#59 - In Utero: Nirvana (1993)

Hard to believe, but this won’t be Nirvana’s only album cover here. Stay tuned, m’kay?

This one’s actually pretty simple. It’s basically one of those weird anatomical models little boys would see in a museum and giggle over, plus some wings. Heck, you could probably add wings to anything and make it look a little like the Victory of Samothrace, right?

That image (from In Utero, not the Victory of Samothrace) has inspired a lot of tattoos and merchandise, and even some parodies and crafts as well.

The art director was Robert Fisher, who simply ran with some ideas from Kurt Cobain.

Fisher was responsible for a lot of Nirvana’s stuff, and has no fewer than 126 credits to his, uh, credit. In addition to Nirvana, he’s also done a fair amount of stuff for Beck, Blondie, and No Doubt.

The back cover was basically some crazy shit that Kurt came up with on his own. 

Before and after art direction

The photographer was Charles Peterson, basically the court portraitist of Grunge.

The original title of this album was I Hate Myself and I Want to Die, but the lawyers talked ‘em out of it. Too bad – it’s kinda catchy.

In Utero was the band’s last studio album. The goal was to create the anti Nevermind, going for a much more unpolished, genuine sound (!?!?). It sold 15 million copies.

Do I really need to say anything about these guys? One word then … Grunge.

Kurt, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl

The one (?!?!) parody I could find out there:

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