18 Nirvana Songs

by Alicia

I was lucky.  Nirvana was there for me when I needed them most.  That said, I wasn’t alone.  There were so many of us who propelled this band to the mainstream whether we wanted them to be there or not.  Something somewhat ironic about Nirvana was their success.  The punk-inspired philosophies had this strange juxtaposition with how highly the songs ranked and many records were sold.  Michael Stipe induced Nirvana into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame in 2014.  Stipe said Nirvana ‘captured lightning in a bottle.’  He then goes on to define this phrase per the urban dictionary and says: “Capturing lightning in a bottle means capturing something powerful and elusive and then being able to hold it and show the world.”  Yes.  This is what Nirvana did.  This is why there are still articles being written about Nirvana and why we continue to talk about Nirvana so many years after the band stopped writing songs and playing music.  They had something special.  That something was fascinating.

I can say with one hundred percent certainty, the loss of Kurt Cobain was profoundly impactful.  I would love to see what he would be doing today.  I want to hear his opinions and see who he would collaborate with and what type of art he would be brining to make the world a better place.  I think he had a gentle soul and maybe one that struggled with everything around him.  People, fame, I’m don’t know if it was what he wanted or expected.  I believe he had an intense amount of pressure thrown at him.  I only wish he would be with us still to tell us more about his story and everything he experienced.

I chose 18 Nirvana songs to write about and rank.  Per the usual disclaimer, these are my favorites and not necessarily the best according to anyone else but me.  I didn’t find this an easy task to narrow it down to 18.  I will forget something and I’d love to hear from you to know what your favorite Nirvana songs are and why.  Thank you for taking the time to read this.  Its an emotional journey for me and I’m comforted knowing you wanted to go along with me.

18. Pennyroyal Tea
This elixir is known for calming the stomach, and healing the insides.  There are stories of the tea being about to soothe the soul and the person who drinks it will ‘come clean’ with honesty and make confessions.  There is something very earnest about this song.  I am a fan of the ‘unplugged’ version quite as bit as it feels very personal and intimate.  When I saw Hole perform at Lollapalooza, the band covered this song.  Courtney Love started playing the song and started yelling: ‘don’t you ever fucking forget him!’  Say what you want about her but it was a heart wrenching tribute that will stay put in my memory.

17 Drain You
This is a song I clearly had a difficult time placing.  It is a classic (if you will) and anyone who likes Nirvana, even a little, likes this song.  It’s loud and raucous and rad.  I love how the song begins.  It just goes right into it.  There is no musical intro.  It just starts.  Every component in this song, not just works well together, but kills it.  The drums feel like they are being smacked by Dave Grohl.  The bass is being pounded by Krist Novoselic.  Vocals are screamed and the guitar is wrecked by Kurt Cobain.  It is everything a rock song aspires to be.

16. Heart-Shaped Box
I’m was so excited for ‘In Utero’ to come out.  Even more excited to hear the first single, ‘Heart-Shaped Box.” The weird but very ‘on brand’ music video that went along with it and more opportunities for live performances to promote it.  “Forever in debt to your priceless advice.” a lyric I think about every so often.  It stands out.  It’s very introspective and less ravenous rock & roll.  Nirvana brought punk-inspired words and attitude to songs, like this one.  Songs that are thoughtful and artistic.

15. About a Girl
Kurt Cobain, upon the start of the Mtv ‘Unplugged’ performance says: “good evening – this is off our first record.  most people don’t own it.” These are the first words he says before singing the song, ‘About a Girl’ from the band’s first studio album, ‘Bleach.’  Released on November 1, 1994.  I awaited this television performance with bated breath.  I invited friends over to watch it!  We made snacks!  It mattered.  The performance went on to become incredibly memorable.  It was, perhaps, one of the best ‘Unplugged’ performances there has ever been.  I thought it was phenomenal.  I have several other songs from this performance on the list as proof of how much I loved it.

14. Dumb
To me, this song’s lyrics read like a poem.  The bridge alone, ‘Skin the sun/fall asleep/wish away/the soul is cheap/lesson learned/wish me luck/soothe the burn/wake me up.’  It’s this mixture of words that don’t have to rhyme perfectly and fit into a mold.  The thoughts all fit together and paint this image of, possibly, who Cobain really was.  There was often pain, conflict, and wanting to be loved or soothed within the lyrics of his songs.  Still, these themes, these words… I would say this is true for all of us.  Fans were lucky because, we were soothed by this pain and beauty.  We could relate to it.  We could relate to him.  The brilliance I see in the song is that I believe it shines a light on those of us who can’t pretend to be happy when we are not.  People who won’t be entertained by something for a distraction to shield ourselves from reality.  Those who overthink and over feel.

