You Know You're Right
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| “You Know You're Right” | |||||
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| Single by Nirvana from the album Nirvana |
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| Released | October 8, 2002 | ||||
| Format | CD, 7", 12" | ||||
| Recorded | January 30, 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington | ||||
| Genre | Grunge | ||||
| Length | 3:38 | ||||
| Label | Geffen | ||||
| Producer | Adam Kasper | ||||
| Nirvana singles chronology | |||||
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"You Know You're Right" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the first song on their 2002 "best-of" album, Nirvana, and the last official single to be released by the band.
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[edit] History
"You Know You're Right" was most likely written in mid-to-late 1993, making it one of the few post-In Utero Kurt Cobain compositions known to exist. For years, it was known from only a bootlegged live version, recorded on October 23, 1993 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, and from a performance of the song by Hole (fronted by Cobain's widow, Courtney Love), recorded at their MTV Unplugged set in 1995.
A studio version of the song had been recorded at Nirvana's final session, on January 30, 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, but remained locked away from fans for years following Cobain's death.
This recording became the object of much legal wrangling between Love and surviving Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. Grohl and Novoselic had wanted the song for a planned Nirvana box set, but Love blocked its release, and a battle over Nirvana's legacy ensued.
Love maintained that "You Know You're Right" would have been "wasted" on a box set, and would be better-suited to a single-disc collection similar to the Beatles' 1.[1] Her lawsuit called the song a "potential 'hit' of extraordinary artistic and commercial value," and her manager asserted that a release with the song could sell 15 million copies.[2]
Novoselic revealed that he did not necessarily disagree with Love: "I've always considered everything she said. We've considered it and agreed and said, 'Hey, that's a great idea, Courtney.' I tried to get along with Courtney as best I could, but there's only so much you can do." [1]
In September 2002, the lawsuit between Love and the surviving Nirvana members was settled, and it was announced that "You Know You're Right" would arrive on "a one-CD history of the band" called Nirvana later that year.[3] An MP3 of the song was leaked on the Internet a few weeks prior to its official release, and the song was put in rotation by a number of alternative rock radio stations, even after being sent cease and desist letters from Nirvana's record label.
"You Know You're Right" was eventually released as a promo single, and a Chris Hafner-directed music video was made. The video used various footage of band performances pieced together to give the effect of the song actually being performed, including brief clips of Cobain singing. The song made No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to moderate airplay. The song charted at #1 on both the Billboard Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks. Coincidently, and in a manner reminiscent of the passing of the torch, Nirvana was succeeded at #1 on the Modern Rock charts by Grohl's other band, the Foo Fighters, with their single "All My Life". Two other then-current songs featuring Grohl, "Tribute" by Tenacious D and "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age, were also receiving heavy play at the time.
In 2004, an acoustic demo of the song was released on With the Lights Out, the long-awaited box set. It was re-released in 2005 on the band's compilation album, Sliver: The Best of the Box. This boombox-recorded rendition is only the third known version of the song.
[edit] Music video
The music video just consists of archive footage of Nirvana videos and concerts.
[edit] Title
"You Know You're Right" may not have had a proper title at the time of Cobain's death in April 1994. According to a 2004 Seattle Times article by Gillian G. Gaar, it was listed simply as "Kurt's Song #1" on the tracking sheets from the Robert Lang Studios recording session. In 1995, it was performed as "You Got No Right" by Hole at their MTV Unplugged appearance.
In the liner notes to Nirvana, Rolling Stone writer David Fricke erroneously states that the song had gone under the previous titles of "Autopilot" and "On a Mountain." Actually, these names were accidentally invented by bootleggers, who had misheard Dave Grohl's comment at the beginning of the live version, played during the American leg of the band's In Utero tour in 1993. Grohl had announced, "This is our last song; it's called 'All Apologies,'" not realizing that Cobain had already started playing "You Know You're Right." Thanks to the poor fidelity of the live recording, bootleggers believed Grohl had introduced the new song, and tried to interpret what they thought was its title.
[edit] Chart positions
Note: You Know You're Right was only released as a promotional single and downloadable single. Retail singles were not released.
| Chart (2002) | Position |
|---|---|
| Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks (US) | No. 1 |
| Hot Modern Rock Tracks (US) | No. 1 |
| The Billboard Hot 100 (US) | No. 45 |
| Triple J Hot 100 (Australia) | No. 12 |
| Finland Mitä hittiä Chart | No. 45 |
| Latvian Airplay Top | No. 11 |
| Polish Airplay Chart | No. 13 |
[edit] Accolades
- Ranked #5 in Spin's "Best Singles of 2002" (2002)
- Ranked #20 in NME's "Top 20 Nirvana Songs" (2004)
- Ranked #9 in Q's "10 Greatest Nirvana Songs Ever" (2004)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Aerials" by System of a Down |
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single October 26, 2002 |
Succeeded by "All My Life" by Foo Fighters |
