Negative Creep

	"Negative Creep" "Negative Creep" is exemplary of Seattle's grunge sound. It features Cobain's frantic wails and screaming on top of a repetitious and heavy grunge riff.[1]
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"Negative Creep" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the seventh song on their debut album Bleach, released in June 1989.

Origin and recording

Written by Cobain in 1988, "Negative Creep" was recorded for Bleach by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording in December 1988 and January 1989. It is the only recording on the album that ends with an extended fade-out, giving it a 1960s pop aesthetic.^[2][3]

The song was debuted live on February 25, 1989 at the Husky Union Building at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Composition and lyrics

In his 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Michael Azerrad described "Negative Creep" as "a first-person narrative from an antisocial person," with that person being Cobain himself.^[4] The song received some criticism from members of the Seattle music scene in the late 1980s because of the lyric, "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more," which closely resembled "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More" by Nirvana's Sub Pop label mates, Mudhoney. According to Azerrad, Cobain claimed the similarity was an example of "subconscious theft."^[5]

Reception

"Negative Creep" has been described as one of the "Sub Popiest" songs the band ever recorded,^[6] and "a text book example of Seattle's true grunge sound".^[7] The song has also been likened to thrash metal.^[8][9]

Several critics have noted the intensity of Cobain's vocals on the studio recording, with Mark Richardson of Pitchfork writing, "Cobain's voice through the second verse terrifies me. There is no concern for his physical well being or even his future as a vocalist in a rock band. He sings as intensely as he can possibly sing. Sometimes, when I'm listening loud, I think my headphones might be breaking up from the volume only to realize that the membrane being excited to the point of distortion is actually Cobain's larynx."^[10]

"Negative Creep" appeared in the 1996 grunge documentary, Hype!, and was included in the film's soundtrack

Recording and release history

Covers

• The song was covered by Tura Satana on their 1996 album Relief Through Release.^[11]
• In 1997 it was covered by Machine Head on their single/EP Take My Scars.^[12]
• Dee Dee Ramone, a former member of the well-known punk group The Ramones, covered the song on the 2001 Nirvana tribute Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana.^[13]
• The hard rock band Velvet Revolver, fronted by grunge contemporary Scott Weiland, covered the song as a b-side on their single Slither.^[14]

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics