Nirvana: You Now you’re Right was written by Kurt Cobain in 1993 under the title Kurt’s Tune #1, and was recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, in what would be Nirvana’s last session, in January 30, 1994. The band booked the studio for three days in which Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic recorded their material on the first two days, in which Kurt Cobain was absent. Cobain came to the studio on the third day to record his guitar part, voice and mix it with the material that his bandmates had recorded. Cobain recorded his part using a Univox guitar, a stomp box with a Boss distortion pedal, and a 50-watt Marshall amp.
After recording You Know You’re Right they recorded another instrumental song, titled Jam After Dinner. After Cobain‘s death in April 1994, You Know You’re Right was known only from a bootlegged live version, recorded on October 23, 1993 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, and a performance by the band’s song Hole during the band’s MTV Unplugged set on February 14, 1995.
Kurt and the band planned to continue working in Lang’s studio after their upcoming European tour, but Cobain died just over two months later, after canceling the tour and returning to Seattle. You Know You’re Right is the first song from Nirvana‘s eponymous greatest hits album, and the last song the band recorded before Cobain‘s death in April 1994. The single was officially released on April 2, October 2002 via DGC Records, eight years after the song was recorded, it is the last single credited to the band.
The song had a legal dispute between Kurt Cobain‘s widow, Courtney Love, and surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Released as a promotional single, You Know You’re Right reached number one on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts.
A music video for You Know You’re Right was released in October 2002. Directed by Chris Hafner, it features a montage of band footage, drawn mostly from live performances and interviews, occasionally edited to give the effect of the song being performed. The video peaked at number two of the Billboard Video Monitor, a chart of the most-played clips as monitored by the Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, for the week ending October 20, 2002.
Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994).
