Nevermind – Nirvana
Success should be the number-one objective that everyone strives for when making a record. Anyone can make something thinking that their friends would be happy to hear it, but once the big crowds come in and a band starts graduating from small clubs to small arenas, that’s usually cause for celebration. But once Kurt Cobain discovered what Nevermind meant to legions of fans, he was far from happy for what it did. If anything, he wanted to make sure to downplay every single piece of his musical identity.
He had already had trouble with the mixing issues on the record, but since millions of people latched onto ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, he felt embarrassed knowing that the album was a watered-down version of what he wanted it to be. Even during live performances, you can hear Cobain not wanting to be there, even twisting ‘Come As You Are’ on a few occasions to sound as discordant as possible. That didn’t stop fans from loving their songs when they came on the radio, but given how many people didn’t get what the band were going for, it’s no surprise that Cobain wanted such a drastic turn when making In Utero.