Day After Day #149: Aneurysm

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). 

Aneurysm (1991)

They weren't around for very long for obvious reasons, but Nirvana got a lot done. Kurt Cobain and company didn't do anything that hadn't been done before, but they did it well and did it at the right time to make the most impact. Unless you were paying close attention to the Seattle music scene in 1988-1990, you probably didn't know much about Nirvana.

But after their second album Nevermind came out in September 1991, everybody knew who Nirvana was. The first single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and its iconic video hit home for an entire generation of Gen X kids who had grown tired of the classic rock and hair metal that was all over radio and MTV. The album blew up, putting Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl on the cover of every music magazine.

One of the B-sides for the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single was "Aneurysm," which was recorded at the band's first session with Grohl on New Year's Day 1991. The song was written by Cobain after he split with his girlfriend Tobi Vail; biographer Charles Cross wrote that the song was an attempt to win Vail back.

"Come on over and do the twist/Overdo it and have a fit/Love you so much, it makes me sick/Come on over and do the twist/Beat me out of me/Beat me out of me/Beat me out of me/Beat me out of me."

"Aneurysm" follows the loud/quiet/loud pattern that the band loved, alternating between heavy riffing and quieter sections. 

Lyrically, the song isn't very complex, but there's a lot going on musically. Cobain's delivery of the line "Love you so much, it makes me sick" makes it sound like he's in physical pain as he squeezes out the syllables. The end of that relationship has him singing in the refrain as the song careens to its conclusion: "She keeps it pumping straight to my heart."

The song didn't get a lot of attention when it first came out, but it was included on the B-sides collection Incesticide in 1992, when the band was everywhere and DJs and fans were looking for more Nirvana content. This was when I discovered the song, which instantly became one of my favorites by the band.

A live version of "Aneurysm" was released as a single when the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah came out in October 1996.

Of course, by this time, Cobain had been dead for 18 months and the band was no longer a functioning entity (but very much was still releasing content). 

In the 30 years since Cobain's passing, Nirvana has become a classic rock act and its songs are played repeatedly on rock radio stations. There are several songs that I never need to hear again, including "Teen Spirit." But I never get sick of hearing "Aneurysm," which is one of the greatest songs to emerge from the grunge era.