Breed (song)

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"Breed"
Song by Nirvana
from the album Nevermind
ReleasedSeptember 24, 1991 (1991-09-24)
RecordedMay 1991
Studio
Genre
Length3:03
Label DGC
Songwriter(s) Kurt Cobain
Producer(s)
Nevermind track listing
13 tracks
  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
  2. "In Bloom"
  3. "Come as You Are"
  4. "Breed"
  5. "Lithium"
  6. "Polly"
  7. "Territorial Pissings"
  8. "Drain You"
  9. "Lounge Act"
  10. "Stay Away"
  11. "On a Plain"
  12. "Something in the Way"
  13. "Endless, Nameless"

"Breed" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the fourth song on their second studio album, Nevermind , released in September 1991.

Contents

Originally titled "Imodium", the demo for "Breed" had a slower tempo. It was one of two Nevermind songs, along with "Polly", dating back to 1989, when the band were still supporting their debut album, Bleach . It was never released as a single, but remained a regular part of the band's setlist until Cobain's suicide in April 1994.

Early history

Written by Cobain in 1989, "Breed" was originally titled "Imodium," after the anti-diarrhea medicine used by Tad Doyle, lead singer of Seattle rock band TAD, during Nirvana's and TAD's shared European tour. [4] It was first performed live on October 8, 1989, at the Lif Ticket Lounge in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Breed" was first recorded in the studio in April 1990 by Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, during the recording sessions for what was intended to be the band's second album on Sub Pop, their original label. [4] However, this planned album was cancelled after the departure of drummer Chad Channing, and the session was instead used as a demo tape, which led to the band signing with DGC Records in 1991.

Nevermind

Vig re-recorded the song during the sessions for what became the band's second album and major label debut, Nevermind, in May 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Cobain recorded four vocal takes for the song, with each successive take "getting worse because he blew his voice out," as Vig recalls. [5] The first take was chosen as the master. [5] Both recordings of the song also feature the guitar being panned from one channel to the next during the guitar solo to create what Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross called "a dizzying" effect. [5]

Post-Nevermind

"Breed" was performed for the last time live at Nirvana's final concert, at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany on March 1, 1994.

Composition

Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.svg
"Breed"
A 20-second sample of the song's first verse and chorus. "Breed" is a surging punk rock song that showcases purposefully nonsensical lyrics. [6] [7] They address themes of teenage apathy and fear in the American middle-class. [5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Music

"Breed" is a punk rock song that runs for a duration of three minutes and three seconds. [1] [8] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by BMG Rights Management, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderately fast rock tempo of 160 beats per minute. [8] "Breed" is composed in the key of F♯ minor, while Kurt Cobain's vocal range spans one octave and three notes, from the low-note of C5 to the high-note of F♯5. [8] The song follows a basic sequence of F♯5–E5–F♯5–A5–E5 in the verses and bridge and D5–A5–C5–B5 during the refrain as its chord progression. [8]

Lyrics

Lyrically, the song addresses themes of teenage apathy and fear within the American middle-class. [5] Stevie Chick of Kerrang wrote that lyrics such as "We can plant a house, we can build a tree" displayed Cobain's "gift for crafting witty, purposeful nonsense." [7]

Reception

In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked "Breed" at number four on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs, with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd calling it "one of the most alive songs on Nevermind." [9] In 2020, it was ranked 13th on Kerrang!'s "The 20 Greatest Nirvana Songs - Ranked" list, with Sam Law writing that it was "probably Nirvana's greatest heads-down banger," and that "its 184 seconds feel guaranteed to light the fuse on every mosh within a 100-mile radius." [10] In 2023, Stephen Thomas Erlewine ranked it at number 13 on the A.V. Club's "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked" list. [11]

In 2017, to mark what would have been Cobain's 50th birthday, the Phonographic Performance Limited released a list of the top 20 most played Nirvana songs on television and the radio in the United Kingdom, in which "Breed" was ranked at number 13. [12]

Fans have observe that there are some musical similarities between "Breed" and Wipers' song "Potential Suicide" [13] and Nirvana also covered their tracks, "D-7" and "Return of the Rat".

