Negative Creep
| "Negative Creep" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Nirvana | |
| from the album Bleach | |
| Released | June 15, 1989 |
| Recorded | December 29-31, 1988 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:56 |
| Label | Sub Pop |
| Songwriter(s) | Kurt Cobain |
| Producer(s) | Jack Endino |
| Bleach track listing | |
show
11 tracks | |
"Negative Creep" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the seventh song on their debut album Bleach, released in June 1989.
Origin and recording[]
Written by Cobain in 1988, "Negative Creep" was recorded for Bleach by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording in December 1988 and January 1989. It is the only recording on the album that ends with an extended fade-out, giving it a 1960s pop aesthetic.[1][2]
"Negative Creep" was debuted live on February 25, 1989 at the Husky Union Building at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The song remained a set list regular for the next four years, until its final live performance on April 9, 1993 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. It was jammed on briefly during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged appearance in November 1993, after being requested by an audience member, but both Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic said that they no longer knew how to play it.
Composition and lyrics[]
Music[]
"Negative Creep" has been described as one of the "Sub Popiest" songs the band ever recorded,[4] and "a text book example of Seattle's true grunge sound".[5]. It is the only Nirvana song released during Cobain's lifetime that employs fade-out.[6]
Lyrics[]
In his 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Michael Azerrad described "Negative Creep" as "a first-person narrative from an antisocial person," with that person being Cobain himself.[7] James Jackson Toth of Stereogum called it a "chilling ode to social awkwardness" during which "Cobain, sounding like a cross between Lemmy and a gargoyle, acknowledges his position as a shadowy outsider–even revels in it."[8]
Steve Fisk, who produced Nirvana's Blew EP in 1989, offered an alternate theory of the song's meaning, saying that "I got told it was about the guy who lived across the street from the duplex and would come over while Kurt was gone to try to smoke [Cobain's then-girlfriend] Tracy [Marander] out."[9]
The song received some criticism from members of the Seattle music scene in the late 1980s because of the lyric, "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more," which closely resembled the lyrics to the 1988 song, "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More," by Nirvana's Sub Pop label mates, Mudhoney. According to Azerrad, Cobain claimed the similarity was an example of "subconscious theft."[7]
Reception[]
In 2015, Rolling Stone placed "Negative Creep" at number 15 on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs.[10]
Several critics have noted the intensity of Cobain's vocals on the studio recording, with Mark Richardson of Pitchfork writing, "Cobain's voice through the second verse terrifies me. There is no concern for his physical well being or even his future as a vocalist in a rock band. He sings as intensely as he can possibly sing. Sometimes, when I'm listening loud, I think my headphones might be breaking up from the volume only to realize that the membrane being excited to the point of distortion is actually Cobain's larynx."[11]
"Negative Creep" appeared in the 1996 grunge documentary, Hype!, and was included in the film's soundtrack. It also appeared in the bonus CD included with the 1995 book Screaming Life: A Chronicle of the Seattle Music Scene, which collected the photographs of acclaimed music photographer, Charles Peterson.
Accolades[]
| Year | Publication | Country | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Kerrang! | United Kingdom | 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars[12] | 9 |
Recording and release history[]
Demo and studio versions[]
| Date recorded | Studio | Producer/recorder | Releases | Personnel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 24 & 29-31, 1988 and January 14 & 24, 1989 | Reciprocal Recording, Seattle, Washington | Jack Endino | Bleach (1989) Hype! (1996) |
|
Live versions[]
| Date recorded | Venue | Releases | Personnel |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 9, 1990 | Pine Street Theatre, Portland, Oregon | Bleach (20th Anniversary Edition) (2009) |
|
| August 20, 1991 | Sir Henry's, Cork, Ireland | 1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992) |
|
| October 31, 1991 | Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA | From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996) Live at the Paramount (2011) |
|
| February 22, 1992 | , Honolulu, Hawaii | Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! (1994) |
|
| August 30, 1992 | Reading Festival, Reading, England | Live at Reading (2009) |
|
Covers[]
| Year | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Tura Satana | Relief Through Release |
| 1997 | Machine Head | Take My Scars |
| 2001 | Dee Dee Ramone | Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana |
| 2004 | Velvet Revolver | Slither |
References[]
- ^ St. Thomas, Kurt; Smith, Troy (April 22, 2004). Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects. ISBN 978-0-31220-663-5. Retrieved November 15, 2012 – via Google Books.
- ^ Keizer, Brian (July 1993). "Live!: Nirvana/L7/The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy/The Breeders". Spin. Retrieved November 15, 2012 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Bleach (album review)". Sputnik Music. January 14, 2005. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ Crisafulli, Chuck (1996). Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every NIRVANA Song. Omnibus Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-7119-5809-2.
- ^ Gage, Josephine (September 23, 2009). "Nirvana Ultimate Mix". IGN. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ^ Howard, Tom (April 5, 2019). "Every Nirvana song ranked in order of greatness". NME.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. pp. 100–101. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.
- ^ Jackson Toth, James (April 4, 2014). "The 10 Best Nirvana Songs". Stereogum. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
- ^ True, Everett (March 13, 2007). Nirvana: The Biography. 0306815540: Da Capo Press. p. 114.CS1 maint: location (link)
- ^ Dolan, Jon (April 8, 2015). "No Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ Richardson, Mark. "Happy Birthday, Kurt". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
- ^ "The Hit List: 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars". Kerrang!. No. 709. July 25, 1998. p. 49. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
External links[]
- 1989 songs
- Nirvana (band) songs
- Songs written by Kurt Cobain