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It's Bolzhi. I'm Jesse Thorne. In early 1993, Nirvana started working on their third album, a follow-up to Nevermind. It would eventually end up being their last album in utero. So how do you

follow up one of the biggest rock records in history? Where do you even start? For Kirk Cobain,

it started with a letter to Steve Albini.

Will you record our next album?

Albini was a Chicago producer who had recorded with the Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, and the Jesus Lizard,

all important bands like Nirvana, but bands that weren't nearly as famous and scrutinized.

This is of course all rock and roll legend at this point, so forgive me if you have heard

this before, but Albini wrote back with a letter of his own.

He said he would do it with a few conditions. First, he didn't want the label to mess up the recording, so the band should pay for everything.

Second, he didn't want it to take forever. If a record takes more than a week to make, somebody's

ff-up, he wrote. Third, he wanted to be paid a flat fee, like a plumber, he

wrote. How much? Whatever the band thought was fair. No percentages or points or anything like that. He didn't want to feel like he was robbing the band.

Compared to Nevermind, In utero sounded different, more aggressive and immediate and alive. So, I'm born alone.

In utero was received as an instant classic.

It cemented a legacy for nirvana that would endure long after Cobain's death by suicide that following year.

Steve Albini, for his part, would go on to produce hundreds of other records, thousands,

some chart-toppers, mostly underground bands.

In utero cemented Albini's reputation.

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