Fact-Check: What Did Kurt Cobain Really Mean in 'Come as You Are'?

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Musically, "Come As You Are" hinges on a shimmering, watery guitar riff that almost prevented the song from reaching radio airwaves. During the Sound City recording sessions, producer Butch Vig urged Cobain to plug his Fender Jaguar into an Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus pedal. Vig wanted an aquatic, murky texture to mirror the track’s oceanic, claustrophobic verses. To achieve vocal presence without sacrificing grunge grit, Vig persuaded Cobain to double-track his vocals, a technique Cobain initially resisted until Vig reminded him that John Lennon had double-tracked his voice on classic Beatles cuts.

The dilemma arose when selecting the follow-up single to "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Cobain and management hesitated to release "Come As You Are" because its central guitar riff mirrored the 1984 track "Eighties" by English post-punk outfit Killing Joke.

Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker publicly complained about the uncredited structural similarity, and the band considered copyright litigation. However, Nirvana’s label pushed the track forward regardless. Killing Joke never filed a formal lawsuit, and relations later thawed; Grohl even drummed on Killing Joke’s self-titled 2003 comeback album without taking a fee.