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| recorded = February 12–26, 1993
| recorded = February 12–26, 1993
| studio = [[Pachyderm Studio]], [[Cannon Falls, Minnesota|Cannon Falls]], [[Minnesota]], [[United States of America|United States]]
| studio = [[Pachyderm Studio]], [[Cannon Falls, Minnesota|Cannon Falls]], [[Minnesota]], [[United States of America|United States]]
| genre = {{hlist|[[Grunge]]<ref>{{cite web|date=February 20, 2022|title=Kurt Cobain's 10 best Nirvana lyrics|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/kurt-cobain-nirvana-15-best-lyrics/|access-date=October 1, 2022|website=[[Far Out Magazine]]}}</ref>|[[hard rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Pan|first=Arnold|date=September 23, 2013|title=The Best Ever Nirvana Recording 'In Utero' Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary|url=https://www.popmatters.com/nirvana-in-utero-20th-anniversary-super-deluxe-edition-2495722502.html|access-date=March 1, 2019|website=[[PopMatters]]}}</ref>}}
| genre = {{hlist|[[Grunge]]<ref>{{cite web|date=February 20, 2022|title=Kurt Cobain's 10 best Nirvana lyrics|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/kurt-cobain-nirvana-15-best-lyrics/|access-date=October 1, 2022|website=[[Far Out Magazine]]}}</ref>|[[hard rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Pan|first=Arnold|date=September 23, 2013|title=The Best Ever Nirvana Recording ''In Utero'' Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary|url=https://www.popmatters.com/nirvana-in-utero-20th-anniversary-super-deluxe-edition-2495722502.html|access-date=March 1, 2019|website=[[PopMatters]]}}</ref>}}
| length = 3:48
| length = 3:48
| label =[[DGC Records|DGC]]
| label =[[DGC Records|DGC]]
Line 14: Line 14:
| tracks = {{In Utero tracks}}
| tracks = {{In Utero tracks}}
}}
}}

'''"Scentless Apprentice"''' is a song by the American [[rock music|rock]] band [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], written by vocalist and guitarist [[Kurt Cobain]], drummer [[Dave Grohl]], and bassist [[Krist Novoselic]]. It is the second track on their third and final studio album ''[[In Utero]]'', released in September 1993.
'''"Scentless Apprentice"''' is a song by the American [[rock music|rock]] band [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], written by vocalist and guitarist [[Kurt Cobain]], drummer [[Dave Grohl]], and bassist [[Krist Novoselic]]. It is the second track on their third and final studio album ''[[In Utero]]'', released in September 1993.


==Origin and recording==
==Origin and recording==

===Early history===
===Early history===
"Scentless Apprentice" was written during a band rehearsal in 1992. Unlike most Nirvana songs, the guitar riff was written by Grohl, rather than Cobain. "It was such a cliché grunge [[Tad (band)|Tad]] riff that I was reluctant to even jam on it," Cobain told [[Michael Azerrad]], in the 1993 Nirvana biography, ''[[Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana]]''.<ref name="Azerrad.324">{{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Azerrad |title=Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana |date=1994 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=0-385-47199-8 |page=324}}</ref> "But I decided to write a song with that just to make [Grohl] feel better, to tell you the truth, and it turned out really cool."<ref name="Azerrad.324"/> Cobain added the descending guitar riff played over the main riff and arranged the song, while Novoselic helped compose the song's second section. "I think most of the reason that song sounds good is because of the singing style and the guitar parts I do over the top of the basic rhythm," Cobain told Azerrad, "But hell, that was great."<ref name="Azerrad.324"/> It is the only song on ''In Utero'' on which all three band members received songwriting credits.<ref name="Crisafulli"/>
"Scentless Apprentice" was written during a band rehearsal in 1992. Unlike most Nirvana songs, the guitar riff was written by Grohl, rather than Cobain. "It was such a cliché grunge [[Tad (band)|Tad]] riff that I was reluctant to even jam on it," Cobain told [[Michael Azerrad]], in the 1993 Nirvana biography, ''[[Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana]]''.<ref name="Azerrad.324">{{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Azerrad |title=Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana |date=1994 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=0-385-47199-8 |page=324}}</ref> "But I decided to write a song with that just to make [Grohl] feel better, to tell you the truth, and it turned out really cool."<ref name="Azerrad.324"/> Cobain added the descending guitar riff played over the main riff and arranged the song, while Novoselic helped compose the song's second section. "I think most of the reason that song sounds good is because of the singing style and the guitar parts I do over the top of the basic rhythm," Cobain told Azerrad, "But hell, that was great."<ref name="Azerrad.324"/> It is the only song on ''In Utero'' on which all three band members received songwriting credits.<ref name="Crisafulli"/>


