Scentless Apprentice

1993 song by Nirvana

"Scentless Apprentice"

Song by Nirvana
from the album  In Utero
Released| September 21, 1993
Recorded| February 12–26, 1993
Studio| Pachyderm (Cannon Falls, Minnesota)
Genre|

* Grunge[1]
* hard rock[2]

Length| 3:48
Label| DGC
Songwriter(s)|

* Kurt Cobain
* Dave Grohl
* Krist Novoselic

Producer(s)| Steve Albini
In Utero track listing

12 tracks

1. "Serve the Servants"
2. "Scentless Apprentice"
3. "Heart-Shaped Box"
4. "Rape Me"
5. "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle"
6. "Dumb"
7. "Very Ape"
8. "Milk It"
9. "Pennyroyal Tea"
10. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"
11. "tourette's"
12. "All Apologies"

"Scentless Apprentice" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. It is the second track on their third and final studio album In Utero, released in September 1993.

Based on the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind, "Scentless Apprentice" is unique among Nirvana songs in that the main guitar riff was written by Grohl, rather than Cobain. The band briefly considered releasing it as the album's second single, following "Heart-Shaped Box," but no single for the song was released by the time of Cobain's suicide in April 1994.

## Early history

[edit]

"Scentless Apprentice" was written during a band rehearsal in 1992. Unlike most Nirvana songs, the guitar riff was written by Grohl, rather than Cobain. "It was such a cliché grunge Tad riff that I was reluctant to even jam on it," Cobain told Michael Azerrad, in the 1993 Nirvana biography, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.[3] "But I decided to write a song with that just to make [Grohl] feel better, to tell you the truth, and it turned out really cool."[3] Cobain added the ascending guitar riff played over the main riff and arranged the song, while Novoselic helped compose the song's second section. "I think most of the reason that song sounds good is because of the singing style and the guitar parts I do over the top of the basic rhythm," Cobain told Azerrad, "But hell, that was great."[3] It is the only song on In Utero on which all three band members received songwriting credits.[4]

The earliest known recording is an instrumental studio jam, recorded without Cobain on October 6, 1992, featuring former Scratch Acid drummer Rey Washam on drums, along with Grohl on guitar and Novoselic on bass.[5] The first recording featuring Cobain is a boombox-recorded rehearsal demo, over nine minutes long, that was later released on the posthumous Nirvana box set With the Lights Out (2004). According to its booklet, it was recorded sometime in the winter of 1992.[6]: 26–27

"Scentless Apprentice" was first recorded in the studio by Craig Montgomery at BMG-Ariola studios in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January 1993.[6]: 26–27 This demo version was closer in duration and structure to the finished version of the song, although it featured unfinished lyrics.[6]: 26–27 The song was debuted live shortly before this version was recorded, on January 16, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, and performed again shortly after, on January 23, 1993 at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro.[6]: 26–27 Although the song's structure had been trimmed by that point, as evidenced by the studio version, the latter of these performances still developed into an extended jam that lasted nearly 20 minutes.[6]: 26–27 During this performance, Cobain spat into the lenses of the TV cameras filming the show,[6]: 98 [7] and also exposed himself to one of the cameras, in a sequence that he referred to as "the penis and flower petal face in camera performance piece" in the posthumously released Journals.[8] Footage of this part of the performance appears in the 1994 home video, Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.

## In Utero

[edit]

The final studio version of "Scentless Apprentice" was recorded by Steve Albini in February 1993, at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. This version was released on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero, in September 1993.

The song was recorded on February 13, the first day of the In Utero sessions, under the working title "Chuck Chuck Fo Fuck", a reference to the rhythm of the guitar riff.[6]: 42 According to Albini, Cobain recorded two vocal takes for the song: one main vocal take, and a second "where Kurt was just singing parts of the song to emphasize them or parts of the song with a different sound quality."[6]: 45

## Post-In Utero

[edit]

The final live performance of "Scentless Apprentice" was at Nirvana's second-to-last show, at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, Slovenia on February 27, 1994.[citation needed]

## Composition

[edit]

### Music

[edit]

