90's Jams #22: Nirvana "Scentless Apprentice" (1993)

Grohl delivers The Monster: The most giant drum-intro pretty much ever. Although "When The Levee Breaks" comes very close, "Scentless Apprentice" enters Godzilla-territory thanks to whoever it was that recorded this (whether it was Albini or that other guy) sounding like some kind of mutant-strength creature banging with police batons on a gigantic custom built drumkit. Upon In Utero's release, this was considered noteworthy as the only track with the songwriting credit of Cobain/Novoselic/Grohl, with Cobain hinting that he enjoyed the process and likely would have used it more. As for the screamed lyrics, they were written about a novel called Perfume that Cobain was feelin' at the time. Apparently it was the type of book that became far less hipster-friendly after he admitted it was among his favorites. Without any knowledge of Perfume, the lyrics just seem fucked up and typical brilliant Nirvana, hugely accentuated by the band's cathartic spazziness.