The earliest known recording is an instrumental studio jam, recorded on October 6, 1992, featuring former [[Scratch Acid]] drummer [[Rey Washam]] on drums, along with Grohl on guitar and Novoselic on bass.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hear an Early, Unheard Version of Nirvana's Scentless Apprentice |url=https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/hear-an-early-version-of-nirvanas-scentless-apprentice/ |access-date=February 13, 2019 |work=Kerrang! |date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> The first recording featuring Cobain is a boombox-recorded rehearsal demo, over nine minutes long, that was released on the posthumous Nirvana box set, ''[[With the Lights Out]]'', in 2004.<ref name="Gaar">{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G |date=2006 |title=Nirvana's In Utero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfSoAwAAQBAJ&q=Scentless+Apprentice |location=United States |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |pages=26–27 |isbn=9781441186096 |access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref>
The earliest known recording is an instrumental studio jam, recorded on October 6, 1992, featuring former [[Scratch Acid]] drummer [[Rey Washam]] on drums, along with Grohl on guitar and Novoselic on bass.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hear an Early, Unheard Version of Nirvana's Scentless Apprentice |url=https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/hear-an-early-version-of-nirvanas-scentless-apprentice/ |access-date=February 13, 2019 |work=Kerrang! |date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> The first recording featuring Cobain is a boombox-recorded rehearsal demo, over nine minutes long, that was released on the posthumous Nirvana box set, ''[[With the Lights Out]]'', in 2004.<ref name="Gaar">{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G |date=2006 |title=Nirvana's ''In Utero'' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfSoAwAAQBAJ&q=Scentless+Apprentice |location=United States |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781441186096 |access-date=August 27, 2018}}</ref>{{rp|26–27}}


