Incesticide

Incesticide
Compilation album by Nirvana
Released	December 14, 1992
Recorded	1988–1991
Genre	Grunge
Length	44:44
Label	DGC
Producer	Various
Nirvana chronology
Hormoaning (1992) Incesticide (1992) In Utero (1993)

Incesticide is a compilation album by the American grunge band Nirvana. Incesticide consists of their 1990 single "Sliver", demos, outtakes, covers, and radio broadcast recordings. At the time, the majority of the material on Incesticide was circulating within fan communities (albeit in lower quality). It was widely reported in the music press that the band wanted to offer fans a higher-quality alternative, but in the book Cobain Unseen, Charles R. Cross writes that Kurt Cobain agreed to the release of this compilation because he was allowed complete control over the album's artwork. The album was released on December 14, 1992 in Europe, and December 15, 1992 in the United States and eventually reached number thirty-nine on the Billboard 200. Since the songs were recorded in different sessions and some were recorded when Nirvana did not have a stable formation, the album includes recordings by four different drummers: Chad Channing, Dan Peters, Dale Crover, and Dave Grohl.

Songs

Previously unreleased

• The songs "Hairspray Queen", "Aero Zeppelin", and "Big Long Now" were officially unreleased at the time, as well as the versions of "Been a Son", "Aneurysm", and "(New Wave) Polly", which are different from the versions previously released on the Blew EP, the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single, and the Nevermind record, respectively.
• "Downer" appears on the CD version of Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach but was only included from the 1992 reissue onwards.

Previously released

• "Dive" and "Sliver" were released on the "Sliver" single in 1990. "Dive" was also previously released on The Grunge Years compilation album in 1991.
• "Stain" was released on the Blew EP in 1989.
• The three cover songs, "Turnaround" (Devo), "Molly's Lips" and "Son of a Gun" (The Vaselines) were released on the Hormoaning EP in 1992, which was only released in Japan and Australia.
• "Mexican Seafood" appeared on the 1989 Teriyaki Asthma Volume 1 compilation.
• "Beeswax" appeared on the 1991 Kill Rock Stars compilation album.

Artwork and packaging

The cover art was painted by Cobain,^[1] who is credited as Kurdt Kobain in the liner notes.^[2] The rubber duck seen on the album's back cover also belonged to Cobain. The front cover prominently displays a poppy, hinting at Cobain's struggle with heroin addiction.

The first several pressings of the album contained liner notes written by Cobain. Versions of the album containing the liner notes by Cobain could be found at record stores as late as 1998. Initial copies in the US and Canada also contained a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker.^[3]

Release

Commercial performance

Incesticide was released on December 14, 1992 in the United Kingdom, and on December 15, 1992 in the United States.^[4] The record label, Geffen, decided against heavily promoting the album, possibly to avoid a "Nirvana burnout" as the band had released Nevermind and four singles in the preceding fifteen months.^[5] Despite this lack of promotion and being a collection of old and new material, Incesticide debuted at number 51 in the Billboard 200 and sold 500,000 copies in two months.^[6] The album is certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On November 23, 2012, Incesticide was re-released on vinyl as a limited two LP 45 RPM edition for its 20th anniversary.^[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Blender	[9]
Robert Christgau	(A-)[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Select	[12]

The album received generally positive reviews. "Nobody really wants a Hatful of Hollow-type assortment of Peel/Goodier sessions, b-sides, demos and obscurities in the place of a proper studio album," observed Andrew Perry in Select. "But, hell, wouldn't you try and put an end to the consumer madness going on in your name? And harvest some of the money for yourself? Anyway, people might start talking about the music again…"^[12]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kurt Cobain except where noted. 

No.	Title	Drummer	Length
1.	"Dive" (Cobain, Krist Novoselic)	Chad Channing	3:55
2.	"Sliver"	Dan Peters	2:16
3.	"Stain"	Chad Channing	2:41
4.	"Been a Son"	Dave Grohl	1:56
5.	"Turnaround" (Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale)	Dave Grohl	2:19
6.	"Molly's Lips" (Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee)	Dave Grohl	1:54
7.	"Son of a Gun" (Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee)	Dave Grohl	2:48
8.	"(New Wave) Polly"	Dave Grohl	1:48
9.	"Beeswax"	Dale Crover	2:50
10.	"Downer"	Dale Crover	1:44
11.	"Mexican Seafood"	Dale Crover	1:55
12.	"Hairspray Queen" (Cobain, Novoselic)	Dale Crover	4:14
13.	"Aero Zeppelin" (Cobain, Novoselic)	Dale Crover	4:41
14.	"Big Long Now"	Chad Channing	5:04
15.	"Aneurysm" (Cobain, Novoselic, Dave Grohl)	Dave Grohl	4:36

