"Breed" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the fourth song on their second studio album, Nevermind, released in September 1991.
Originally titled "Imodium", the demo for "Breed" had a slower tempo. It was one of two Nevermind songs, along with "Polly", dating back to 1989, when the band were still supporting their debut album, Bleach. It was never released as a single, but remained a regular part of the band's setlist until Cobain's suicide in April 1994.
Written by Cobain in 1989, "Breed" was originally titled "Imodium," after the anti-diarrhea medicine used by Tad Doyle, lead singer of Seattle rock band TAD, during Nirvana's and TAD's shared European tour.[4] It was first performed live on October 8, 1989, at the Lif Ticket Lounge in Omaha, Nebraska.
"Breed" was first recorded in the studio in April 1990 by Butch VigatSmart StudiosinMadison, Wisconsin, during the recording sessions for what was intended to be the band's second album on Sub Pop, their original label.[4] However, this planned album was cancelled after the departure of drummer Chad Channing, and the session was instead used as a demo tape, which led to the band signing with DGC Records in 1991.
Vig re-recorded the song during the sessions for what became the band's second album and major label debut, Nevermind, in May 1991 at Sound City StudiosinVan Nuys, California. Cobain recorded four vocal takes for the song, with each successive take "getting worse because he blew his voice out," as Vig recalls.[5] The first take was chosen as the master.[5] Both recordings of the song also feature the guitar being panned from one channel to the next during the guitar solo to create what Cobain biographer Charles R. Cross called "a dizzying" effect.[5]
A 20-second sample of the song's first verse and chorus. "Breed" is a surging punk rock song that showcases purposefully nonsensical lyrics.[6][7] They address themes of teenage apathy and fear in the American middle-class.[5]
Lyrically, the song addresses themes of teenage apathy and fear within the American middle-class.[5] Stevie Chick of Kerrang wrote that lyrics such as "We can plant a house, we can build a tree" displayed Cobain's "gift for crafting witty, purposeful nonsense."[7]
In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked "Breed" at number four on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs, with Julianne Escobedo Shepherd calling it "one of the most alive songs on Nevermind."[9] In 2020, it was ranked 13th on Kerrang!'s "The 20 Greatest Nirvana Songs - Ranked" list, with Sam Law writing that it was "probably Nirvana's greatest heads-down banger," and that "its 184 seconds feel guaranteed to light the fuse on every mosh within a 100-mile radius."[10] In 2023, Stephen Thomas Erlewine ranked it at number 13 on the A.V. Club's "Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked" list.[11]
In 2017, to mark what would have been Cobain's 50th birthday, the Phonographic Performance Limited released a list of the top 20 most played Nirvana songs on television and the radio in the United Kingdom, in which "Breed" was ranked at number 13.[12]
The studio version recorded at Smart Studios in April 1990 was released on the 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of Nevermind in September 2011.
An early "Rough mix" of the Nevermind version appeared on the band's posthumous box set, With the Lights Out, in November 2004. In September 2011, a second mix appeared on the 20th anniversary "Super Deluxe" version of Nevermind, which contained the early "Devonshire mixes" for the album.
A live version, recorded during the band's October 31, 1991 show at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington, appeared on the live video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! in November 1994. The full concert was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Live at the Paramount.
In November 2021, a version of the song recorded at the ParadisoinAmsterdam, the Netherlands, on November 25, 1991, was released on Blu-Ray and CD on the 30th anniversary "Super Deluxe" version of Nevermind.
A live version, recorded for MTV on December 13, 1993, at Pier 48 in Seattle, Washington, appeared on the live video, Live and Loud in September 2013, An edited version of the show, including "Breed," first aired on MTV on December 31, 1993.
The 30th anniversary "Super Deluxe" reissue of Nirvana's final studio album, In Utero, released in October 2023, featured the band's full concerts at the Great Western ForuminInglewood, California, on December 30, 1993, and at the Seattle Center Arena in Seattle, on January 7, 1994. Both shows featured performances of "Breed."
