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90s at 9 'Lake of Fire' got new life with Nirvana

The Meat Puppets didn't set out to write a religious song, but that's what "Lake of Fire" became.

by Nikki "Nikilicious" Montgomery

Nirvana recorded "Lake of Fire" for the 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York  album. The song was originally written and released by the Meat Puppets in 1984.

"Lake of Fire" was written by Meat Puppets lead singer, Curt Kirkwood, about how the the Christian church uses hell to scare people into believing what they preach. He didn't set out to write a song loaded with religious imagery, he said in an interview with Songfacts, "A lot of times I don't remember writing songs, I can't remember anything about like, how did I come up with that? But 'Lake of Fire,' we were all living together and everybody decided to go to a Halloween party, and they were all getting in costumes. And I thought, 'Man, this is one of the stupidest things - adults getting dressed up like we did when we were little kids.'

I had actually got pretty wasted on something and told everybody, 'No, I'm not going.' And then once I was alone, I just started messing around. I wrote a couple of songs that night. I wrote 'Magic Toy Missing' and 'Lake of Fire,' maybe one more. But I was just really trying to make fun of my friends for going out to a Halloween party." 

Meat Puppets "Lake of Fire" 1984

Nirvana performed the "Lake of Fire" at their MTV Unplugged appearance in 1993 and were joined by Curt and Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets.

Nirvana's cover of the song is much slower than the original. 

Nirvana "Lake of Fire" 1993

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Nikki "Nikilicious" Montgomery

I'm a Central Wisconsin girl born and raised. I grew up in Port Edwards and participated in cheerleading, basketball, volleyball and softball as well as many clubs like National Honor Society, SADD, yearbook and forensics. I was a very busy high school student and still managed to get good enough grades to go to college at UW-Stevens Point where I was just as busy between working 3 jobs including executive staff positions at the campus alternative rock radio station and volunteering at the campus television station.

After graduation I thought I would take my BA in Mass Communications with emphasis in Broadcasting and Journalism and Minor in Political Science and become a big time reporter in some major city. But instead my internship with our news station here at Midwest Communications turned into a part-time job and opened the door to the morning show co-host position at WDEZ. After 9 1/4 years of fun in the mornings I was promoted to Assistant Brand Manager and moved to The Workday Getaway.

I couldn't deny my love for rock anymore! It was time dive head first into the genre I spent my formative years listening to day in and day out. When the opportunity arose for me to become the Brand Manager for Rock 94.7 and host the morning show I couldn't pass it up.

I'm so happy that I stayed in Central Wisconsin I couldn't imagine raising my three daughters anywhere else.

Favorite band: STP

First concert: Bryan Adams 1992 at the Target Center in Minneapolis (I was 12)

Favorite color: Yellow

Favorite pasttime: Watching Walking Dead, American Horror Story and Covert Affairs

Vice: Wine