Butch Vig recently sat down with NME and spoke about, among other things, producing Nirvana‘s hallmark sophomore album Nevermind.
Vig shared that the entire album was a relative breeze to track: once the band had their parts and the sound down, every song was done in one or two takes, three takes tops. That is, except for the album’s closer: “Something In The Way.”
“We tried doing “Something In The Way” out in the studio and it just didn’t work, the drums were too big and loud,” said Vig. That’s when Cobain came into the control room with his acoustic guitar to give Vig an idea of the sound he was looking for. “And I said, ‘Hold on, let’s just record it right here.’ So I kicked everybody out of the control room, brought a mic in, turned the fans off and unplugged the phone and we recorded him on acoustic guitar there and then, and built the song from it.”
Vig went on to explain that it was Grohl who had the hardest time with the song, getting his drumming to match the quiet tone and slow tempo of Cobain’s take. Poor Dave. He just wants to bang on the drums like Animal from the Muppets. Be sure to click here and celebrate his birthday.