Legend Retrospective: Nirvana

3. "It's Better To Burn Out Than To Fade Away"

The band's third album saw the group resist the temptation to churn out another 'Nevermind'. Instead, with 'In Utero', Nirvana sacrificed potential album sales in order to retain artistic credibility and stay loyal to their underground sound and the fans who appreciated it. In fact, Cobain had initially wanted to call the album 'I Hate Myself and I Want to Die' and refused to allow their record label to hear the album while it was in progress. When they did eventually hear it, DGC Records expressed concern at the album's overall sound and obvious lack of commercial appeal. Despite these concerns, the album was a commercial success and entered the charts at number one. In addition, the album received huge critical acclaim, with most music critics pleased that the band had departed so drastically from the sound of 'Nevermind' and had refused to 'go mainstream' despite their now-obvious appeal to the mainstream. Defiant to the end, it was, in hindsight, the perfect way for a band like Nirvana to bow out. Sadly, on April 5th 1994, Kurt Cobain's personal problems became too much to bear and he took his own life through a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He left behind a suicide note which contained lyrics from a Neil Young song: "It's better to burn out than to fade away."