Lithium (song)
| lithium | |
|---|---|
| Nirvana | |
| publication | July 13, 1992 |
| length | 4:17 |
| Genre (s) | Grunge |
| Author (s) | Kurt Cobain |
| Producer (s) | Butch Vig |
| album | Nevermind |
Lithium is a song by the American rock band Nirvana . It was released on July 13, 1992 and was the third single from their album Nevermind , which was released in September 1991.
Emergence
The song was first recorded on March 20, 1990 at Evergreen State College , when the band used the equipment and video studio there to make music videos for some of their songs. The lyrics are from front man Kurt Cobain . A few weeks later, the first real demo of the song was created in a session with the later Nevermind producer Butch Vig in Madison , Wisconsin . When Nirvana finally recorded the song Lithium in the recording studio under the direction of producer Butch Vig, drummer Dave Grohl learned, through advice from producer Vig, to play for the first time as a technical aid with a click track that sets the pace. Because Butch Vig was of the opinion that Nirvana unconsciously became faster and faster when the piece Lithium was played directly live . With the help of the click-track, drummer Dave Grohl, who previously never drummed with a metronome , but purely out of a personal sense of rhythm, was supposed to learn to stabilize and adjust his playing tempo. On September 25, 1990, Nirvana played the piece in a radio performance on the radio station Kaos Fm.
Title and text
The text of the piece describes the thoughts of someone who has found comfort in God. This seems to be his only hold. The love for the person he cares about, on the other hand, does not seem to be able to continue. The [possible] consolation in religion remains: “I like it, I'm not gonna crack” (German: “I like that, I won't break”). Kurt Cobain said of the song: “I always thought that some people should have religion in their lives (...) That's a good thing. If that saves someone, that's OK. And the person in 'Lithium' needed that. "
The song title is reminiscent of the use of lithium - more precisely its salts, such as lithium carbonate - in the context of lithium therapy in the treatment of bipolar disorders , manias or depression . Michael Azerrad, author of a biography on nirvana, also refers to Karl Marx 's statement about the opium of the people with regard to the subject of “psychotropic drugs” .
music
Lithium alternates hard, distorted power chords with a softer, mostly muted guitar accompaniment.
Video
The video is a compilation of various live performances of the song. At the points where the plucked guitar accompaniment is in the foreground, quieter live scenes predominate, while at the more aggressive points there are correspondingly wild live recordings. B. Instruments are smashed. Overall, the video is less elaborate than the videos for Nevermind's other singles ( In Bloom , Come as You Are , Smells Like Teen Spirit ).
Live performance at the MTV Video Music Awards
Nirvana's performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, 1992 received a lot of attention. It was asked to play Smells Like Teen Spirit , their first and biggest hit, but the band wanted to play a new song called Rape Me instead , which MTV, probably with regard to the title (German: Vergewaltige mich ), rejected. Nirvana then agreed to play the current hit single Lithium .
At the beginning of the performance, Kurt Cobain first played the first few bars of Rape Me and then switched to Lithium . He replaced the line of text "I'm to blame for all I've heard / But I'm not sure" with "I'm to blame for all I've heard / But I'm a turd" ( turd : about " Piece of shit ”) according to the band's own tradition of varying the text when performing live.
Towards the end of the performance, spectators began to climb the stage and stage dive . Krist Novoselic tossed his electric bass into the air, but did not catch it again, but was hit on the forehead and fell to the ground. Cobain and drummer Dave Grohl did not notice this and continued to play carefree. After Lithium ended , Kurt Cobain tossed his electric guitar on the speakers, knocked over amplifiers, and began climbing. He stumbled and threw himself into the drum set that Dave Grohl had already left. Meanwhile Dave Grohl called into the microphone: “Hi Axl! Hi Axl! Where is Axl? Hi Axl! Hi Axl? Hi Axl! ”This was Axl Rose , front man of Guns N 'Roses , with whom Nirvana had clashed in advance. Leaving the stage, Kurt Cobain spat on Elton John's piano , which he mistakenly thought was Axl Rose's.
Track list of the single
- Lithium [LP Version] (Cobain) - 4:16
- Been a Son [live, Paramount Theater (Seattle, Washington) 1991-10-31] (Cobain) - 2:14 am
- Curmudgeon (Cobain, Nirvana) - 2:58
- D-7 [only included on a few CDs] - 2:54
Chart positions and awards
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Lithium reached chart positions in the top 100 in various countries, including No. 3 in Finland, No. 5 in Ireland, No. 11 in Great Britain and No. 64 in the United States. In the Netherlands the song was in 17th place and in Belgium and New Zealand each ranked 28th. In Germany, however, the single could not place in the charts.
Lithium was awarded a Silver Record in 2017 for over 200,000 units sold in the UK .
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
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 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
 silver
|
200,000 |
| All in all |
1 × silver |
200,000 |
Appears on live and best-of albums
- 1996 on the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
- 2002 on the best-of album Nirvana
- 2004 on the box set With the Lights Out - here the radio performance from September 25, 1990 at Kaos Fm
- 2009 on the live album Live at Reading
- 2011 on the concert DVD Live at the Paramount
Trivia
Michael Stipe , singer of the band REM , tried at the time to include more "Yeahs" in the REM piece Man on the Moon than were already contained in lithium , which he succeeded (56 compared to 48 in lithium ).
Web links
- Lyrics on metrolyrics.com
- Lithium : Video (Youtube)
- Lithium : appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards 1992 (Youtube)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sound City , documentary by Dave Grohl , producers: John Ramsay, James A. Rota and Dave Grohl, DVD, 108 minutes, 2013, Roswell Films + Therapy Content + Diamond Docs + RCA Records + distribution: Sony Music
- ↑ Lyrics on metrolyrics.com
- ↑ cf. also Kurt Cobain in an interview: “The song is about a man who, after the death of his girlfriend, turns to religion as a last resort to keep himself alive. To keep him from suicide. ”In: Al and Cake: An interview with ... Kurt Cobain. Flipside magazine . May / June 1992
- ↑ Original quote: “I've always felt that some people should have religion in their lives [. . .] That's fine. If it's going to save someone, it's okay. And the person in ['Lithium'] needed it. ”In: Michael Azerrad: Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8 , p. 218
- ↑ Michael Azerrad: Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana . Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8 , p. 218
- ↑ Chart positions: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ Jake Nyman: Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja , Tammi, 2005. ISBN 951-31-2503-3 (Finnish)
- ↑ officialcharts.com
- ↑ International chart tracking lithium
- ↑ UK: silver
- ↑ as told in conversation with Craig Rosen in "REM" Inside Out: The Stories Behind Every Song. Carlton Books 2005, ISBN 978-1844424498