"Scentless Apprentice" is a grunge and hard rock song that runs for a duration of three minutes and forty-eight seconds.[9] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by BMG Rights Management, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderately fast rock tempo of 111 beats per minute.[9] "Scentless Apprentice" is composed in the key of F Minor, while Cobain's vocal range spans one octave and four notes, from a low of B♭3 to a high of F4.[9] The song has a basic sequence of F5–E♭5/C–F5–E♭5/C–F5–E♭5/C–F5 in the verses and F♯6–F♯7–F♯maj7–F♯ during the refrain as its chord progression.[9]

### Lyrics

[edit]

The song's lyrics are based on the 1985 novel Perfume by German writer Patrick Süskind, one of Cobain's favorite books.[4] The novel is set in France in the eighteenth century and tells the story of an orphan who is born with two notable characteristics – he has an extraordinary sense of smell, but he himself gives off no body odor of any kind. He is reluctantly cared for at an orphanage by nurses who think he is devil-spawned. Eventually, he becomes an apprentice to a master perfume-maker, and later commits a series of murders in order to make perfumes from the scents of his victims.[4]

In a 1993 interview, Cobain said: "I've read Perfume by Patrick Süskind about ten times in my life, and I can't stop reading it. It's like something that's just stationary in my pocket all the time, it just doesn't leave me. And every time I'm bored, like when I'm on an airplane or something, I read it over and over again."[10] Cobain had not originally intended to turn his reading of the book into lyrics. But as the song's music turned out quite fierce, the need arose for some strong lyrics to match, prompting Cobain to base them on the grim story of Perfume.[4]

## Release and reception

[edit]

Cobain was pleased with the recording, telling Spin in a 1993 interview that the band wanted to release the song as the album's second single, following "Heart-Shaped Box."[11] Ultimately, no single was ever released for the song before Cobain's death in April 1994, with "All Apologies" and "Rape Me" released as double A-sides as the album's second single instead. However, the song did receive some airplay on US album-oriented rock radio in 1993.[12]

Albini was also impressed with the song, citing it and the In Utero track "Milk It" as "the two that struck me as the biggest step for the band," because they represented "the biggest break" from the band's more traditionally melodic material, and "the most adventurous sonically" songs on the album.[6]: 44

### Legacy

[edit]

In 2008, "Scentless Apprentice" was included in The Pitchfork 500, a book published by the online music publication Pitchfork featuring their list of the "greatest songs" from 1977 to 2006. It was one of two Nirvana songs included in the book, along with the band's 1991 breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked "Scentless Apprentice" at number 24 in their list of the top 102 Nirvana songs.[13] In a reader's poll of Nirvana songs conducted by Louder Sound in May 2018, "Scentless Apprentice" placed 23rd.[14] In 2019, it was ranked at number 15 on The Guardian's "Nirvana's 20 greatest songs" list.[15] In 2023, Stephen Thomas Erlewine ranked it at number 19 on his list of Nirvana's "30 greatest songs" for the A.V. Club, calling it "a singularly powerful piece of rock and roll."[16]

## Personnel

[edit]

* Kurt Cobain – guitar, vocals
* Dave Grohl – drums
* Krist Novoselic – bass

## Live promotional versions

[edit]

A live version of the song, from the band's show at the Seattle Center Arena in Seattle on January 7, 1994, was released as a streaming single in September 2023, to promote the 30th anniversary reissue of In Utero, set to be released in October 2023. The "Super Deluxe" version of the set will feature the complete concert.[17][18]

## Accolades

[edit]

Year  | Publication  | Country  | Accolade  | Rank

|
|
|
|

1998  | Kerrang! | United Kingdom  | 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars[19] | 18
2004  | Q | 10 Songs Based On Novels[20] | 9
2019  | The Guardian | Nirvana's 20 greatest songs - ranked![15] | 15
2023  | The A.V. Club | United States  | Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked[21] | 19

## Other releases

[edit]

* The demo recorded at BMG-Ariola in Rio de Janeiro in January 1993 was released on the 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero in September 2013.

