"All Apologies" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears as the final track on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero, released by DGC Records in September 1993. The song closes the American version of the album, while non-US versions of In Utero feature an additional song, "Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip", which begins after approximately 20 minutes of silence on the same track.
On December 6, 1993, "All Apologies" was released as the second single from In Utero, as a double A-side with the song "Rape Me". It was Nirvana's final single before Cobain's suicide in April 1994.
Although not released as a physical single in the US, "All Apologies" became the third Nirvana song to top the Modern Rock chart, and reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. It also reached the Top 40 in France, Ireland and New Zealand. It was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1995, and won a BMI award for most played song on American college radio during the eligible period from 1994 to 1995. It was also included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".
No music video was made for "All Apologies", with Cobain explaining in a December 1993 MTV interview that he "hadn't bothered to come up with any ideas lately" because he had been "concentrating on touring." MTV began airing a live version, recorded at the band's MTV Unplugged concert shortly before the single's release, as a music video instead. This version was released as a promotional single in February 1994, and also generated heavy airplay.
Early history "All Apologies" was written by Cobain in 1990. In a 2005 interview with Wes Orshoski of Harp, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl recalled that the song was "something that Kurt wrote on [a] 4-track in our apartment in Olympia. I remember hearing it and thinking, 'God, this guy has such a beautiful sense of melody, I can't believe he's screaming all the time.Orshoski, Wes. Dave Grohl: Honor Roll. Harp. According to Cobain's manager Danny Goldberg in his 2008 memoir Bumping into Geniuses, Cobain "played the Beatles song 'Norwegian Wood' over and over, hour after hour" while writing the song.
"All Apologies" was first recorded in the studio by Craig Montgomery at Music Source Studios in Seattle, Washington on January 1, 1991. This version, described by music journalist Gillian G. Gaar as "having a more upbeat pop-folk sound" than later versions, featured bassist Krist Novoselic accompanying Cobain on guitar, playing seventh chords behind the guitar riff, and Grohl's drumming accented by a tambourine. The song was first performed live at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England on November 6, 1991.
In Utero
The second and final studio version of "All Apologies" was recorded by Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in February 1993, during the recording sessions for In Utero. The song, at that point tentatively titled "La La La", was recorded on February 14, the second day of the sessions.
Cello
The recording features cello by Kera Schaley, a friend of Albini's who at the time played in the Chicago band, Doubt. Schaley had initially been asked by Albini to compose a cello part for the song "Dumb", and after hearing what she had written, Cobain asked her to "play around with 'All Apologies.'" As she recalled in a 2010 interview with Swan Fungus, "Most of the cello on that was me just messing around and then Kurt had me learn one specific line that he wanted everyone to be playing the same thing on. I sort of thought they were going to scrap the cello on that one, but it stayed in."
In a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Schaley revealed that Albini was initially resistant to the idea of adding cello to "All Apologies." As she explained to interviewer Brian Hiatt, "Steve kept trying to talk [Cobain] out of putting cello on it," but says that "Kurt and I won in the end." According to Schaley, Cobain "loved the deep sound, like the really deep, groaning sound of the low notes. He was like, 'just lay on that for a long time.' And so I just laid on that low note for him. And I got some noise parts in there. I like making noise on the cello, too. And if you listen for some high screeching sounds at the end, that’s me."
Despite the addition of cello, Albini was pleased with the recording, saying that he remembered "really liking the sound of that song as a contrast to the more aggressive ones" and that "it sounded really good in that it sounded lighter, but it didn't sound conventional. It was sort of a crude light sound that suited the band." In a 1993 Rolling Stone interview, Cobain told David Fricke that songs such as "All Apologies" and "Dumb" represented "the lighter, more dynamic" sound that he wished had been more prominent on previous Nirvana albums.
Remix
The band eventually elected to remix "All Apologies", along with the album's lead single "Heart-Shaped Box", due to concerns that the vocals and bass were not loud enough in Albini's original mixes. In a 1993 Guitar World interview, Cobain explained to English journalist Jon Savage:
"[The quieter songs on In Utero] came out really good, and Steve Albini's recording technique really served those songs well; you can really hear the ambience in those songs. It was perfect for them. But for "All Apologies" and "Heart-Shaped Box" we needed more. My main complaint was that the vocals weren't loud enough. In every Albini mix I've ever heard, the vocals are always too quiet. That's just the way he likes things, and he's a real difficult person to persuade otherwise. I mean, he was trying to mix each tune within an hour, which is just not how the songs work. It was fine for a few songs, but not all of them. You should be able to do a few different mixes and pick the best."
