(Credits: Far Out / Valdo Howell)
When discussing music’s great melodicists, there is always an inclination to focus on genres that frame melodies in a more palatable method. Neil Young, The Beach Boys, and many other variations of classic rock artists fill in the blank in the sentence ‘the greatest melodicist is…’
Artists who exhibit pulsing rhythm sections combined with distorted guitar are rarely regarded melody masters. But when Nirvana crashed into the punk scene, there was something enately anthemic about their songwriting that seperated it from their genre counterparts. After the success of their debut album Bleach, they were ready to deliver a more mainstream punch with the sophomore record Nevermind.
According to bassist Krist Novoselic, teaming up with producer Butch Vig was driven by his patience which was required in tracking a band who were on the brink of commercial success but determined to continue recording songs as live takes.
During an interview with Guitar Magazine, Vig said: “I kept saying we’re making a record – you know, this is not a live in the studio representation of what you do. We want this to sound widescreen, we want this to sound big and lush. We want this to sound as good as anything else on the radio and he (Cobain) said, ‘Yeah, I get it.’ But he just didn’t want to do it.”
Cobain’s defiance in his own artistic vision is what gained him so many adoring fans after the release of their debut album, but it was arguably the delicate influence of Vig as a producer who allowed Nevermind’s more melodic tracks ‘Come As You Are’ and ‘Something In The Way’ to flourish. The latter track, in particular, boasted double-tracked vocals that Vig had to push for: “Finally when it came time to double the vocals on the first song, I said, ‘You should go double your vocals. John Lennon did it on everything.’ I knew he loved John Lennon, so he’s like, ‘Okay, Butch.”
What resulted was a more layered and delicate approach to a punk track that foregrounded Cobain’s melodic abilities.
There’s a clear line of comparison to be drawn between Lennon and Cobain, more so than any other of The Beatles members. A shared lyrical darkness between the two implies a similar thought process and creative mind that was perhaps outside of your ordinary person, indicative of people who felt on the fringes of society.
But while it was Lennon who prized the reluctancy away from Cobain in recording sessions, it was another Beatles member who Vig noticed comparisons with: “Kurt was a huge Beatles fan, and I think some of his vocal melodies were McCartney-esque too because they just move around all over the place. McCartney is an icon for doing that – he’s one of the best melodicists there’s ever been on bass and on guitar, and vocal.”
On Nevermind, Vig and Cobain collaborated to make a record that saw Cobain flexing his melodic muscles in a way fans hadn’t yet experienced from him. Tracks like ‘Polly’, ‘In Bloom’ and, of course ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ were tracks that boasted such steadfast melodic profiles that the somewhat rhythmic chaos that allowed to exist around them and remain truly punk in their essence was what made a record that would go on to define an era.
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