"Scentless Apprentice" was first recorded in the studio by Craig Montgomery at [[BMG-Ariola]] studios in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] in January 1993.<ref name="Gaar"/> This demo version was closer in duration and structure to the finished version of the song, although it featured unfinished lyrics.<ref name="Gaar"/> The song was debuted live shortly before this version was recorded, on January 16, 1993 at the [[Hollywood Rock|Hollywood Rock Festival]] in [[São Paulo]], Brazil, and performed again shortly after, on January 23, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro.<ref name="Gaar"/> Although the song's structure had been trimmed by that point, as evidenced by the studio version, the latter of these performances still developed into an extended jam that lasted nearly 20 minutes.<ref name="Gaar"/> During this performance, Cobain spat into the lenses of the TV cameras filming the show,<ref name="Gaar2">{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G |date=2009 |title=The Rough Guide to Nirvana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43kpI6WGcnUC&q=Scentless+Apprentice |location=United States |publisher=[[Dorling-Kindersley|Dorling Kindersley Ltd]] |page=98 |isbn=9781858289458 |access-date=August 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |date=January 23, 1993 |title=Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice (LIVE Brazil, 1993) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpJWSPV4mck |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/XpJWSPV4mck |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=August 22, 2018 |location=[[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] |publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and also exposed himself to one of the cameras, in a sequence that he referred to as "the penis and flower petal face in camera performance piece" in the posthumously released ''[[Journals (Cobain)|Journals]]''.<ref>Cobain, Kurt. "Journals". Published in 2002 by Riverhead Books. {{ISBN|978-1-57322-232-7}}.</ref> Footage of this part of the performance appears in the 1994 home video, ''[[Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!]]''.
"Scentless Apprentice" was first recorded in the studio by Craig Montgomery at [[BMG-Ariola]] studios in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] in January 1993.<ref name="Gaar"/>{{rp|26–27}} This demo version was closer in duration and structure to the finished version of the song, although it featured unfinished lyrics.<ref name="Gaar"/>{{rp|26–27}} The song was debuted live shortly before this version was recorded, on January 16, 1993 at the [[Hollywood Rock|Hollywood Rock Festival]] in [[São Paulo]], Brazil, and performed again shortly after, on January 23, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro.<ref name="Gaar"/>{{rp|26–27}} Although the song's structure had been trimmed by that point, as evidenced by the studio version, the latter of these performances still developed into an extended jam that lasted nearly 20 minutes.<ref name="Gaar"/>{{rp|26–27}} During this performance, Cobain spat into the lenses of the TV cameras filming the show,<ref name="Gaar"/>{{rp|98}}<ref>{{cite AV media |date=January 23, 1993 |title=Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice (LIVE Brazil, 1993) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpJWSPV4mck |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/XpJWSPV4mck |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=August 22, 2018 |location=[[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] |publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and also exposed himself to one of the cameras, in a sequence that he referred to as "the penis and flower petal face in camera performance piece" in the posthumously released ''[[Journals (Cobain)|Journals]]''.<ref>Cobain, Kurt. "Journals". Published in 2002 by Riverhead Books. {{ISBN|978-1-57322-232-7}}.</ref> Footage of this part of the performance appears in the 1994 home video, ''[[Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!]]''.

⚫
===In Utero===


⚫
===''In Utero''===
The final studio version of "Scentless Apprentice" was recorded by [[Steve Albini]] in February 1993, at [[Pachyderm Studios]] in [[Cannon Falls, Minnesota]]. This version was released on the band's third and final studio album, ''[[In Utero]]'', in September 1993.
The final studio version of "Scentless Apprentice" was recorded by [[Steve Albini]] in February 1993, at [[Pachyderm Studios]] in [[Cannon Falls, Minnesota]]. This version was released on the band's third and final studio album, ''[[In Utero]]'', in September 1993.


The song was recorded on February 13, the first day of the ''In Utero'' sessions, under the working title "Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck", a reference to the rhythm of the guitar riff.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaar|first=Gillian G.|title=In Utero|date=2006|publisher=Continium|location=United States|isbn=0-8264-1776-0|page=42}}</ref> According to Albini, Cobain recorded two vocal takes for the song: one main vocal take, and a second "where Kurt was just singing parts of the song to emphasize them or parts of the song with a different sound quality."<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaar|first=Gillian G.|title=In Utero|date=2006|publisher=Continium|location=United States|isbn=0-8264-1776-0|page=45}}</ref>
The song was recorded on February 13, the first day of the ''In Utero'' sessions, under the working title "Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck", a reference to the rhythm of the guitar riff.<ref name="Gaar" />{{rp|42}} According to Albini, Cobain recorded two vocal takes for the song: one main vocal take, and a second "where Kurt was just singing parts of the song to emphasize them or parts of the song with a different sound quality."<ref name="Gaar" />{{rp|45}}


===Post-In Utero===
===Post-''In Utero''===
⚫
The final live performance of "Scentless Apprentice" was at Nirvana's second-to-last show, at [[Tivoli Hall|Hala Tivoli]] in [[Ljubljana, Slovenia]] on February 27, 1994.{{cn}}

⚫
The final live performance of "Scentless Apprentice" was at Nirvana's second-to-last show, at [[Tivoli Hall|Hala Tivoli]] in [[Ljubljana, Slovenia]] on n February 27, 1994.