The two songs were remixed by Scott Litt, chosen due to his work with American rock band R.E.M., in May 1993 at Bad Animals in Seattle, Washington. A third song, "Pennyroyal Tea", was remixed by Litt in November 1993 in preparation for its release as a single. Novoselic defended the band's decision to remix "All Apologies" and "Heart-Shaped Box" by calling them "gateways" to the more abrasive sound of the rest of the album, and that once listeners played the record they would discover "this aggressive wild sound, a true alternative record".
According to Goldberg in his 2019 Cobain biography Serving the Servant, Cobain was "euphoric" after hearing Litt's mix of "All Apologies", the first of the two songs initially remixed.
Post-In Utero
On November 18, 1993, Nirvana performed an acoustic version of "All Apologies" during their MTV Unplugged performance at Sony Music Studios in New York City. This version of the song featured Pat Smear on second guitar and Lori Goldston on cello.
"All Apologies" was performed for the final time live at Nirvana's last concert, at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany on March 1, 1994.
Composition Cobain dedicated "All Apologies" to his wife, Courtney Love, and their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, during the band's appearance at the Reading Festival in Reading, England on August 30, 1992. "I like to think the song is for them," he told Michael Azerrad in the 1993 biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, "but the words don't really fit in relation to us...the feeling does, but not the lyrics." Cobain summarized the song's mood as "peaceful, happy, comfort – just happy happiness."
In a 2023 Rolling Stone interview, Azerrad speculated that the lyric "aqua seafoam shame" may have been "a reference to being in a hospital, with all those bland aqua-seafoam-colored walls and [Cobain is] feeling shamed because he’s there for his drug habit.”
Release "All Apologies" was released as a double A-side single with "Rape Me" on December 6, 1993, on CD single, cassette single, and 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl record formats.Gaar, Gillian G. "Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History of Nirvana". Goldmine. February 14, 1997. The only instruction Cobain gave the single's art director, Robert Fisher, regarding the packaging was that he wanted "something with seahorses". Like its predecessor "Heart-Shaped Box", the single was not released commercially in the United States. However, the song did peak at number one on the US Modern Rock Tracks Chart, remaining on the chart for 21 weeks and boosting sales of In Utero nationwide. In January 1994, the "All Apologies" UK CD single became available in the US in limited numbers as an import release. In February 1994, "All Apologies" was voted in as the number one most wanted song by listeners of the Hawaii Free Radio.
"All Apologies" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song in 1995.Pareles, Jon (February 26, 1995). "Playing Grammy Roulette". The New York Times. Retrieved on March 6, 2009. "All Apologies" is also a BMI Award-winning song,. bmi.com Retrieved on December 26, 2012. for being the most played song on U.S. college radio during the eligible period from 1994 to 1995.
The B-side "Moist Vagina" was never performed live and released only on the All Apologies single. The song's name was changed to MV for discreetness on some versions. Most of the song is Cobain yelling the word "Marijuana!".
Critical reception
Everett True of Melody Maker named "All Apologies" the magazine's "Single of the Week", calling it "the most supremely resigned, supremely weary fuck you to the outside world I've heard this year," with "the most gorgeous, aching tune, an emotionally draining ennui." In his review of In Utero for Rolling Stone, David Fricke called the song a "stunning trump card, the fluid twining of cello and guitar hinting at a little fireside R.E.M. while the full-blaze pop glow of the chorus shows the debt of inspiration Cobain has always owed to Paul Westerberg and the vintage Replacements." Christopher John Farley of Time called it In Uteros "best song" and "a riddling, fitting ending to a great album."
Legacy
In 2004, Q ranked "All Apologies" first on their list of the "10 Greatest Nirvana Songs Ever." In 2005, Blender ranked it at number 99 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".#99 in Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born In 2011, it was ranked at number 462 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, moving down seven spots from its position in 2004,"The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (1–500)". Retrieved on April 21, 2015. and first on the NME's list of the Nirvana's "10 Best Tracks." Rolling Stone placed it at number 13 on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs in 2015. In 2019, The Guardian ranked it second on their list of "Nirvana's 20 greatest songs.: In 2022, Pitchfork ranked it at number 140 on their "250 Best Songs of the 1990s" list, with Jayson Greene writing that its melody was "so simple it seems as though someone, somewhere, must always have been singing it." The same year, Pitchfork readers voted it the 39th best song of the decade. In 2023, it was ranked second on the A.V. Club's "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked" list, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it "a song so quiet that it almost plays as a hymn"
"All Apologies" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's unranked list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", along with the band's 1991 breakthrough single "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
In pop culture
Both the studio and MTV Unplugged versions of "All Apologies" appeared in an episode of the American drama television show Six Feet Under in August 2005. The episode was titled "All Alone", a misrepresentation of the song's closing lyric, "All in all is all we all are."