Throwback Thursday: ‘Lithium’ by Nirvana (1992)

Kurt Cobain's birthday was on the 20th and Andy's birthday is today, so I thought a Nirvana song would be perfect for Throwback Thursday!

I mean, what do you get someone who turns 40? A song!

"Lithium" was written by Kurt Cobain. He said the song was about a guy who turns to religion during a time of crisis and thoughts of suicide!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Nirvana, made up of Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic, originally recorded "Lithium" in 1990, but re-recorded it for their album, Nevermind. 

"Lithium" was released as the third single from Nevermind on July 13, 1992. The single featured cover art from Cobain, the single contained a sonogram of the musician's then-unborn child Frances Bean Cobain, who is now 24.

According to Wikipedia:

In the United States, the single charted at number 64 on the BillboardHot 100 single chart. "Lithium" peaked at number 16 and 25 on the BillboardMainstream Rock and Modern Rock Tracks airplay charts, respectively.^[15]] In 2012, NME ranked Lithium at number 52 on its list of the "100 Best

Tracks Of The '90s" in 2012.^[17]

The music video, directed by Kevin Kerslake, was originally going to be animated, but when the band realized animation would take four months, they instead went ahead with the concept of a video full of live performance footage. Biographer, Michael Azerrad wrote, "Although [the video] was enlivened by Kerslake's neat trick of using more violent footage during the quiet parts of the song and vice versa, it was something of a disappointment from a band and a song that promised so much."

Ouch. Brutal.

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