"Rape Me" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by frontman Kurt Cobain. The song was released as the second single from Nirvana's third album In Utero in 1993, packaged as a double A-side along with "All Apologies". The single reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart.
Background and recording
"Rape Me" was written by Kurt Cobain on an acoustic guitar around the time the band's second album, Nevermind, was being mixed in 1991. Nirvana first performed the song live that year, although Cobain had not yet written the bridge section, playing a guitar solo instead.
Nirvana had wanted to play "Rape Me" during its performance at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. While MTV initially told the band they could play any song they wanted, the network later insisted that the group play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" instead. Hours before the show, Nirvana refused to play. However, due to concerns that the network could boycott other artists on the group's label if the group refused to play the show, Nirvana ultimately settled on performing its then-latest single "Lithium". At the start of the performance, Cobain started playing and singing "Rape Me" instead; he said he did so "just to give [MTV] a little heart palpitation". Panicked, MTV was moments away from switching from the live performance to a commercial when the band stopped playing "Rape Me" and started playing "Lithium".
Rape me Rape me my friend Rape me Rape me again I'm not the only one Hate me Do it and do it again Waste me Rape me my friend My favorite inside source I'll kiss your open sores Appreciate your concern
“He told me to do what he said and no one would get hurt,” she recalled ... Me or Her ... “He started kissing me, he told me to use my tongue, he then cut my zip ties and pulled my shorts till they were all the way off,” and then he raped Kristy.