If, like some of us, you’re not completely caught up on the ongoing dramas within HBO’s popular super-rich family drama “Succession,” have no fear because there’s no spoilers here except to say that in season three, skullduggery continues, and Nirvana’s controversial 1993 song “Rape Me” was used in a pivotal scene last weekend.
Cobain’s widow, erstwhile Hole singer Courtney Love, approves Nirvana syncs and, according to an Instagram story post, she seems quite pleased with the show’s use of the song, saying it is “as if they truly understood” what Cobain meant with the song, and that “I’m sure wherever he is he’s proud of this.”
Her message follows in full:
“I was in the room watching (agog) as this song was written in about an hour , and I’ve never been so proud of approving one of Kurt’s songs , this cue in @succession is as if they truly understood kcwhat he was screaming his heart out … without specifics … about . I’m sure wherever he is he’s proud of this .”
The use of the song is a surprise, less because the estate of Nirvana frontman and primary songwriter Kurt Cobain is selective about where his music is used — although they are — but more because it’s quite possibly the most controversial song in the group’s catalog.
Nirvana began playing the song live in 1992 and released it on their final studio album, 1993’s “In Utero.” Its uncompromising lyrics led two major U.S. retailers, Wal-Mart and Kmart, to decline to sell the album unless the title was altered on its cover, which the group approved, retitling it “Waif Me” on the exterior of the album’s package but retaining the original title inside. Cobain defended the decision in Everett True’s Nirvana biography, saying, “One of the main reasons I signed to a major label was so people would be able to buy our records at Kmart. In some towns, that’s the only place kids can buy records.”