==Composition==
==Composition==

===Music===
===Music===
"Scentless Apprentice" is a [[grunge]] and [[hard rock]] song that runs for a duration of three minutes and forty-eight seconds.<ref name="Cobain">{{cite web|url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0082314|title=Nirvana 'Scentless Apprentice' Sheet Music in F Minor - Download & Print|last=Cobain|first=Kurt|website=Musicnotes.com|publisher=[[BMG Rights Management]]|access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref> According to the [[sheet music]] published at Musicnotes.com by [[BMG Rights Management]], it is written in the [[time signature]] of [[Time signature#Frequently used time signatures|common time]], with a moderately fast rock [[tempo]] of 111 [[Tempo#Beats per minute|beats per minute]].<ref name="Cobain"/> "Scentless Apprentice" is composed in the [[Key (music)|key]] of [[F Minor]], while Cobain's [[vocal range]] spans one [[octave]] and four [[Note (music)|notes]], from a low of [[B♭ (musical note)|B{{music|flat}}<sub>4</sub>]] to a high of [[F (musical note)|F<sub>5</sub>]].<ref name="Cobain"/> The song has a basic sequence of F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub> in the verses and F{{music|sharp}}<sub>6</sub>–F{{music|sharp}}<sub>7</sub>–F{{music|sharp}}<sub>maj7</sub>–F{{music|sharp}} during the refrain as its [[chord progression]].<ref name="Cobain"/>
"Scentless Apprentice" is a [[grunge]] and [[hard rock]] song that runs for a duration of three minutes and forty-eight seconds.<ref name="Cobain">{{cite web|url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0082314|title=Nirvana 'Scentless Apprentice' Sheet Music in F Minor - Download & Print|last=Cobain|first=Kurt|website=Musicnotes.com|publisher=[[BMG Rights Management]]|access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref> According to the [[sheet music]] published at Musicnotes.com by [[BMG Rights Management]], it is written in the [[time signature]] of [[Time signature#Frequently used time signatures|common time]], with a moderately fast rock [[tempo]] of 111 [[Tempo#Beats per minute|beats per minute]].<ref name="Cobain"/> "Scentless Apprentice" is composed in the [[Key (music)|key]] of [[F Minor]], while Cobain's [[vocal range]] spans one [[octave]] and four [[Note (music)|notes]], from a low of [[B♭ (musical note)|B{{music|flat}}<sub>4</sub>]] to a high of [[F (musical note)|F<sub>5</sub>]].<ref name="Cobain"/> The song has a basic sequence of F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub>–E{{music|flat}}<sub>5</sub>/C–F<sub>5</sub> in the verses and F{{music|sharp}}<sub>6</sub>–F{{music|sharp}}<sub>7</sub>–F{{music|sharp}}<sub>maj7</sub>–F{{music|sharp}} during the refrain as its [[chord progression]].<ref name="Cobain"/>


===Lyrics===
===Lyrics===

The song's lyrics are based on the 1985 novel ''[[Perfume (novel)|Perfume]]'' by German writer [[Patrick Süskind]], one of Cobain's favorite books.<ref name="Crisafulli">{{cite book |last=Crisafulli |first=Chuck |date=1996 |title=Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song |location=London |publisher=Omnibus Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris/page/84 84 - 85] |isbn=0711958092 |url=https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris/page/84 }}</ref> The novel is set in France in the eighteenth century and tells the story of an orphan who is born with two notable characteristics – he has an extraordinary sense of smell, but he himself gives off no body odor of any kind.<ref name="Crisafulli"/> He is reluctantly cared for at an orphanage by nurses who think he is devil-spawned but he eventually becomes an apprentice to a master perfume-maker and later commits a series of murders in order to make perfumes from the scents of his victims.<ref name="Crisafulli"/> Cobain had not originally intended to turn his reading of the book into a song, but the need for strong lyrics arose when the band collaborated in writing a song together from square one.<ref name="Crisafulli"/>
The song's lyrics are based on the 1985 novel ''[[Perfume (novel)|Perfume]]'' by German writer [[Patrick Süskind]], one of Cobain's favorite books.<ref name="Crisafulli">{{cite book |last=Crisafulli |first=Chuck |date=1996 |title=Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song |location=London |publisher=Omnibus Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris/page/84 84 - 85] |isbn=0711958092 |url=https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris/page/84 }}</ref> The novel is set in France in the eighteenth century and tells the story of an orphan who is born with two notable characteristics – he has an extraordinary sense of smell, but he himself gives off no body odor of any kind.<ref name="Crisafulli"/> He is reluctantly cared for at an orphanage by nurses who think he is devil-spawned but he eventually becomes an apprentice to a master perfume-maker and later commits a series of murders in order to make perfumes from the scents of his victims.<ref name="Crisafulli"/> Cobain had not originally intended to turn his reading of the book into a song, but the need for strong lyrics arose when the band collaborated in writing a song together from square one.<ref name="Crisafulli"/>


