Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” has officially surpassed two billion streams on Spotify. The song, which was featured on the band’ 1991 opus Nevermind, joins “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the two billion stream club.
When Nirvana linked up with producer Butch Vig to record Nevermind, the band had recently signed a record deal with Geffen and were itching to record. “When I went to do Nevermind, I had an idea of what it was going to be like,” Vig explained. “I just knew I had to be ready to go, and when Kurt was on his A-game, we had to hit ‘record’.”
Armed with a demo tape that included a version of “Come As You Are,” the band headed to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California and worked with Vig on turning those demos into the songs we know and love today.
“Before they came in, they rehearsed every day for six months, like ten hours a day,” Vig explained. “Kurt, contrary to the slacker attitude, wanted to have a hit record. He wanted to make a really good-sounding album.”
Regarding the presentation of the song, Dave Grohl said they had a particular audience in mind when penning the Nevermind demos. “We wanted them to be almost like children’s songs,” he explained. “We would tell people they were intended to be as simple as possible.”
While there has been much debate about what the song is about, Cobain insisted that the song is “about people, and what they’re expected to act like.” Vig also speculated on the meaning behind the song. He said, “I think that song is about acceptance, and about misfits. You’re cool no matter how screwed up you are. ‘Come As You Are’ is an ode to accepting someone for who they are.”
In other Nirvana news, the band celebrated another Spotify milestone back in November, when “Heart-Shaped Box” joined the streaming service’s Billions Club. “Heart-Shaped Box” was the lead single from Nirvana’s third album, In Utero.
Buy Nirvana’s Nevermind here.
