Nirvana’s final album, In Utero, celebrates its 20th anniversary on September 14, and a deluxe anniversary edition of the record will hit stores on September 24. In Utero was originally released on September 14, 1993, and immediately jumped to the No. 1 seat on Billboard’s Top 200. The Live and Loud concert DVD will also be released with the special edition album.

In Utero was created by alternative punk-rock band, Nirvana, in February 1993. Nirvana’s three band members, Kurt Cobain (Frontman), Dave Grohl (Drummer) and Krist Novoselic (Bassist), holed up for thirteen days at Pachyderm Studio in rural Cannon Falls, Minnesota, to record the album.

Nirvana was a garage band formed in Washington in 1989 and, ironically, only wanted to make music and avoid mainstream popularity – unfortunately for them, they achieved immeasurable fame and worldwide acclaim, which began with their sophomore album, Nevermind. Nirvana’s first single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” (a track from Nevermind) peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top 100 in 1991.

In Utero was not the most successful of Nirvana’s albums, but it did receive a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album in 1994, and was also certified platinum, five times over.

Sadly, In Utero was Nirvana’s final album, as the band’s short lifespan ended with the suicide of Kurt Cobain in 1994.

Journalist David Fricke may have summed up In Utero, best, in his 1993 Rolling Stone review of the album. Two days after its September 14 release, Fricke wrote an article for Rolling Stone in which he summarized his thoughts on the record:

“In Utero is a lot of things – brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once. But more than anything, it’s a triumph of will.”

Image courtesy P.B. Rage on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.