* The In Utero version was re-released on the compilation CD Strung Out, released by Guitar World in a joint promotion with DGC in 1993.[22][23] It also appeared on the promo cassette Concrete Music Bloc - Volume III, released by the heavy metal record label Concrete Corner in 1993.[24]

* The 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero also featured a 2013 remix of the song by Albini.

* A live version, recorded at Pier 48 in Seattle on December 13, 1993, appeared on the live compilation, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, in November 1996. An edited version of the show, including "Scentless Apprentice," was first aired on MTV on December 31, 1993, and the full show was released on the live video Live and Loud in September 2013

* The 30th anniversary "Super Deluxe" reissue of In Utero will also include a version of "Scentless Apprentice" recorded at Palaghiaccio in Marino, Italy on February 22, 1994 as bonus material.[25][26]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Kurt Cobain's 10 best Nirvana lyrics". Far Out Magazine. February 20, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
2. ^ Pan, Arnold (September 23, 2013). "The Best Ever Nirvana Recording In Utero Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary". PopMatters. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
3. ^ a b c Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. p. 324\. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.
4. ^ a b c d Crisafulli, Chuck (1996). Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song. London: Omnibus Press. pp. 84 - 85. ISBN 0711958092.
5. ^ "Hear an Early, Unheard Version of Nirvana's Scentless Apprentice". Kerrang!. January 18, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gaar, Gillian G (2006). Nirvana's In Utero. United States: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781441186096. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
7. ^ Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice (LIVE Brazil, 1993). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: YouTube. January 23, 1993. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
8. ^ Cobain, Kurt. "Journals". Published in 2002 by Riverhead Books. ISBN 978-1-57322-232-7.
9. ^ a b c d Cobain, Kurt. "Nirvana 'Scentless Apprentice' Sheet Music in F Minor - Download & Print". Musicnotes.com. BMG Rights Management. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
10. ^ One of Kurt Cobain's Final Interviews - Incl. Extremely Rare Footage. WatchMojo. 20 February 2017. Event occurs at 0:25. Archived from the original on 27 January 2025 - via YouTube.com.
11. ^ "The Nirvana Wars". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. June 2002. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
12. ^
* "AOR Albums National Airplay" (PDF). Radio & Records. Radio & Records. October 1, 1993. p. 66. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
* "AOR Albums National Airplay" (PDF). Radio & Records. Radio & Records. October 8, 1993. p. 70. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
* "AOR Albums National Airplay" (PDF). Radio & Records. Radio & Records. October 15, 1993. p. 62. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
* "AOR Albums National Airplay" (PDF). Radio & Records. Radio & Records. October 22, 1993. p. 74. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
13. ^ "No Apologies: All 102 nirvana songs ranked". Rolling Stone. April 5, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
14. ^ Edwards, Briony (August 24, 2022). "The 30 greatest Nirvana songs ever - and the stories behind them". Louder Sound. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
15. ^ a b Petridis, Alexis (June 20, 2019). "Nirvana's 20 greatest songs - ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
16. ^ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen (21 September 2023). "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
17. ^ Monroe, Jazz. "Nirvana Reissuing In Utero With 2 Unreleased Live Albums for 30th Anniversary". Pitchfork. No. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
18. ^ Deaux, John (September 5, 2023). "Nirvana In Utero: 30th anniversary multi-format reissues arrive October 27, 2023". allabouttherock.co.uk. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
19. ^ "The Hit List: 20 Great Nirvana Songs Picked by the Stars". Kerrang!. No. 709\. July 25, 1998. p. 49. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
20. ^ "50: Book Of Rock - 10 Songs Based On Novels". Q. 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
21. ^ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen (21 September 2023). "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
22. ^ "Strung Out". www.livenirvana.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
23. ^ Nirvana, In Utero - Super Deluxe Edition \- liner notes (2013).
24. ^ "Concrete Corner: Concrete Music Bloc (Volume III, September 1993)". www.livenirvana.com. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
25. ^ Monroe, Jazz. "Nirvana Reissuing In Utero With 2 Unreleased Live Albums for 30th Anniversary". Pitchfork. No. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
26. ^ Deaux, John (September 5, 2023). "Nirvana In Utero: 30th anniversary multi-format reissues arrive October 27, 2023". allabouttherock.co.uk. Retrieved September 8, 2023.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-47199-8.
* Crisafulli, Chuck (1996). Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711958092.
* Gaar, Gillian G (2006). Nirvana's In Utero. United States: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781441186096.

