For the main Trivia page for Nirvana, go here.
- Artist Disillusionment: Nirvana suffered from this after the huge success of Nevermind, which was so unexpected that it hung like an albatross around their neck. In Utero was intended to return to their original fanbase and throw off everyone else. The first song, "Serve the Servants", opens with the fatigued lines: "Teenage angst has paid off well/now I'm bored and old". It has been said that William S. Burroughs declared Kurt Cobain to be already dead when he first heard this song.
- Corpsing: Kurt struggles to avoid laughing in "Milk It"'s final chorus.
- Distanced from Current Events: The American release of the "Pennyroyal Tea" single was recalled shortly after Kurt Cobain's death in April 1994. The single's cancellation may have been in part due to the title of one of the b-sides, "I Hate Myself and Want to Die," although it may have been cancelled regardless of this, so as not to capitalize on Cobain's death. In April 2014, the song was re-released on 7-inch vinyl for Record Store Day 2014, limited to only 6000 copies. It was the top-selling vinyl single of Record Store Day in the US, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.
- Follow the Leader: The use of cellos on this album was obviously influenced by Bob Mould's Workbook.
- Promoted Fanboy: Kurt Cobain was excited to have Steve Albini on board as an engineer for this album, having been a huge fan of Big Black (he even attended their final concert) and Rapeman since the early days of Nirvana.
- Short Run in Peru: An unusually extreme example happened with the single release of "Pennyroyal Tea". The single was released in Germany (and handed out as a promo release in the UK) a whopping twenty years before its American release, owed to Kurt Cobain's suicide motivating DGC to recall the single in 1994.
- Troubled Production: The album had a couple issues in getting finished. While the recording sessions went by smoothly and with little trouble, the post-production process was a difficult time. The executives at Geffen Records didn't like the initial mixes and felt that it wouldn't sell, deeply dispiriting Kurt Cobain who soon came to have a similar opinion. The band tried employing Bob Ludwig to remix the recordings, but despite Krist Novoselic's approval, Cobain still wasn't satisfied. They then went to producer Scott Litt for additional mixing help, but initial producer Steve Albini wouldn't give the masters to him until Novoselic had to convince him to do so.
- What Could Have Been:
- Kurt Cobain initially wanted William S. Burroughs to appear in the music video for "Heart-Shaped Box" as the old man on the cross; he ultimately decided it was "too degrading" for someone of Burroughs's status, so he didn't ask.
- In addition to the Working Title, the album was supposed to have the song “I Hate Myself and Want to Die,” but it was felt the album already had enough “noise” tracks.
- Working Title:
- I Hate Myself and Want to Die. The band later released a song with that title.
- Verse Chorus Verse was also considered, which was also used as the title of a couple of different songs note