Line 52: Line 46:
*{{cite magazine |title=AOR Albums National Airplay |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/93/RR-1993-10-22-OCR-Page-0074.pdf|magazine=[[Radio & Records]] |publisher=Radio & Records |date=October 22, 1993 |page=74 |access-date=July 17, 2021}}</ref>
*{{cite magazine |title=AOR Albums National Airplay |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/93/RR-1993-10-22-OCR-Page-0074.pdf|magazine=[[Radio & Records]] |publisher=Radio & Records |date=October 22, 1993 |page=74 |access-date=July 17, 2021}}</ref>


Albini was also impressed with the song, citing it and the ''In Utero'' track "Milk It" as "the two that struck me as the biggest step for the band," because they represented "the biggest break" from the band's more traditionally melodic material, and "the most adventurous sonically" songs on the album.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaar|first=Gillian G.|title=In Utero|date=2006|publisher=Continium|location=United States|isbn=0-8264-1776-0|page=44}}</ref>
Albini was also impressed with the song, citing it and the ''In Utero'' track "Milk It" as "the two that struck me as the biggest step for the band," because they represented "the biggest break" from the band's more traditionally melodic material, and "the most adventurous sonically" songs on the album.<ref name="Gaar" />{{rp|44}}


===Legacy===
===Legacy===
Line 103: Line 97:
*{{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |title=Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana |date=1994 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-47199-8 }}
*{{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |title=Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana |date=1994 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-47199-8 }}
*{{cite book |last= Crisafulli |first= Chuck |date= 1996 |title= Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song |location= London |publisher= Omnibus Press |isbn= 0711958092 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris }}
*{{cite book |last= Crisafulli |first= Chuck |date= 1996 |title= Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song |location= London |publisher= Omnibus Press |isbn= 0711958092 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/teenspiritstorie0000cris }}
*{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G |date=2006 |title=Nirvana's In Utero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfSoAwAAQBAJ&q=Scentless+Apprentice |location=United States |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781441186096 }}
*{{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G |date=2006 |title=Nirvana's ''In Utero'' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfSoAwAAQBAJ&q=Scentless+Apprentice |location=United States |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781441186096 }}


{{Nirvana}}
{{Nirvana}}

Revision as of 17:22, 17 April 2023

"Scentless Apprentice"
Song by Nirvana
from the album In Utero
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1993
RecordedFebruary 12–26, 1993
StudioPachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota, United States
Genre
Length3:48
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic
Producer(s)Steve Albini
In Utero track listing
12 tracks
  1. "Serve the Servants"
  2. "Scentless Apprentice"
  3. "Heart-Shaped Box"
  4. "Rape Me"
  5. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle"
  6. "Dumb"
  7. "Very Ape"
  8. "Milk It"
  9. "Pennyroyal Tea"
  10. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"
  11. "tourette's"
  12. "All Apologies"

"Scentless Apprentice" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. It is the second track on their third and final studio album In Utero, released in September 1993.

Origin and recording

Early history

"Scentless Apprentice" was written during a band rehearsal in 1992. Unlike most Nirvana songs, the guitar riff was written by Grohl, rather than Cobain. "It was such a cliché grunge Tad riff that I was reluctant to even jam on it," Cobain told Michael Azerrad, in the 1993 Nirvana biography, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.[3] "But I decided to write a song with that just to make [Grohl] feel better, to tell you the truth, and it turned out really cool."[3] Cobain added the descending guitar riff played over the main riff and arranged the song, while Novoselic helped compose the song's second section. "I think most of the reason that song sounds good is because of the singing style and the guitar parts I do over the top of the basic rhythm," Cobain told Azerrad, "But hell, that was great."[3] It is the only song on In Utero on which all three band members received songwriting credits.[4]

The earliest known recording is an instrumental studio jam, recorded on October 6, 1992, featuring former Scratch Acid drummer Rey Washam on drums, along with Grohl on guitar and Novoselic on bass.[5] The first recording featuring Cobain is a boombox-recorded rehearsal demo, over nine minutes long, that was released on the posthumous Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out, in 2004.[6]: 26–27 

"Scentless Apprentice" was first recorded in the studio by Craig Montgomery at BMG-Ariola studios in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January 1993.[6]: 26–27  This demo version was closer in duration and structure to the finished version of the song, although it featured unfinished lyrics.[6]: 26–27  The song was debuted live shortly before this version was recorded, on January 16, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, and performed again shortly after, on January 23, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro.[6]: 26–27  Although the song's structure had been trimmed by that point, as evidenced by the studio version, the latter of these performances still developed into an extended jam that lasted nearly 20 minutes.[6]: 26–27  During this performance, Cobain spat into the lenses of the TV cameras filming the show,[6]: 98 [7] and also exposed himself to one of the cameras, in a sequence that he referred to as "the penis and flower petal face in camera performance piece" in the posthumously released Journals.[8] Footage of this part of the performance appears in the 1994 home video, Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.

In Utero

The final studio version of "Scentless Apprentice" was recorded by Steve Albini in February 1993, at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. This version was released on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero, in September 1993.

The song was recorded on February 13, the first day of the In Utero sessions, under the working title "Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck", a reference to the rhythm of the guitar riff.[6]: 42  According to Albini, Cobain recorded two vocal takes for the song: one main vocal take, and a second "where Kurt was just singing parts of the song to emphasize them or parts of the song with a different sound quality."[6]: 45 

Post-In Utero

The final live performance of "Scentless Apprentice" was at Nirvana's second-to-last show, at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, Slovenia on February 27, 1994.[citation needed]

Composition

Music

"Scentless Apprentice" is a grunge and hard rock song that runs for a duration of three minutes and forty-eight seconds.[9] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by BMG Rights Management, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderately fast rock tempo of 111 beats per minute.[9] "Scentless Apprentice" is composed in the key of F Minor, while Cobain's vocal range spans one octave and four notes, from a low of B♭4 to a high of F5.[9] The song has a basic sequence of F5–E♭5/C–F5–E♭5/C–F5–E♭5/C–F5 in the verses and F♯6–F♯7–F♯maj7–F♯ during the refrain as its chord progression.[9]

Lyrics

The song's lyrics are based on the 1985 novel Perfume by German writer Patrick Süskind, one of Cobain's favorite books.[4] The novel is set in France in the eighteenth century and tells the story of an orphan who is born with two notable characteristics – he has an extraordinary sense of smell, but he himself gives off no body odor of any kind.[4] He is reluctantly cared for at an orphanage by nurses who think he is devil-spawned but he eventually becomes an apprentice to a master perfume-maker and later commits a series of murders in order to make perfumes from the scents of his victims.[4] Cobain had not originally intended to turn his reading of the book into a song, but the need for strong lyrics arose when the band collaborated in writing a song together from square one.[4]

