The Nirvana song MTV banned them from playing

At the start of the 1990s, Nirvana was the breath of fresh air that most of the rock scene needed. Instead of the thousands of hair metal bands that liked to strut their stuff all over MTV, Kurt Cobain didn’t care one bit about what the mainstream had to say, often playing the music he liked and shoving away any other band that came close. Although MTV was riding the wave of grunge as far as it would take them, they did draw the line at one particular Nirvana song.

When compiling material for their new album, fans were shocked to hear a Nirvana song titled ‘Rape Me’. Although Cobain clarified numerous times that the song was an anti-sexual assault track, most of the public never cared to read past the main title of the song, thinking that Cobain was just looking to offend.

Looking through Nirvana’s back catalogue, though, Cobain had been advocating for women’s rights throughout his music, later saying, “The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape.”

While Nirvana’s stance on the matter may have been explicit, that didn’t stop MTV executives from banning them from playing the song during the MTV Awards. After discussing what song Nirvana would be allowed to play that night, the censors shut down any chance of them playing ‘Rape Me’, instead suggesting to play their beloved Nevermind cut ‘Lithium’.

Looking through Nirvana’s back catalogue, though, Cobain had been advocating for women’s rights throughout his music, later saying, “The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape.”

While Nirvana’s stance on the matter may have been explicit, that didn’t stop MTV executives from banning them from playing the song during the MTV Awards. After discussing what song Nirvana would be allowed to play that night, the censors shut down any chance of them playing ‘Rape Me’, instead suggesting to play their beloved Nevermind cut ‘Lithium’.

Though Cobain eventually relented, he did sort of get his way when the cameras started rolling. Instead of going into the song, Cobain is heard playing a small snippet of ‘Rape Me’ before cutting back to ‘Lithium’ as if nothing had happened. Although MTV executives may have been pissed, this only solidified Cobain as the voice of his generation, being the punk rock answer to all of the safe acts that MTV had previously shown.

Even when the band were playing their performance on MTV Unplugged, Cobain still wasn’t over the parameters that the TV channel put on them in the early days. As the band take a break before going into their cover of Lead Belly’s ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’, a fan can be heard requesting that they play ‘Rape Me’. As a bit of dry wit, Cobain looks toward the crowd and quips that he wasn’t sure MTV would let them play that song.

Even if Nirvana couldn’t work past the censors, they got most of their ideas out on their records. Before they had showcased their darker emotions on In Utero, the spare acoustic song ‘Polly’ was one of the first times Cobain talked about the dark subject matter, depicting a scenario in which a woman escapes sexual assault because of her attacker letting his guard down.

Despite having hangups in MTV’s studios, Nirvana were never shy about voicing their opinion on more off-colour subjects. In a world where most bands were writing songs about nonsense, Cobain figured that he would use his platform to talk about the real horrors going on in the world.