On April 24, 2020, the song was performed by American musicians Post Malone and Travis Barker during their 15-song Nirvana tribute concert, which was livestreamed on YouTube and raised more than $4 million for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. [14] [15]

The Nevermind version of "Breed" appears in the 2007 American action film Shoot 'Em Up , directed by Michael Davis. [16] [17] It also appears in the video games Tony Hawk's Proving Ground and MotorStorm . [18] It was added to the list of tracks playable in the video game Fortnite Festival on May 2, 2024. [19]

Personnel

Personnel are taken from the 30th anniversary edition of Nevermind [20]

Certifications

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Sales certifications for "Breed"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [21] Gold35,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) [22] Gold15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [23]
Sales since 2004 		Silver200,000‡
United States (RIAA) [24] Gold500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Accolades

YearPublicationCountryAccoladeRank
2020 Kerrang! United Kingdom"The 20 Greatest Nirvana Songs - Ranked" [10] 13
2023 The A.V. Club United States"Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked" [11] 13

Other releases

Cover versions

YearArtistAlbum
2002 Steve Earle Side Tracks
2007 Otep The Ascension

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References

  1. 1 2 Brown, Dean. "No Recess: The Heaviest Nirvana Mixtape". PopMatters . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  2. ↑ Chick, Stevie (September 23, 2021). "Nirvana: The stories behind every song on Nevermind". Kerrang! . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  3. ↑ Nevermind (CD liner notes). Nirvana. DGC. 1991.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. 1 2 Azerrad, Michael (1994). Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday. p. 137. ISBN   0-385-47199-8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Jovanovic, Rob (September 2004). Nirvana" The Recording Sessions. S A F Pub Ltd. ISBN   978-0946719600.
  6. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Nevermind – Nirvana". AllMusic . Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Chick, Stevie (September 24, 2019). "Nirvana: The Stories Behind Every Song On Nevermind". Kerrang! . Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Cobain, Kurt. "Nirvana 'Breed' Sheet Music in F# Minor - Download & Print". Musicnotes.com. BMG Rights Management . Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  9. ↑ Shepherd, Julianne Escebedo (April 8, 2015). "No Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked". Rolling Stone . Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Law, Sam (June 19, 2020). "The 20 Greatest Nirvana Songs - Ranked". Kerrang!. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 21, 2023). "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  12. ↑ "20 most-played Nirvana songs revealed to mark Kurt Cobain's 50th birthday". PlanetRock.com . Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  13. ↑ Sacher, Andrew. "15 songs that influenced Nirvana (probably)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved January 5, 2025.
  14. ↑ Paige, Gawley (April 27, 2020). "Post Malone's Nirvana Tribute Concert Raises More Than $4 Million for Coronavirus Relief". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  15. ↑ "NIRVANA TRIBUTE RAISES OVER $1 MIL". TMZ. April 27, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  16. ↑ Lemire, Christy (September 5, 2007). "Review: 'Shoot 'Em Up' Is Mind-Numbing". The Oklahoman . Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  17. ↑ Van Horn, Shawn (March 28, 2022). "From 'The Batman' to 'Succession': The Best Uses of Nirvana Songs in Movies and TV". Collider . Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  18. ↑ Chiapinni, Dan (August 28, 2007). "Tony Hawk's Proving Ground soundtrack revealed". GameSpot . Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  19. ↑ Fortnite Festival [@FNFestival] (April 30, 2024). "Is it Thursday yet? 🎶" (Tweet). Retrieved April 30, 2024– via Twitter.
  20. ↑ Nirvana - Nevermind, November 12, 2021, retrieved November 18, 2023
  21. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2024 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  22. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Nirvana – Breed". Radioscope. Retrieved January 17, 2025.Type Breed in the "Search:" field.
  23. ↑ "British single certifications – Nirvana – Breed". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  24. ↑ "American single certifications – Nirvana – Breed". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved December 9, 2024.
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