Talk to Me (Nirvana song)

"Talk to Me" was first performed live on November 16, 1991 at Teatro Verdi in Muggia, Italy. The first and most heavily bootlegged version was recorded the following night, at Bloom in Mezzago, Italy. This version first appeared on the 1995 bootleg, Outcesticide: In Memory of Kurt Cobain.[1] The only version to be officially released was recorded live at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, Washington on October 4, 1992, and appeared on the DVD of the band's rarities box set, With the Lights Out, in November 2004.[2] This was the final live performance of the song.

In August 1993, the American rock band Hole, fronted by Cobain's wife Courtney Love, recorded a studio version of "Talk to Me" at Haznek Audio in Seattle during early sessions for the band's second studio album, Live Through This. However, this version was never completed and remains unreleased.[3]

Following Cobain's death in April 1994, Love mentioned the song by name in a September 1995 MTV interview, telling interviewer Kurt Loder that she was going to donate it to one of Cobain's musical idols, Iggy Pop, for him to record.[4][5] It remains unclear what recording of "Talk to Me" Love planned to give to Pop, although she referred to the song as being "on the Italian bootleg," suggesting one of the two first performances.[4][6] Pop declined Love's offer, explaining in a 2002 interview with The Big Takeover that he had his own material and liked but had "no interest in doing Kurt’s music."[3]

For years a demo version of the song by Cobain was rumored to exist, but not confirmed.[7] Then, in 2016, it was confirmed that a tape in the Nirvana vault exists which includes two previously unreleased "practice audience" versions of "Talk to Me", a 12-minute version of the song "Opinion" along with the acoustic demo of "You Know You're Right" that was included on the With the Lights Out box set.[8]

"Talk to Me" is an alternative rock song that lasts for a duration of three minutes and thirty-five seconds. The song has a "jerky rhythm" and features a recurring drum fill in addition to a guitar solo.[3] The song has been cited as evidence of the influence of new wave bands such as Devo and Oingo Boingo on Cobain's songwriting.[3]

Rolling Stone writer Richard Bienstock wrote that the song's drums resembled those of "Get Off of My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones.[3]

In 2015, Rolling Stone placed "Talk to Me" at number 70 on their No Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked list.[3] In 2019, it was again ranked at number 70 in the NME's Every Nirvana song ranked in order of greatness list, with Tom Howard declaring that "it could have been a contender".[9]