Release and reception

Cobain was pleased with the recording, telling Spin in a 1993 interview that the band wanted to release the song as the album's second single, following "Heart-Shaped Box."[10] Ultimately, no single was ever released for the song before Cobain's death in April 1994, with "All Apologies" and "Rape Me" released as double A-sides as the album's second single instead. However, the song did receive some airplay on US album-oriented rock radio in 1993.[11]

Albini was also impressed with the song, citing it and the In Utero track "Milk It" as "the two that struck me as the biggest step for the band," because they represented "the biggest break" from the band's more traditionally melodic material, and "the most adventurous sonically" songs on the album.[6]: 44 

Legacy

In 2008, "Scentless Apprentice" was included in The Pitchfork 500, a book published by the online music publication Pitchfork featuring their list of the "greatest songs" from 1977 to 2006. It was one of two Nirvana songs included in the book, along with the band's 1991 breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked "Scentless Apprentice" at number 24 in their list of the top 102 Nirvana songs.[12] In a reader's poll conducted by Louder Sound in May 2018, "Scentless Apprentice" placed 23rd.[13] In 2019, it was ranked at number 15 on The Guardian's Nirvana's 20 greatest songs list.[14]

Accolades

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1998 Kerrang! United Kingdom 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars[15] 18
2004 Q 10 Songs Based On Novels[16] 9
2019 The Guardian Nirvana's 20 greatest songs - ranked![14] 15

Other releases

  • The demo recorded at BMG-Ariola in Rio de Janeiro in January 1993 was released on the 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero in September 2013.
  • The In Utero version was re-released on the compilation CD Strung Out, released by Guitar World in a joint promotion with DGC in 1993.[17][18] It also appeared on the promo cassette Concrete Music Bloc - Volume III, released by the heavy metal record label Concrete Corner in 1993.[19]
  • The 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero also featured a 2013 remix of the song by Albini.
  • A live version, recorded at Pier 48 in Seattle on December 13, 1993, appeared on the live compilation, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, in November 1996. An edited version of the show, including "Scentless Apprentice," was first aired on MTV on December 31, 1993, and the full show was released on the live video Live and Loud in September 2013

References

  1. ^ "Kurt Cobain's 10 best Nirvana lyrics". Far Out Magazine. February 20, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Pan, Arnold (September 23, 2013). "The Best Ever Nirvana Recording In Utero Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary". PopMatters. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. p. 324. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e Crisafulli, Chuck (1996). Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song. London: Omnibus Press. pp. 84 - 85. ISBN 0711958092.
  5. ^ "Hear an Early, Unheard Version of Nirvana's Scentless Apprentice". Kerrang!. January 18, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gaar, Gillian G (2006). Nirvana's In Utero. United States: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781441186096. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  7. ^ Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice (LIVE Brazil, 1993). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: YouTube. January 23, 1993. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  8. ^ Cobain, Kurt. "Journals". Published in 2002 by Riverhead Books. ISBN 978-1-57322-232-7.
  9. ^ a b c d Cobain, Kurt. "Nirvana 'Scentless Apprentice' Sheet Music in F Minor - Download & Print". Musicnotes.com. BMG Rights Management. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  10. ^ "The Nirvana Wars". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. June 2002. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  11. ^
  12. ^ "No Apologies: All 102 nirvana songs ranked". Rolling Stone. April 5, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  13. ^ Edwards, Briony (August 24, 2022). "The 30 greatest Nirvana songs ever - and the stories behind them". Louder Sound. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Petridis, Alexis (June 20, 2019). "Nirvana's 20 greatest songs - ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  15. ^ "The Hit List: 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars". Kerrang!. No. 709. July 25, 1998. p. 49. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  16. ^ "50: Book Of Rock - 10 Songs Based On Novels". Q. 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  17. ^ "Strung Out". www.livenirvana.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  18. ^ Nirvana, In Utero - Super Deluxe Edition - liner notes (2013).
  19. ^ "Concrete Corner: Concrete Music Bloc (Volume III, September 1993)". www.livenirvana.com. Retrieved August 18, 2018.

Bibliography

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