One more solo...?

They were easily the most influential band of the early 90's. Their breakthrough single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had revitalized rock radio. They had incited a massive rebellion against all forms of 'pop' music. Nirvana was a colossus in the music world, and In Utero was arguably their crowning achievement.

Compared to their previous album, the multi-multi-platinum Nevermind, the album carries a more produced sound. This lends to fuller guitars and brighter drums, but half the charm of much of Nirvana's music was that it was powered by just one guitar and one bass. The band decided to take another guitarist on the road with them for the In Utero tour to support their thicker sound.

But production merits don't mean much to the head-banging moshpit youth. Kurt Cobain's overdriven guitar and trademark vocals return, with plenty of straight up rock on In Utero. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, Tourette's, and Scentless Apprentice represent the band's hardest music to date.

Heart Shaped Box has the same 'soft-hard' mechanics as did Smells Like Teen Spirit, and was the primary single off the album. Another clear SLTS sibling is Rape Me, just one of eight songs on the album that deal with Kurt's feelings toward the media.

In Utero carries a generally angry attitude towards the media at large. On Serve the Servants, Kurt sarcastically muses that "teenage angst has paid of well". Rape Me and All Apologies pretty openly attack MTV and Vanity Fair magazine.

Kurt Cobain's best lyrical work comes in the form of Milk It, a dark, moody piece largely about his relationship with his wife (Hole front woman Courtney Love), which takes strange and almost disturbing metaphorical twists. The band also proves its musical diversity: radio hit Dumb is acoustic with strings, and both Pennyroyal Tea (another standout track) and All Apologies flirt with acoustic guitars.

Perhaps the highlight of it all though is the hidden track, Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip. Essentially a studio jam, it recaptured the band's casual attitude towards like performance, and the jumbled, half-improvised lyrics of the Bleachdays. It served as a much more fitting end to the CD than All Apologies.

I think the only real letdown with In Utero is that it was the band's last studio release. In April of 1994, Kurt Cobain died of a heroin overdose/gunshot wound in his home. But, cheesy as it sounds, his legacy lives on. You have to ask yourself where Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit or Korn would be without the birth of grunge. Odds are, nowhere at all.