Today we celebrate one of the greatest rock albums of all time on its 25th anniversary; that is Nirvana's third and final studio album 'In Utero' released on DGC Records. It is still, and will always be, one of the best rock albums in music history.

Nirvana - In UteroNirvana - In Utero

This chart-topping grunge masterpiece has sold at least 15 million copies worldwide since it's release in 1993, with tracks including 'Heart-Shaped Box', 'All Apologies' and the controversial 'Rape Me' being some of the greatest rock songs in the world. It certainly made the difficult recording process worth the fight.

'In Utero' was an attempt to return to the raw, abrasive sound that they protrayed on their debut album 'Bleach', and indeed it turned out to be quite a departure from the polished, commercially viable sound of second album 'Nevermind'.

Nirvana brought noise-rock artist Steve Albini on board to produce - a man who famously refuses to accept royalties from album sales, requesting a flat fee only - who knew just how to produce the unpolished sound they were looking for, but knew he had to block the intereferance of the band's management and record company at all costs.

'For the most part I wanted to work with him because he happened to produce two of my favorite records, which were Surfer Rosa [by Pixies] and Pod [by The Breeders]', Cobain later said of Albini.

The album was recorded over a two-week period at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, with recording itself taking six days and mixing another five. Allegedly, frontman Kurt Cobain recorded all his vocal parts in just six hours. 

The short period of time reflected the raw, untouched sound they were aiming for, but in the end, it caused a lot of controversy when many of their associates branded it 'unlistenable' and not radio-friendly. Nirvana started having doubts themselves when they listened back over the record, and it was at that point they brought R.E.M. producer Scott Litt on board to clarify remix some of the songs, much to Albini's chagrin.

They also removed the song 'I Hate Myself and I Want to Die', which was actually the original title of the album until they settled on 'In Utero', from a poem written by Cobain's wife Courtney Love - presumably while she was pregnant with their daughter Frances Bean, born just months before the album was recorded.

More: Dave Grohl plays Nirvana's 'In Bloom' live 

Regardless of the back-and-forth struggle over the band's new sound, the album was a hit and went on to be nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 1994 Grammy Awards. Unfortunately, it was in the midst of their tour supporting the record that Cobain lost his fight with depression and he died at his home in Seattle on April 5th 1994 at the age of just 27.