From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
Live album by Nirvana
Released	October 1, 1996
Recorded	1989–1994
Genre	Grunge, punk rock
Length	53:55
Language	English
Label	DGC
Producer	Shauna O' Brien, Diane Stata
Nirvana live albums chronology
MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996) Live at Reading (2009)

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a live album by the American grunge band, Nirvana. It was released on October 1, 1996 and features live performances recorded from 1989 to 1994. As opposed to Nirvana's previous live album, MTV Unplugged in New York (1994), which features an acoustic performance, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a compilation of live electric performances.

The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200. It spent 25 weeks on the chart and became the band's sixth platinum album since 1991. As of January 2007, it has sold over 1.2 million copies in the United States alone.

Release

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was the second Nirvana album to be released following the death of singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain in April 1994. It was compiled primarily by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who also penned the album's liner notes. Novoselic and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl had originally intended on releasing a live album in 1994, to accompany what became MTV Unplugged in New York in a two-disc set originally titled Verse Chorus Verse, named after both a Nirvana song and the most prevalent song structure in the band's music, but were emotionally unable to compile it so soon after Cobain's death.

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 the band's 1991 release, 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."

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" (U.S., U.K., and Australia), "Drain You" (U.S.), "Lithium" (the Netherlands), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Spain and France), "Heart-Shaped Box" (Australia), and "Polly" (Australia).

"Aneurysm" from the 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! and "Drain You" from the MTV Live and Loud performance on December 13, 1993 in Seattle, Washington were used as music videos to promote the album, but are different from the versions used on the album.

A limited edition (3000 copies) box set containing the "Aneurysm", "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Polly" promo singles was released in Australia. The box set also included Nevermind: It's an Interview, a promotional interview disc first released in 1992.

Reception

Critical reception of the album was generally positive. It was rated #9 in Rolling Stone's 1997 critics' poll of the top 10 albums of 1996, and #14 in Spin's Best Albums of 1996.^{[citation needed]}

Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone described the album 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." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called it "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."

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Robert Christgau	(A)

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kurt Cobain, except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Intro"	0:52
2.	"School"	2:40
3.	"Drain You"	3:34
4.	"Aneurysm" (Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic)	4:31
5.	"Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic)	4:47
6.	"Been a Son"	2:07
7.	"Lithium"	4:10
8.	"Sliver"	1:55
9.	"Spank Thru"	3:10
10.	"Scentless Apprentice" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic)	3:31
11.	"Heart-Shaped Box"	4:41
12.	"Milk It"	3:45
13.	"Negative Creep"	2:43
14.	"Polly" (big rock version)	2:30
15.	"Breed" (early version)	3:28
16.	"tourette's" (early version)	1:55
17.	"Blew"	3:36

Vinyl edition bonus track
No.	Title	Length
18.	"Untitled" (various concert outtakes and stage banter on side 4)	5:47

• Tracks 2, 6, 7, and 17 recorded by VPRO-TV in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at Paradiso, November 25, 1991.
• Tracks 3, 4, and 5 recorded by Westwood One at Del Mar Fairgrounds, CA, December 28, 1991.
• Track 8 recorded by Craig Overbay at the Civic Center, Springfield, MA, November 10, 1993.
• Track 9 recorded by Stereoral at Il Castello Vi de Porta, Castello 41 Rome, November 19, 1991.
• Track 10 recorded for MTV Live and Loud by Scott Litt at Pier 48, Seattle, WA, December 13, 1993.
• Track 11 recorded by Craig Overbay at the Great Western Forum, Los Angeles, CA, December 30, 1993.
• Track 12 recorded by Craig Overbay at the Seattle Center Arena, January 7, 1994.
• Track 13 recorded by Andy Wallace at the Paramount Theatre (Seattle, Washington), Seattle, WA, October 31, 1991.
• Tracks 14 and 15 recorded by Craig Montgomery at the London Astoria, December 5, 1989.
• Track 16 recorded by Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. in Reading, England at the Reading Festival, August 30, 1992.

Chart performance

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart	1
Austrian Albums Chart	3
Canadian Albums Chart	1
Dutch Albums Chart	14
Finnish Albums Chart	2
French Albums Chart	7
Hungarian Albums Chart[citation needed]	4
German Albums Chart	38
New Zealand Albums Chart	2
Norwegian Albums Chart	8
Japanese Albums Chart	12
Spanish Albums Chart[citation needed]	7
Swedish Albums Chart	6
Swiss Albums Chart	9
UK Albums Chart	4
Billboard 200	1

Preceded by Falling Into You by Celine Dion	Billboard 200 number-one album October 19, 1996–October 26, 1996	Succeeded by Falling Into You by Celine Dion
Preceded by The Very Best of Toni Childs by Toni Childs	Australian ARIA number-one album October 13, 1996–October 20, 1996	Succeeded by The Very Best of Toni Childs by Toni Childs
Preceded by New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M.	Canadian Albums Chart number-one album October 19, 1996–November 9, 1996	Succeeded by Best of Volume I by Van Halen

Personnel

Nirvana

• Kurt Cobain – vocals, lead guitar
• Krist Novoselic – bass guitar, liner notes
• Dave Grohl – drums, background vocals
• 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

• Robert Fisher – design
• Lisa Johnson, Kevin Mazur, Charles Peterson – photography
• Mark Kates – photography, A&R

External links

• From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah at MusicBrainz

Preceded by Falling into You by Celine Dion	Billboard 200 number-one album October 19–25, 1996	Succeeded by Falling into You by Celine Dion
Preceded by The Very Best of Toni Childs by Toni Childs	Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album October 13–19, 1996	Succeeded by Hits by Jimmy Barnes