From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a live album by American rock band Nirvana, released on October 1, 1996. It features live performances recorded between 1989 and 1994.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling nearly 159,000 copies in its first week of release. It spent 25 weeks on the chart and became the band's sixth platinum album in the US since 1991. It was ranked ninth in Rolling Stones 1997 critics' poll of the top 10 albums of 1996.
Background
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was the second Nirvana album released following the death of vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain in April 1994. It was compiled primarily by bassist Krist Novoselic, who also wrote the album's liner notes. Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl had originally intended to release a live album in 1994 to accompany what became MTV Unplugged in New York in a two-disc set originally titled Verse Chorus Verse (which had also been a working title for the band's final studio album, In Utero, as well as the title of two Nirvana songs). However, Novoselic and Grohl reportedly had a difficult time working on the album so soon after Cobain's death, and the album was compiled, but never mixed. The original track list featured several songs not present on From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah—"Serve the Servants", "Dive", "Rape Me", "Sappy" and "Territorial Pissings"—and different versions of the overlapping songs, other than "Negative Creep" and "Scentless Apprentice".
The album's title refers to the Wishkah River in Aberdeen, Washington, where Cobain claimed to have spent nights sleeping under the Young Street Bridge as a teenager (as referenced in the song "Something in the Way", from Nevermind). This claim has since been refuted by Novoselic, who said, "He never lived under that bridge. He hung out there, but you couldn't live on those muddy banks, with the tide coming up and down. That was his own revisionism."
Performances used
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah avoids all songs that appear on MTV Unplugged, with the exception of "Polly", using a heavier, electric version of the song from 1989, as it was originally performed live. It also avoids using any versions of songs previously released as B-sides, or on the home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!, which had been compiled by Cobain, and was released in unfinished form in November 1994.
London Astoria
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah uses three tracks from the band's show at the London Astoria on December 3, 1989, including "Intro," which features Cobain screaming at the start of the show over a distorted guitar as a vocal warm-up. It also uses "Polly" and "Breed," the latter of which then featured the working title "Imodium", and a slower tempo than the version of the song which eventually appeared on Nevermind. These songs mark the only appearance of Chad Channing, the band's drummer from 1988 to 1990, on the compilation.
The London Astoria show was praised by the British music press at the time, with the NME calling the band "Sub Pop's answer to The Beatles".
Paramount Theatre
Only one song, "Negative Creep," appears from the band's performance at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on October 31, 1991, although the vinyl version features additional stage banter from this show on side four. The Paramount concert was the band's first performance in Seattle since the release of Nevermind the previous month, and has retrospectively been described by English music journalist Everett True as "the end of an era" that showed that "incontrovertibly, Nirvana was now big news".
"Negative Creep" became the eighth song from the show to be officially released, after "Drain You," "School" and "Been a Son" appeared as Nevermind b-sides in 1991 and 1992, and "About a Girl," "Breed," "Polly" and ""Endless, Nameless" appeared on Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!. The full show was released as Live at the Paramount on DVD in 2011, and on vinyl in 2019.
Teatro Castello
The version of "Spank Thru" which appears on the album was taken from the band's show at Teatro Castello in Rome, Italy on November 19, 1991. Although the show was professionally filmed and recorded, "Spank Thru" remains the only song from this concert to be officially released.
Paradiso
Nirvana were originally scheduled to play at the Melkweg in Amsterdam on November 24, 1991, but due to the band's increasing popularity, the show was rescheduled to a night later at the larger Paradiso in Amsterdam. The versions of "School," "Lithium," Been a Son" and "Blew" on the compilation are all taken from this show.
As with the Paramount show, several other songs from the Paradiso concert appeared on Live! Tonight!! Sold Out!!. The full show was released in November 2021 on CD and Blu-Ray on the 30th anniversary "Super Deluxe" version of Nevermind.
Del Mar Fairgrounds
The versions of "Drain You," "Aneurysm" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the compilation are taken from the band's show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California, on December 28, 1991. The show was part of a four-date Californian mini-tour in late December with American rock bands Red Hot Chili Peppers, who headlined, and Pearl Jam, who were the first openers. Describing the tour in his 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, American music journalist Michael Azerrad wrote that "No one was happy about Nirvana playing second fiddle to the Peppers, but they had already committed to it during the chaos of the American tour. At any rate, Nirvana stole the show."
The full show was released in November 2021 on the 30th anniversary "Super Deluxe" version of Nevermind, which featured the complete concert on CD.
Reading Festival
Only one song, "tourette's," appears from the band's headlining set on August 30, 1992 at the annual Reading Festival in Reading, England. The song, which later appeared on In Utero, was introduced by Cobain under its working title of "The Eagle Has Landed."
"tourette's" became the second song from the concert to be officially released, following "Lithium" on Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! The full concert was released as Live at Reading on CD and DVD in November 2009.
Springfield Civic Center
"Sliver" is taken from the band's show at the Springfield Civic Center, Springfield on November 10, 1993. The vinyl version of the album also features additional stage banter from this concert, as well as a brief clip of band performing "Dumb" before stopping it after Cobain accidentally repeats the second verse instead of playing the bridge. These represent the earliest appearance, chronologically, of second guitarist Pat Smear on the album, as well as the only surfaced professional recordings from this show.
