You can get off to a fast start. You can sustain your opener with the main course, not filler. But can you end on a high note? Sometimes I wonder if recording a strong closer is the most difficult thing to pull off when it comes to album rock. When it comes to the cream of the crop in music, I can think of more strong openers than strong closers. Nonetheless, I still have my favorites which I’ll be featuring on Mental Jukebox all month.
The overwhelming significance of a closing track from a band like Nirvana is not lost on me. There’s a heaviness that can’t be denied. On the US release of In Utero, “All Apologies” appears as the last track. While the UK version came with an additional song, this is the track that many Americans attribute as Kurt Cobain’s final statement. While it was actually written in 1990 – even before Nevermind was released – it still sits at the end of the line: the last song on the band’s last studio album. The gravity of this ending is felt eerily and awfully on the heels of Cobain’s death.
“All Apologies” follows the music structure of many other Nirvana anthems with its quiet-loud-quiet dynamic. This lets the masterful melody shine in the verses, an underrated aspect of Cobain’s songwriting. But, just as vital to Nirvana’s sound, it also enables the screaming in the angst-filled chorus to reach boiling point. The emotion and sense of hopelessness explodes repeatedly. This is not an act. It’s more than a song. It’s like a hand-scrawled page ripped out of Cobain’s journal.
“I wish I was like you. Easily amused. Find my nest of salt. Everything is my fault.”