The Nirvana track Krist Novoselic thought defined Seattle: “It’s the quintessential grunge song”
For a band as synonymous with grunge as Nirvana, they were never exactly entrenched in the Seattle scene. There had been many outfits that paved the way for Kurt Cobain to come storming in with his anthems that would change the world, but they were still fairly wet behind the ears as a group when they first got signed to Sub Pop Records. Regardless of how long they had been in the game, Krist Novoselic thought the essence of the Seattle sound was in the track ‘School’.
Out of all Nirvana’s albums, Bleach is probably the closest one they have to a pure grunge experience. Nevermind was the big pop album that blew them up, and In Utero was the anti-establishment reaction to becoming stars, but their debut, with Chad Channing still on drums, is the sound of a band still finding themselves.
Granted, most Nirvana fans tend to know the album purely for ‘About A Girl’, which feels like a warm-up for the poppier songs they would play later. If you’re in the market for something heavier, ‘School’ is probably one of the most punk rock tracks of the band’s career.
They would soon adopt punk-tinged sounds on pieces like ‘Territorial Pissings’, but Cobain delivers a masterclass about doing the bare minimum for a rock song. As much as it relies on attitude, you tend to forget that it only has three lyrical lines that are repeated throughout the entire track.
When talking about the recording of Bleach with Guitar World, Novoselic was knocked out when he heard Cobain come into rehearsal with ‘School’, saying, “It was a really productive time. I remember when Kurt brought in the riff from ‘School’. I said, ‘Oh my god, that’s the most Seattle fucking riff I’ve ever heard in my life’. It’s the quintessential grunge song.”
That riff also lends itself pretty well to being played on bass. Although its guttural sound was grunge to its core, there’s still that punk spirit to the rest of the track. Cobain relies heavily on power chords throughout the chorus and delivers what could only be called an anti-solo in the breakdown, almost sounding like he was trying to strangle the guitar.
Given that Nirvana would end up shaping grunge for the masses just a few albums later, this feels like a farewell to the sound grunge was built on. The big leagues were awaiting bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, but this felt like the last time the city sounded like the music made by outfits such as Green River and Melvins when they started back in the day.
Despite Nirvana moving on to bigger things in the years since then, ‘School’ remains one of the best live cuts they’ve ever released. The studio version is still fine for what it is, but when you look at the footage from their gig at The Paramount, the energy is absolutely electric, especially when Cobain unleashes in the final chorus.
Cobain would ultimately be unhappy with the way Nirvana was perceived as a pop band, but whenever they played ‘School’, fans got to see them for what they truly were. They could be professional and even a little bit saccharine when they wanted to, but live, Nirvana were always the epitome of rock and roll rawness.
