10 Legendary Rock Songs That Feature Weird Instruments
6. Something in the Way - Nirvana
Given the reputation that Nevermind got in Kurt Cobain's eyes, it's probably a good thing that they didn't experiment all that often. Since Kurt criticized the album for sounding much too slick for its own good, just imagine what he would say if they had to layer one guitar on top of the other. On the most delicate song on the record though, Kurt needed a little bit of classical glue to hold the whole thing together.
Then again, it was going to be hard for anyone to play along with Something in the Way, as the guitar on the record has only five strings and is completely out of tune. The foundation of the song was too good to pass up though, and the band realized that they needed something a bit stronger than Krist Novoselic's bass to anchor things down. After getting the basic track, they got one of their friends to play cello on the song, which gave the whole thing a much dour tone.
The lyrics were already dark, but hearing the cello whine underneath everything just makes it all the more sad. It wasn't an easy feat getting the final take either, with the cellist having the same problem of trying to stay in tune with Kurt's out of tune guitar. So what you're hearing is probably a little bit off in spots, but that's not a bad thing by any stretch. If anything, it adds a little more eeriness to the whole thing.