Understanding Heart-Shaped Box

The first thing you hear when you enter hell is the midi version of a 90s rock song

"A prison that looks like love." That hits pretty close to home.

I can imagine Kurt watching this and thinking to himself, "really it's that deep??"

Kurt: Hey Dave, does this sound cool?(plays riff) Dave: Yeah, we should use that.

Everyone commenting about how he's overanalyzing kinda miss the point. It's acknowledged in the video that Kurt didn't purposefully use theory to write, but instead used a learned vernacular of what pop music sounded like in order to subvert our expectations with the misuse of common musical tropes (such as the doo-wop progression). By taking something most people have heard, slowing it down and perverting it, he crafted something to break expectations of that musical vernacular to express himself.

I feel that Heart Shaped Box is a superior song to Smells Like Teen Spirit

I really want to see one on Where is My Mind By The Pixies

I have always thought was written about Courtney, heroin (the heart shaped box) and about how he wanted so badly to leave (she eyes me like a pisces when I am weak), but then she got pregnant (cut myself on angel's hair and baby's breath) and (throw down your umbilical noose, so I can climb right back) are lyrical examples that illustrate this possibility. Cobain, terrified of creating a broken family like his own while growing up, he stayed with Courtney. We know how it all ended. 🤷‍♂️

“It was something completely different”. Draws Monty Python foot. Magnificent. Cheapau.

The song is called “heart-shaped box” NOT “ A box with a heart sticker on it.”

“It’s trying to lead us out, but it’s pointing the wrong way.” I know you’re talking about a small piece of the song here, but can’t help but feel like that description applies to the whole song.

I think Kurt never really even considered these thoughts when making his music. It just came to him naturally or at least unknowingly.

The ending of this video blindsided me emotionally. Funny how you don't really acknowledge how worthless you've been feeling until you hear a complete stranger say "the world is a better place with you in it." Thank you so much.

I have a feeling Kurt would just say, it sounds cool, that's why I wrote it the way I did. LOL That's the beauty of music theory, you know it, even if you don't.

I have always thought about this song as being about an abusive relationship, primarily using that idea that the box is a trap that "looks like love." It's nice to hear that I'm not the only person to think that. I always thought it was just projection from my history with abusive relationships.

"Forever in debt to your priceless advice" is clearly resentment/tongue-in-cheek, surely ... the tone/phrasing of that line in particular are dripping with sarcasm ... It's a looping resentment that one can't 'let go of' ...

This is absolutely one of my favourite Nirvana songs. It sounds phenomenal and it's such a blast to play on drums. Thanks for covering it! Edit: I really appreciated your message at the end of the video. As someone who works with people in crisis, it is really huge to break the stigma, raise awareness and realise that talking to someone is good for you. Your problem is not trivial. You have value and deserve to be heard. Thank you 12Tone.

Idk what the hell he's saying I just like nirvana so i subscribed

"That vocabulary told him these were the chords to use, and it has an effect on you because you know that vocabulary too." This touches on a thing I wish you spoke more of: idiomatic use of chords. Sometimes a progression is there because it evokes a genre or a musical convention, not because of harmony per se. E.g. a I-VIm is the "love song" change which sets up The Police's "Every Breath You Take" in a sinister way, and Roger Waters' "Watching TV" in a sarcastic way, and were chosen as a musical reference to be subverted more than a harmonic mode. Would love to hear you discuss the role of music idioms more in analyzing songwriters' choices.

The intro to heart shaped box is still unbelievable.. what a tone and feeling. Just immediately puts you in a very specific emotional state