"Live and Loud"
"Scentless Apprentice" is taken from the band's "Live and Loud" show, which was filmed by MTV on December 13, 1993 at Pier 48 in Seattle. An abridged version of the show, which included "Scentless Apprentice," was first broadcast by the network on December 31, 1993.
The show was set to feature Pearl Jam and Nirvana as co-headliners, but the former band cancelled shortly before the performance, which led to Nirvana playing a longer set. The concert featured American hip-hop act Cypress Hill and American alternative rock band The Breeders as supporting acts. Nirvana's full set was released as Live and Loud on DVD in 2013, and on vinyl in 2019.
Great Western Forum
"Heart-Shaped Box" is taken from a show, which benefitted the non-profit media watch organization Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, on December 30, 1993. At that show Cobain also dedicated a song to the recently deceased River Phoenix. The vinyl version features additional stage banter from this show. These represent the only surfaced professional recordings from this concert, along with "The Man Who Sold the World", which appeared on a bootleg in 2002. The band reportedly played to an audience of about 13,000.
Seattle Center Arena
"Milk It" is the only performance from 1994, taken from the band's show at the Seattle Center Arena on January 7, 1994. The vinyl version features additional stage banter from this show, including a clip of Cobain dedicating a song to recently deceased celebrities Frank Zappa, River Phoenix, Fred Gwynne, Dixie Lee Ray and Tip O'Neil, along with "you dumb ass who just threw water on me." These represent the only surfaced professional recordings from this show, along with "Serve the Servants" from the abandoned Verse Chorus Verse album.
Release and reception
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah became Nirvana's third consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and fourth to top the chart overall.
No commercial singles were released from the album, but promotional singles were sent out for radio play for a number of the songs, including "Aneurysm" (US and UK), "Drain You" (US), "Lithium" (Portugal and the Netherlands), and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (France, Portugal and Spain). A limited edition promotional box set was also released in Australia containing three promotional singles for the songs "Aneurysm", "Heart-Shaped Box", and "Polly". The box set also included Nevermind It's an Interview, a promotional interview disc released in 1992.
Critical reception
Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone described From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah as the "emotional, visceral flip side" of MTV Unplugged in New York, and as "riotous and liberating", showing the band "in their most natural state, smashing instruments and inducing irreversible tinnitus." Johnny Cigarettes of the NME called it "a gloriously electrifying aural photo-book of a truly legendary rock’n’roll band, the like of which burns across our skies all too rarely in this sterile, cynical and safely post-modern age."
The album was ranked at number nine in Rolling Stones 1997 critics' poll of the top 10 albums of 1996, and number 14 in Spins "20 Best Albums of 1996" list.
Legacy
In his Allmusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the compilation "a little scattershot" but "still a terrific record" which "finds a great band in top form." American music critic Robert Christgau wrote, "I play Unplugged to refresh my memory of a sojourner's spirituality. I'll play this one when I want to remember a band's guts, fury, and rock and roll music"; Tim Peacock of uDiscover called the album "the formidable yang to the subtle, acoustic yin of MTV Unplugged," and praised the selections from the band's "scintillating" Paradiso and "transcendent" Del Mar Fairgrounds shows in particular.
Keith Cameron welcomed the compilation's emphasis on the "positive...versions of 'Polly' and 'Breed' from the Lamefest gig at London's Astoria in December 1989, [the night] Nirvana opened for Mudhoney and Tad at a two-thirds empty theatre, [and] served notice that they were the band destined to redirect the gaze of the pop world onto a town called Seattle."
Radio & Records described the 1996 documentary Teen Spirit: The Tribute to Kurt Cobain as the "video scrapbook companion to Nirvana's From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah LP".
Track listing
Notes:
The four Amsterdam songs and three California songs above were later released as part of the 30th Anniversary edition of Nevermind.
Both live performances of "Milk It" and "Heart-Shaped Box" were later released as a part of the 30th Anniversary edition of In Utero.
Personnel
Nirvana
Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar
Krist Novoselic – bass guitar
Dave Grohl – drums (except on "Polly" and "Breed"), background vocals on "Drain You", "Aneurysm", "Been a Son", "Sliver" and "Heart-Shaped Box"
Chad Channing – drums on "Polly" and "Breed"
Pat Smear – rhythm guitar on "Sliver", "Scentless Apprentice", "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Milk It", background vocals on "Sliver" and "Heart-Shaped Box"
Production
Scott Litt, Craig Montgomery, Craig Overbay – engineering
Bob Ludwig – mastering
Shauna O'Brien, Diane Stata – production, production coordination
Andy Wallace – engineering, mixing on tracks 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, and 13
Krist Novoselic – liner notes
Robert Fisher – design
Lisa Johnson, Kevin Mazur, Charles Peterson – photography
Mark Kates – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
Live albums published posthumously
Nirvana (band) live albums
1996 live albums
1996 compilation albums
Nirvana (band) compilation albums
Geffen Records compilation albums
Geffen Records live albums
DGC Records live albums