Draft:Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
{{Draft topics|music}}
{{AfC topic|media}}
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{{Infobox song
| name = Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
| type = song
| artist = Nirvana
| album = In Utero
| released = September 21, 1993
| genre = Grunge
| length = 4:51
| label = DGC
| writer = Kurt Cobain
| producer = Steve Albini
| tracks = {{In Utero tracks}}
}}
"Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" is a song by the American grunge trio Nirvana from their third and final album In Utero, which released on September 21, 1993 by DGC Records.{{Cite AV media notes |title=In Utero |others=Nirvana |year=1993 |type=CD liner notes |publisher=DGC}}
Background
"Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" was originally titled both "Nipe Month Media Blackout"{{Sfn|Cross|2001|p=269}} and "You Said a Mouthful"{{Sfn|Gaar|2006|p=48}}. The song was Kurt Cobain's response to a Vanity Fair article titled "Strange Love: The Story of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love".{{Sfn|Cross|2001|p=269}}{{Cite web |date=2021-06-16 |title=No Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked |url=https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/no-apologies-all-102-nirvana-songs-ranked-26796/even-in-his-youth-26861/ |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=Rolling Stone Australia |language=en-AU}} The title of "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" references the success of Nirvana's second album Nevermind,{{Sfn|Azerrad|1994|p=329}} as a radio-friendly unit shifter refers to an album or a song that radio stations consider successful and will be played lot on radio stations.{{Sfn|Burlingame|2006|p=96}}
Reception
"Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" was initially trashed upon release on the In Utero album, but has since been seen as one of the band's best tracks. When reviewing the 20th anniversary of In Utero, Mike Diver of Clash magazine described it as a song where "Cobain is at his lyrically weakest, a string of non-sequiturs proving graphically effective but conceptually incoherent"{{Cite web |last=Diver |first=Mike |date=2013-09-18 |title=Nirvana - In Utero (20th Anniversary Edition) |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/nirvana-in-utero-20th-anniversary-edition/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews |language=en-GB}}
Personnel
According to the liner notes of In Utero.
- Kurt Cobain – guitar, vocals
- Krist Novoselic – bass
- Dave Grohl – drums
Legacy
In 1996, the song was included on Home Alive: The Art of Self Defense, a benefit album.{{cite web |author=Parisien, Roch |title=Home Alive: The Art of Self Defense |url={{Allmusic|class=album|id=r231721|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=September 4, 2007 |website=Allmusic}} The song later charted on many radio airplay charts due to it being played on radio after the tribute album's release.* {{cite magazine |date=February 16, 1996 |title=Active Rock Playlists |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/96/R&R-1996-02-16-OCR-Page-0082.pdf |access-date=May 5, 2024 |magazine=Radio & Records |page=82}}
- {{cite magazine |date=March 1, 1996 |title=Active Rock Playlists |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/96/R&R-1996-03-01-OCR-Page-0108.pdf |access-date=May 5, 2024 |magazine=Radio & Records |page=108}}
- {{cite magazine |date=March 1, 1996 |title=Alternative Playlists |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/96/R&R-1996-03-01-IDX-116.pdf |access-date=May 5, 2024 |magazine=Radio & Records |page=116}}
- {{cite magazine |date=March 8, 1996 |title=Active Rock Playlists |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-RandR-IDX/IDX/90s/96/R&R-1996-03-08-OCR-Page-0071.pdf |access-date=May 5, 2024 |magazine=Radio & Records |page=71}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |title=Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana |publisher=Doubleday |year=1994 |isbn=0-385-47199-8}}
- {{cite book |last=Burlingame |first=Jeff |url=https://archive.org/details/kurtcobainohwell0000burl |title=Kurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind |publisher=Enslow |year=2006 |isbn=0-7660-2426-1 |url-access=registration}}
- {{cite book |last=Cross |first=Charles |title=Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain |publisher=Hyperion |year=2001 |isbn=0-7868-8402-9}}
- {{cite book |last=Gaar |first=Gillian G. |title=In Utero |year=2006 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=0-8264-1776-0 |series=33⅓ |volume=34 }}
{{refend}}{{Nirvana}}{{Draft categories|Category:Nirvana (band) songs
Category:Songs written by Kurt Cobain
Category:Song recordings produced by Steve Albini
Category:Songs about the media
}}