Editing In Utero (section)

==Music and lyrics==
{{Listen
|filename = Nirvana - Milk It.ogg
|title = "Milk It"
|description = "Milk It" displays the aggressive and more experimental sound Nirvana explored on ''In Utero''.
|filename2 = Nirvana - Rape Me from In Utero.ogg
|title2 = "Rape Me"
|description2 = "Rape Me" is an anti-rape song with direct lyrics.
}}
Albini sought to produce a record that sounded nothing like ''Nevermind''.<ref name="caya 314" /> He felt the sound of ''Nevermind'' was "sort of a standard hack recording that has been turned into a very, very controlled, compressed radio-friendly mix [...] That is not, in my opinion, very flattering to a rock band." Instead, he intended to capture a more natural and visceral sound.<ref name="Azerrad317" /> Albini refused to [[doubletracking|double-track]] Cobain's vocals and instead recorded him singing in a resonant room.<ref name="Azerrad317" /> He noted the intensity of Cobain's vocals on some tracks; he said, "There's a really dry, really loud voice at the end of 'Milk It'&nbsp;... that was also done at the end of '[[Rape Me]]', where [Cobain] wanted the sound of him screaming to just overtake the whole band."<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 45</ref> Albini achieved the sparse drum sound by placing several microphones around Grohl, picking up the natural [[reverberation]] of the room. Albini said, "If you take a good drummer and put him in front of a drum kit that sounds good acoustically and just record it, you've done your job."<ref name="Azerrad317" />

Azerrad asserted in his 1993 biography ''[[Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana]]'' that ''In Utero'' showcased divergent sensibilities of abrasiveness and accessibility that reflected the upheavals Cobain experienced prior to the album's completion. He wrote, "The [[Beatlesque]] 'Dumb' happily coexists beside the all-out frenzied [[Punk rock|punk]] graffiti of 'Milk It,' while 'All Apologies' is worlds away from the apoplectic '[[Scentless Apprentice]].' It's as if [Cobain] has given up trying to meld his punk and pop instincts into one harmonious whole. Forget it. This is war." Cobain believed, however, that ''In Utero'' was not "any harsher or any more emotional" than any of Nirvana's previous records.<ref name="Azerrad321">Azerrad, 1994. p. 321</ref> Novoselic agreed that the album leaned more towards the band's "arty, aggressive side"; he said, "There's always been [Nirvana] songs like '[[About a Girl (Nirvana song)|About a Girl]]' and there's always been songs like 'Paper Cuts'... ''Nevermind'' came out kind of 'About a Girl'-y and this [album] came out more 'Paper Cuts'".<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 332–33</ref> Cobain cited "Milk It" as an example of the more experimental and aggressive direction in which the band's music had been moving in the months prior to the sessions at Pachyderm Studio.<ref name="Azerrad323">Azerrad, 1994. p. 323</ref> Novoselic viewed the album's singles "[[Heart-Shaped Box]]" and "[[All Apologies]]" as "gateways" to the more abrasive sound of the rest of the album, telling the journalist [[Jim DeRogatis]] that once listeners played the record, they would discover "this aggressive wild sound, a true alternative record".<ref>DeRogatis, 2003. p. 18</ref>

In a 2023 episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast with Azerrad, it was noted that the songs "Very Ape" and "Milk It" sound similar to "Kanishka" by [[Los Brujos]] and "It's Shoved" by [[Melvins]], respectively.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hiatt |first1=Brian |title='Kurt Was Jealous of Dave': New 'In Utero' Revelations |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/nirvana-kurt-cobain-in-utero-30-anniversary-interviews-podcast-1234830618/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=25 September 2023 |access-date=20 April 2025}}</ref>

