hey, welcome to 12tone!
in late September, 1991, Nirvana released their breakout album Nevermind, propelling
them and, with some help from bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, the entire genre of grunge
into the mainstream.
they had a huge impact on the sound of the early 90s, and today, to celebrate the 26th
anniversary of their most famous album, we're gonna analyze its final single, In Bloom.
it starts like this (bang) and the first thing to note is that it's all power chords.
power chords are simple chords with just two notes: the root and the fifth.
this makes them sound really stable, but they lack a lot of the complexities that give normal
chords their unique qualities.
it weakens the overall sense of harmony, making it work almost more like a melody.
still, though, we can infer some harmonic motion from this, and I have two different
explanations for what's going on.
the first is based on functional harmony.
this is the idea that different chords in a key have different functions, or jobs, to
do, and it applies pretty well here.
we start on the I chord, which generally has what's called tonic function, meaning it's
at rest.
then we go to the VI chord, which also has tonic function.
then it steps down to the V, which has dominant function, meaning it points you back to the
tonic, and finally we go to the bVII chord, which is flexible but can have dominant function
too.
we're basically just going back and forth between I and V, with some extra substitutions
in between.
but there's something else going on too, and it's most obvious if we flip the order of
the last two chords.
(bang) each pair of chords is separated by a minor third.
this makes them what're called mediants, or chords whose roots are a third apart, and
we're just stringing together a couple different pairs.
this is a really common trick in non-functional harmony, because mediant chords have a lot
in common with each other, so you can imply relationships even without assigned roles.
in this intro, the root movement is just alternating between minor thirds and major seconds, which
gives it a strong sound even without looking at the jobs they're doing.
so which answer is right?
honestly, it's probably a bit of both.
the root movement holds it together and the implied functions give it some direction.
either way, we move on to this (bang) and the chords here remind me of a really famous
progression called the Doo-Wop changes (bang) but with three differences.
first is this chord, which is a half-step lower than normal.
that's ok, though, it just means we're playing a minor version.
we're using power chords so we don't really know the chord qualities, but the melody implies
we're in Bb minor, so we'd expect to see a lowered VI chord anyway.
the next difference is here: (bang) Gb is just slightly above Eb, so we'd expect to
drop down to it, but instead it jumps all the way up to a higher version.
this is, again, not that shocking: in order to actually play the lower Eb on a standard
guitar, Cobain would've had to tune down.
still, though, because power chords make the harmony a bit more melodic, this unexpected
leap calls attention to that part of the progression.
the final difference is this last bar.
we'd expect to hear the V chord, which has dominant function pointing back to the tonic,
but instead we hear this (bang) and I'll be honest, this one surprised me, because that's
a jazz technique.
it's called encircling, and it sets up a target note, or in this case, chord.
we're trying to get back to Bb, so we start a half step above it, with B, then we go to
a half step below it, A, and then we just move up to the target.
it outlines the Bb before you arrive, and Cobain uses it to give himself a sort of resolution
without actually using any dominant function chords.
am I saying Kurt Cobain studied bebop improvisation to help him write this song?
probably not, but either way the effect is the same.
anyway then the verse kicks in and the guitar drops out, but the bass keeps playing the
same thing, implying the same harmony.
halfway through, the guitar comes back in, and something strange happens.
here, check it out: (bang) they're all major chords.
all of them.
but I said we were in minor, and the melody seems to agree with me.
so what's going on?
well, I could spin some complex web of interconnected scales and modes to help explain this, but
I think what's happening is actually pretty straightforward: it's a distorted guitar,
and distortion amplifies dissonance.
that is, if the chord you're playing has any harsh or unstable sounds in it, adding distortion
is only gonna make it worse.
that's why power chords and distortion go so well together: they have no instabilities
to exploit.
after the power chord, though, probably the most consonant chord is the major triad, so
even though a minor triad might be more theoretically correct, Cobain borrows the chords he needs
to in order to make it not sound gross.
for reference, here's what it'd sound like if he hadn't: (bang) yeah, no one wants that.
they play through that twice, but the second time, the ending's a bit different. he plays
the B chord like normal, but instead of the A, he moves to a D power chord instead.
honestly, this confused me.
I spent a long time trying to figure out what a D chord was doing there, until I realized
that I shouldn't have been looking at it as a chord at all.
it's made up of two notes, D and A, and each of those notes is kinda just doing its own
thing.
the A is easy to explain: it's encircling the Bb just like it did before.
the D is a little trickier, but I think its main job is foreshadowing.
we're heading into the chorus, which starts out in major, and playing a big, fat D natural
helps prepare that.
plus, this section normally moves down (bang) and using a D chord lets it move up instead
(bang) which helps build energy into the chorus.
speaking of which, the chorus is pretty simple.
it starts by just moving back and forth between Bb5 and G5, and coupled with the prominent
D naturals in the melody, we've pretty clearly switched to a major key.
these two chords have a mediant relationship, and they're both tonic function chords, so
this section doesn't really move much.
it's happy, but empty, which makes sense with the lyrics about a guy who likes all their
pretty songs, but when it comes up that he knows not what they mean, suddenly the chords
shift to C and Eb, which have subdominant function, meaning they're unstable and directionless,
the rhythm becomes more complex, and the melody drops down lower and picks up some Dbs, implying
a shift back to minor.
combining all these elements makes this section sound much darker than its counterpart, and
that juxtaposition is what really sells this chorus.
and that's pretty much it.
they repeat these sections again, then solo over the verse progression, do the chorus
some more, and take us out by playing through the intro a couple more times.
this song is really interesting to me because, while Cobain never formally studied music
theory, the way he used chords here shows that he picked up a lot of the same ideas
just by listening. he puts his own spin on those ideas, but it's pretty recognizable
if you know what to look for.
anyway, thanks for watching, and thanks to Patreon patron Olivia Anderrson for suggesting
this song!
if you'd like to see your favorite song analyzed, just head on over to Patreon and pledge at
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