"On a Plain" is a song by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 band Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

. It is the eleventh song on their major label debut

DGC Records

DGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...

, Nevermind

Nevermind

Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...

(1991).

History

"On a Plain" was written by Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

 in 1990. It was first recorded in the studio on January 1, 1991 by Craig Montgomery in Seattle, Washington. It was debuted live on May 29, 1991 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

"On a Plain" was recorded for Nevermind in May or June 1991 by Butch Vig

Butch Vig

Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....

 in North Hollywood. It was released as a promo single

Promotional recording

A promotional recording, or promo, is an audio or video recording distributed for free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available...

 in the summer of 1992, and became a moderate alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 hit.

An acoustic

Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

 version was recorded during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...

set on November 18, 1993. This version appears on the band's MTV Unplugged in New York

MTV Unplugged in New York

MTV Unplugged in New York is a live album by the American rock band Nirvana. It features an acoustic performance taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993 for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Beth McCarthy and first aired on the cable television...

album, released in November 1994. It features Lori Goldston

Lori Goldston

Lori Goldston is an American cellist. She was the touring cellist for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and appears on their live album MTV Unplugged in New York...

 on cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

.

A live performance appears on the band's 1994 home video

Home video

Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...

, Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!

Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!

Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! is a video album released by the grunge band Nirvana on laserdisc and VHS on November 15, 1994. The DVD version was released November 7, 2006. Kurt Cobain compiled much of the video himself, but did not complete it prior to his death...

It was recorded at the Roskilde Festival

Roskilde Festival

Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...

 on June 26, 1992 in Roskilde

Roskilde

Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network....

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. Another live performance of "On a Plain" from Nirvana's show at the Paradiso Club

Paradiso (Amsterdam)

Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije...

 in Amsterdam on November 25, 1991 appears on the 2006 DVD re-release of Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!. An early 1991 rehearsal of "On a Plain" can be found after the credits have ended on the DVD version of Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.

A live performance can be found on the 2009 live DVD/CD Live at Reading

Live at Reading

-Album charts:-DVD charts:- Personnel :*Kurt Cobain - vocals, guitar*Krist Novoselic - bass, backing vocals on "The Money Will Roll Right In", intro voice on "Territorial Pissings".*Dave Grohl - drums, backing vocals*Antony Hodgkinson - dancerProduction...

. Another live performance from 1991 at the Paramount Theatre

Paramount Theatre (Seattle, Washington)

The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in Downtown Seattle in the United States of America. The theater originally opened March 1, 1928 as the Seattle Theatre with 3,000 seats, the theater was placed on the National Register...

 is included on the video Live at the Paramount, released in 2011.

Covers

The song was covered by Agent Orange for the album Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana

Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana

Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute To Nirvana is a tribute album by various artists to the American grunge band Nirvana, released in 2001.The album's title came from the amalgamation of Nirvana's signature song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and their debut album Bleach...

, and by Animal Collective

Animal Collective

Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...

.

In September 2011, Frank Turner

Frank Turner

Frank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...

 covered the song for Kerrang!

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

magazine's tribute to Nevermind

Nevermind

Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...

for its 20th anniversary, entitled Nevermind Forever.

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1992	U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	25