Lithium (Nirvana song)
The accompanying music video, directed by American filmmaker Kevin Kerslake, is a compilation of live footage from the band's October 31, 1991, concert at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington, and from the completed but then-unreleased film, 1991: The Year Punk Broke.The full session, which also included versions of three songs from the band's 1989 debut album, Bleach, was directed by Jon Snyder and conceived by Cobain as a potential video release.To date, no full songs from this session have been officially released by Nirvana's record company, although videos for "Lithium" and "School," edited by Snyder and featuring additional footage and still photos, appeared on two episodes of 1200 Seconds, a television show produced by Evergreen students.[7] However, the release was abandoned after the departure of drummer Chad Channing later that year, and the eight-song session was instead circulated as a demo tape, which helped generate interest with the band among major labels.[8] On September 25, 1990, Cobain performed a solo acoustic version of the song on the Boy Meets Girl show, hosted by Calvin Johnson, on KAOS (FM) in Olympia, Washington."Lithium" was re-recorded by Vig in May 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, during the sessions for what became Nirvana's second album and major-label debut, Nevermind."[14] The performance, which featured Cobain playing a short part of "Rape Me" at the beginning "just to give [MTV] a little heart palpitation,"[14] ended with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic being struck by his bass after throwing it into the air and attempting to catch it unsuccessfully.[19] In the song, Cobain fingers chord shapes on his guitar but varies between playing single notes and double stops on the instrument, giving the track a loose feel.'"[3] Gillian G. Gaar described it as "a song whose sing-along melody typically masks the disturbing quality of the lyric, which touches on the solace one can find in religion or madness.The British 7-inch and cassette featured only "Curmudgeon" as an extra track, while the UK CD release added a cover of the Wipers' "D-7" recorded for BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel's program in 1990.In October 2021, another live version, recorded at The Palace in Melbourne, Australia, on February 1, 1992, was released as a streaming single ahead of its appearance on the 30th anniversary edition of the Nevermind.[45][46] Reviewing the release for Rolling Stone, Kory Grow wrote that "the real magic in the box set manifests during the band's Melbourne, Australia, gig on Feb. 1, 1992.Cobain urges the crowd to sing along with him on 'Lithium' — a track that hadn't even come out as a single yet — and the audience nearly drowns him out, gleefully belting his lyrics about feeling simultaneously happy and ugly and not caring who knows it.In the liner notes to From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, Novoselic wrote that "hearing tens of thousands of people sing along with [the Reading version of] 'Lithium' was a very cool moment in the history of the band."The video featured a collage of live footage from the completed but then-unreleased home movie 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which documented the band's two-week European tour with Sonic Youth, and from their show at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on October 31, 1991.The story was to feature the girl, named Preggo, finding a pile of eggs in her closet and putting them in a train of three wagons that she would then wheel through the forest until arriving at a king's castle.Cover versions of the song have been performed by choral rock band The Polyphonic Spree (which appeared in the 2015 film The Big Short), The Vaselines, Rockabye Baby!
Frances Bean CobainSingleNirvanaNevermindB-sideBeen a SonStudioSound CityVan NuysGrungealternative rockpunk rockSongwriter(s)Kurt CobainProducer(s)Butch VigCome as You AreIn BloomSmells Like Teen SpiritDrain YouOn a PlainSomething in the WayEndless, NamelessYouTubeDGC RecordsCaliforniaFlipsidereligionsuicideMichael AzerradMarx'sopiate of the massesBillboard Hot 100UK Singles ChartFinlandIrelandPortugalmusic videoKevin KerslakeParamount TheatreSeattle, WashingtonEvergreen State College'sOlympia, WashingtonBleachKim ThayilSoundgardenTop 40Smart StudiosMadison, WisconsinSub PopChad ChanningacousticCalvin JohnsonKAOS (FM)Sound City StudiosVan Nuys, Californiahidden trackDave Grohlmetronomeclick trackBig MuffFender Bassman1992 MTV Video Music AwardsLos AngelesRape MeGold MountainKrist NovoselicMunich, Germanysheet musicBMG Rights Managementtime signatureD majorE majorvocal rangeoctavekey signaturedouble stopsborn-again ChristiansonogramHalloweenWipersBBC Radio 1John PeelNew York MagazineAllMusicVillage VoicePazz & JopMinistryLisa StansfieldUtah SaintsStephen Thomas Erlewinethe A.V. Club'sNielsen MusicPat SmearSt. VincentRock and Roll Hall of FameBarclays CenterBrooklyn, New YorkNational Hockey LeagueSeattle Krakentheir inaugural seasonParadisoAmsterdampromotional singleHollandFrom the Muddy Banks of the WishkahBlu-rayThe PalaceMelbourne, AustraliastreamingRolling StoneReading FestivalReadingLive at ReadingLive! Tonight! Sold Out!!SliverSonic YouthDe DoelenRotterdamDanny GoldbergServing the ServantKim GordonMTV EuropeMTV AustraliaVideo Smash HitsKerrang!