'In Utero'

In Utero is really angry. Not so much the lyrics. They're as intelligible and nonsensical as any other Kurt Cobain song.

It's the music. Calling it "aggressive" would be an understatement. The chord progressions, the guitar effects, the way they're played, the way Cobain abuses the strings on his instrument evoke the very anger and disillusionment that Cobain was feeling.

Most of the higher-ups dealing with Nirvana found the album a disappointment. They thought it was unlistenable and unmarketable. The douchey 30-year-olds who bought Nevermind four months earlier in 1992 (Nevermind being released in 1991) weren't going to relate that well to "Rape Me" and "Milk It."

Instead, it went on to be one of their best selling albums thanks to "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies." There are its pop moments. It is terribly overproduced. The band picked Steve Albini to produce based on his work with The Breeders and The Pixies.

Although they may or may not have been pumped with working with him, Albini, it appears, was totally disinterested considering Nirvana as "REM with a fuzzbox" and he took the gig because he felt sorry for them. Albini would finish the album but the band came back and had another producer redo a couple of albums.