Personnel

All sessions:

• Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar
• Krist Novoselic – bass guitar

Seattle, WA: Reciprocal Recording Studios (January 23, 1988)
Nirvana's first studio demo tape. Those songs went to the compilation in their rough one-hour mix made by Endino on the day of the recording, though he would have loved to be given the chance to mix them properly.
Songs: "Beeswax", "Downer", "Mexican Seafood", "Hairspray Queen" and "Aero Zeppelin"

• Dale Crover – drums
• Jack Endino – producer, engineer

Seattle, WA: Reciprocal Recording Studios (December 1988 – January 1989)
The Bleach recording sessions.
Song: "Big Long Now"

• Chad Channing – drums
• Jack Endino – producer, engineer

Seattle, WA: Music Source Studios (September 1989)
The Blew EP recording sessions.
Song: "Stain"

• Chad Channing – drums
• Steve Fisk – producer

Madison, WI: Smart Studios (April 2, 1990 – April 6, 1990)
The sessions for the planned second Sub Pop album.
Song: "Dive"

• Chad Channing – drums
• Butch Vig – producer

Seattle, WA: Reciprocal Recording Studios (July 11, 1990)
The "Sliver" Sub Pop single session.
Song: "Sliver"

• Dan Peters – drums
• Jack Endino – producer, engineer

London, England: Maida Vale Studio 3 (October 21, 1990)
The 1990 BBC session for John Peel.
Songs: "Turnaround", "Molly's Lips" and "Son of a Gun"

• Dave Grohl – drums
• Dale Griffin – producer
• Mike Engles – engineer
• Fred Kay – engineer

London, England: Maida Vale Studio 4 (November 9, 1991)
The 1991 BBC session for Mark Goodier.
Songs: "Been a Son", "(New Wave) Polly" and "Aneurysm"

• Dave Grohl – drums
• Miti Adhikari – producer
• John Taylor – engineer

Charts positions

Album Chart (1992/93) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[13] 22 Austrian Albums Chart[13] 10 Finland Album Chart[14] 16 French Albums Chart[15] 28 German Albums Chart[16] 40 Japanese Albums Chart[17] 50 Netherlands Albums Chart[13] 31 New Zealand Albums Chart[13] 23 Swedish Albums Chart[13] 27 Swiss Albums Chart[13] 18 US Billboard 200[18] 39 Canadian Albums Chart[19] 21 UK Albums Chart[20] 14

Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Canada (Music Canada)[21] 2× Platinum 200,000 France (SNEP)[22] Gold 100,000 United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Platinum 300,000 United States (RIAA)[24] Platinum 1,000,000 ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

1. Azerrad, 1994. p. 295
2. Incesticide liner notes
3. "Incesticide - Americas". Sliver.it. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
4. Azerrad, 1994. p. 357–358
5. Azerrad, 1994. p. 296
6. Cross, p. 269
7. "RECORD STORE DAY - SpecialRelease". Recordstoreday.com. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
8. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Incesticide at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 February 2005.
9. Archived January 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
10. Christgau, Robert (January 26, 1993). "Consumer Guide: Nirvana: Incesticide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 21 December 2011. Relevant portion posted in a revised version at "Nirvana: Incesticide > Consumer Guide Album". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
11. Alden, Grant (January 21, 1993). "Recordings: Nirvana Incesticide > Album Review". Rolling Stone (648). Archived from the original on 18 September 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2005.
12. Select, January 1993
13. "Australian Chart Archives". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
14. Pennanen, Timo (2003). Sisältää hitin: levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Otava Publishing Company Ltd. ISBN 951-1-21053-X.
15. (The user has to select "Nirvana" from the drop down list) "InfoDisc : Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste" Check |url= value (help). Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
16. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
17. Album Chart-Book Complete Edition 1970-2005. Orikonmāketingupuromōshon (2006). ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
18. "Nirvana Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
19. "Nirvana Top Albums/CDs positions (26 - 190)". RPM. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
20. Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. 19th edition. HIT Entertainment. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
21. "Canadian album certifications – Nirvana – Incesticide". Music Canada.
22. "French album certifications – Nirvana – Incesticide" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
23. "British album certifications – Nirvana – Incesticide". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Incesticide in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
24. "American album certifications – Nirvana – Incesticide". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

• Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8
• Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9

External links

• Incesticide at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• Live Nirvana Companion to Official Releases - Incesticide