Several songs on ''In Utero'' were written years prior to recording; some dated to 1990.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 3</ref> Cobain favored long song titles, such as "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle", in reaction to contemporary alternative rock bands that used single-word titles.<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 326–27</ref> He continued to work on the lyrics while recording.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 41</ref> He told [[Darcey Steinke]] in ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' in 1993 that, in contrast to ''Bleach'' and ''Nevermind'', the lyrics were "more focused, they're almost built on themes".<ref name="smashing">Steinke, Darcey. "Smashing Their Heads on That Punk Rock". ''Spin'': pp. 42–49. October 1993.</ref> Azerrad asserted that the lyrics were less impressionistic and more straightforward than in previous Nirvana songs. Azerrad also noted that "virtually every song contains some image of sickness and disease".<ref name="Azerrad321" />  In a number of songs, Cobain made reference to books; "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" was inspired by ''[[Shadowland (Arnold novel)|Shadowland]]'', a 1978 biography of actress [[Frances Farmer]], with whom Cobain had been fascinated ever since he read the book in high school.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 50–51</ref> "Scentless Apprentice" was written about ''[[Perfume (novel)|Perfume: The Story of a Murderer]]'', a historical horror novel about a perfumer's apprentice who attempts to create the ultimate perfume by killing virgin women and taking their scent.<ref>Gaar, 2006. p. 42–43</ref>

According to the psychologist [[Thomas Joiner]], it is clear that suicide was on Cobain's mind as he worked on the album, with its lyrics illustrating "the merging of death with themes of nurturance and life, sometimes in stark and disturbing ways." Examples include the song "Milk It", with the phrase "I am my own parasite", which according to Joiner is a "succinct and even sublime way to combine urges toward death and life." The words "Her milk is my shit, My shit is her milk" demonstrate that "Cobain clearly had a penchant for disturbing imagery in which themes of nurturance are merged with themes of disease and waste." Another example is Cobain's referral to an "umbilical noose" in the song "Heart Shaped Box".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Joiner |first1=Thomas |title=Why People Die By Suicide |date=2005 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-01901-6 |page=88}}</ref>

Cobain described ''In Utero'' as "very impersonal".<ref>Savage, Jon. "Sounds Dirty: The Truth About Nirvana". ''The Observer''. August 15, 1993.</ref> He also told ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' that the infant and childbirth imagery on the album and his newfound fatherhood were coincidental.<ref>Sutcliffe, Phil. "Kurt Cobain: King of Pain". ''Q''. October 1993.</ref> However, Azerrad argued that much of the album contains personal themes, noting that Grohl held a similar view. Grohl said, "A lot of what he has to say is related to a lot of the shit he's gone through. And it's not so much teen angst any more. It's a whole different ball game: rock star angst."<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 322</ref> Cobain downplayed recent events and told Azerrad that he did not want to write a track that explicitly expressed his anger at the media; Azerrad countered that "Rape Me" seemed to deal with that very issue. While Cobain said the song was written long before his addiction problems became public, he agreed that the song could be viewed in that light.<ref>Azerrad, 1994, p. 322–23</ref> "Serve the Servants" comments on Cobain's life. The opening lines "Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I'm bored and old" were a reference to Cobain's state of mind in the wake of Nirvana's success.<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 325</ref> Cobain dismissed the media attention given to the effect his parents' divorce had on his life with the line "That legendary divorce is such a bore" from the chorus, and directly addressed his father with the lines "I tried hard to have a father / But instead I had a dad / I just want you to know that I don't hate you any more / There is nothing I could say that I haven't thought before". Cobain said he wanted his father to know he did not hate him, but had no desire to talk to him.<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 326</ref>

According to the journalist Gillian G. Gaar, "Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip" was the kind of improvisational jam Nirvana frequently performed in the studio, but had rarely recorded during earlier sessions, when the priority had been to record as quickly as possible.<ref name="Gaar"/> She wrote that it featured "Cobain alternating between seemingly disconnected singing and spoken-words sections, with Novoselic and Grohl providing a steady background accompaniment, punctuated by bursts of noisy guitar."<ref name="Gaar"/> Journalist [[Everett True]] described the song's mood as "playful", with "the instruments engaging in a game of cat and mouse, almost daring each other to explode in fury".<ref>{{cite book |last1=True |first1=Everett |author-link=Everett True|title=Nirvana: The Biography |date=March 13, 2007 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=978-0306815546 |url=https://archive.org/details/nirvanabiography00true }}</ref> Novoselic said it was an example of the band "just fucking around".<ref name="Gaar"/>