“Swap Meet” by Nirvana
A “swap meet” is defined as a gathering of individuals who are into the same thing and go about trading (i.e. buying and selling) items associated with that shared passion. Many of us will also recognize the term as being synonymous with a flea market. And to some extent that’s what this narrative appears to be based on. Kurt Cobain is basically documenting the movements of individuals who come off to be something like swap meet professionals, i.e. people who actually travel about to engage in the aforenoted activities.
And to note, all three of the verses of this song are lyrically identical.
That said, getting to the end of said verse(s) the narrative takes a romantic turn. And then the lyrics start to read as if maybe the vocalist is not referring to a literal swap meet but is perhaps using the titular term to allude to a different setting, like the dating scene.
Either way, the “Sunday swap meet” is depicted as “a battleground”. The implication, considering the words that follow, is that said designation has something to do with this venue being one where romantic competition is high.
So perhaps, based on his own personal observations at flea markets, Kurt noticed them as places where people tend to hook up. Or that theoretically appears to be what he’s saying, that patrons may visit swap meets for the goal of trading alright. But while there, there is also a lot of, shall we say pheromone transmitting going on. And it is that aspect of the story which takes precedence as far as the chorus is concerned, this idea that despite being mutually attracted, the male and female subjects of the story are hesitant to make a move. This is apparently due to past romantic disappointments.
Nirvana and “Swap Meet”
“Swap Meet” is one of 11 tracks featured on the standard edition of “Bleach”, which some readers will recognize as Nirvana’s first album.
Nirvana was an early-1990s band whose name still regularly pops up to this day, as they are considered legends in a subgenre of music known as grunge rock. However, the act’s existence was short-lived. This was because the lead singer of the crew, Kurt Cobain, claimed his own life in 1994. He was just 27.
The aforementioned album, along with this song, was released by a Seattle-based label known as Sub Pop on 15 June 1989. And to note, Nirvana was also from Washington state.
This track was written by Cobain. It’s production was handled by Jack Endino.
Nirvana’s “Bleach” Album
On June 15 of 1989, Nirvana had the album, “Bleach”, released as their first studio album.
The album was recorded at Reciprocal Recording. This was a recording studio located in Seattle, Washington. The studio became defunct in July of 1991.
Seattle based record producer, Jack Endino holds production credits for the album. Sub Pop, a Seattle based record label, partly owned by Warner Music Group was responsible for its release.
“Bleach”, did not make it to the charts until Universal Music Group’s Geffen Records re-released it in 1992. Following the release, it peaked at No.89 in the US and No.33 in the UK. This feat could be attributed to the commercial success of “Nevermind”, the band’s second studio album, released in 1991.
The album has recorded sales of over 1,900,000 copies in the United States alone. The album has been certified Platinum by America’s RIAA.
Rolling Stone ranked the album No. 13 on their list of “50 Greatest Grunge Albums” list. The said list was published in April of 2019.
