number 144 on the Billboard 200, the record began to sell out. On January 11, 1992, it dethroned Michael Jackson as the number one song on the chart. It was selling 300,000 copies a week at that point. Since then, Nevermind has received a diamond certification for more than 10 million copies sold in America. 24 million have been sold worldwide.
50. In 2005, the Library of Congress included the sound recording from the 20th century “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” compilation Nevermind to the National Recording Registry.