* v
* t
* e

Nirvana

* Kurt Cobain
* Krist Novoselic
* Aaron Burckhard
* Dale Crover
* Dave Foster
* Chad Channing
* Jason Everman
* Dan Peters
* Dave Grohl

Studio albums|

* Bleach
* Nevermind
* In Utero

Live albums|

* MTV Unplugged in New York
* From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
* Live at Reading

Compilation albums|

* Incesticide
* Nirvana
* Sliver: The Best of the Box
* Icon

Box sets|

* Singles
* With the Lights Out
* Nevermind: The Singles

Extended plays|

* Blew
* Hormoaning

Singles|

* "Love Buzz"
* "Sliver"
* "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
* "Come as You Are"
* "Lithium"
* "In Bloom"
* "Heart-Shaped Box"
* "All Apologies" / "Rape Me"
* "Pennyroyal Tea"
* "About a Girl"
* "You Know You're Right"

Split singles|

* "Candy" / "Molly's Lips"
* "Here She Comes Now" / "Venus in Furs"
* "Puss" / "Oh, the Guilt"

Promotional singles|

* "On a Plain"
* "The Man Who Sold the World"
* "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
* "Lake of Fire"
* "Aneurysm"
* "Drain You"
* "Endless, Nameless"

Other charted
songs|

* "Dumb"
* "Sappy"
* "Something in the Way"

Other songs|

* "Been a Son"
* "Blew"
* "Breed"
* "Dive"
* "Do Re Mi"
* "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle"
* "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"
* "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam"
* "Marigold"
* "Negative Creep"
* "Old Age"
* "Opinion"
* "Plateau"
* "Polly"
* "Scentless Apprentice"
* "Serve the Servants"
* "Spank Thru"
* "Talk to Me"

Videos|

* Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!
* MTV Unplugged in New York
* Live at Reading
* Live at the Paramount
* Live and Loud

Related|

| Articles|

* Discography (Bootlegs)
* Awards and nominations
* Songs
* Concerts
* "Smells Like Nirvana"
* Frances Bean Cobain
* Suicide of Kurt Cobain
* Kurt Cobain Memorial Park
* Viretta Park
* Church of Kurt Cobain
* 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief

|

Bands|

* 3rd Secret
* Eyes Adrift
* Fecal Matter
* Flipper
* Foo Fighters
* Giants in the Trees
* Melvins
* The No WTO Combo
* Scream
* Sweet 75
* Them Crooked Vultures
* Queens of the Stone Age

Touring members|

* Pat Smear
* Melora Creager
* John Duncan
* Lori Goldston

Books|

* Nirvana: Flower Sniffin', Kitty Pettin', Baby Kissin' Corporate Rock Whores
* Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana
* Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song
* Who Killed Kurt Cobain?
* Heavier Than Heaven
* Journals
* Love and Death
* Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects
* Dirty Blonde
* Cobain Unseen
* Taking Punk to the Masses
* Letters to Kurt
* Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989
* I Found My Friends
* Cobain on Cobain
* Serving the Servant

Albums|

* Nevermind It's an Interview
* The "Priest" They Called Him
* Verse Chorus Verse
* The Songs of Kurt Cobain
* Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings

Tribute albums|

* Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana
* Newermind: A Tribute to Nirvana
* Nevermind Tribute
* In Utero, in Tribute, in Entirety
* Whatever Nevermind
* Doused in Mud, Soaked in Bleach

Films and
documentaries|

* 1991: The Year Punk Broke
* A Tribute to Kurt Cobain
* Teen Spirit: The Tribute to Kurt Cobain
* Hype!
* The Vigil
* Kurt & Courtney
* Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind
* Last Days
* All Apologies: Kurt Cobain 10 Years On
* Nirvana – A Classic Album Under Review – In Utero
* The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain
* Kurt Cobain: About a Son
* Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
* Soaked in Bleach
* When Nirvana Came to Britain
* Kurt Cobain: Moments That Shook Music

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