13. Son of a Gun (Vaselines cover)
There are a decent amount of cover songs on this list.  I can explain why each one appears where it does.  Also, just overall, on the topic of Nirvana covering other bands/artists’ songs I can say Nirvana would turn the song to gold.  Potentially, the already amazing song into something equally or even more amazing.  For me, the cover songs Nirvana chose introduced me to bands I had never known before hearing the song.  I bought a Vaselines album because Nirvana covered them and I liked the songs so much.  “Son of a Gun” was one of those songs.  Cobain loved the Vaselines.  This was a tiny indie rock back from Glasgow who Cobain and Nirvana spread the word about by sharing their songs.  Nirvana covered, at least, 3 songs by the Vaselines, “Molly’s Lips,” “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” and “Son of a Gun.”  I love how he paid homage to his favorite songwriters by, literally, singing their praises.

12. Oh Me (Meat Puppets cover)
Have you ever felt that a band wrote a song for another band to perfect and perform without them actually knowing it?  I feel this way about the Meat Puppets song, ‘Oh, Me.’  I think it is a beautiful and very personal song that Kurt Cobain’s brings to life.  It is slow tempo songs that walks along side you.  I didn’t expect it to haunt me like it does.  For the ‘Unplugged’ show Nirvana covers three Meat Puppets songs: ‘Plateau/Oh, Me/Lake of Fire.”  The songs just seems to flow together so well.  When I listen to these songs I can still see Kurt Cobain wearing the mohair cardigan and layered button up shirt and t-shirt with jeans.  During this section of the show, Kurt doesn’t play guitar, only sings.  He’s the coolest guy in the world at this moment and yet, so vulnerable as he sings these songs.  It is entrancing.

11. Breed
Have you ever seen this song performed live?  It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life.  It’s electric, on fire, all the words to describe the energy.  The song is crazy loud and frantic and amazing.  I’ve always like the song and I continue to be impressed by it even when I hear it so many years later.  There isn’t another band that can do this today.  “We can plant a house/We can build a tree.”  It’s the perfect punk rock song.

10. In Bloom
The music video is hilarious.  Showing the fans that Nirvana is also funny.  I was excited to see the video on a regular rotation on Mtv.  It is a medium tempo sing-along, in some ways.  It is a song with an edge that still cuts through some pop music textures.   I feel as the audience became exposed to more and more Nirvana songs, we were able to grow more in love with this band.

9. All Apologies
The slower Nirvana songs seemed to shine.  I don’t know if this one was a goodbye or if it was some sort of admittance to having not met a certain expectation of someone or something.  I just know it feel authentic and personal.  I know there are aspects about me I feel I’d like to attach an apology.  The ‘Unplugged’ performance of this song gave it even more popularity.  It is a beautiful song and, when I hear it, I think about how versatile Nirvana was – they could be anything they wanted to be.

8. School
From the album, ‘Bleach,’  the song, ‘School’ and it’s head-banging chorus Cobain screaming, ‘No Recess!’ is raw and loud and cool. Novoselic’s long, dangly arms playing bass, Grohl incessantly hitting the drum heads like a beast, and that scream.  The song is gritty and angry.  I like it.  In high school, I had a group a friends that were truly the best.  We all loved Nirvana and we drove around listening to ‘Bleach’ and ‘Nevermind.’  We had viewing parties (without calling them ‘viewing parties’) when Nirvana was going to be on ‘Unplugged.’  The music was something that held us together and made us feel like we were witnessing something truly amazing (and we were.)  We just didn’t know how temporary it would be.

7. The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie cover)
What musician on this planet can improve upon Bowie? The answer is no one (except, possibly, the cover of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ by Nirvana.  Today, I exchanged a few messages about Nirvana songs with a friend and she mentioned this song too.  It really resonated with fans.  I loved the unconventional approach to ‘Unplugged’ the band took by covering songs of their choosing.  It made for a memorable, historic show full of incredible moments like this song.

6. Come As You Are
The vocal melodies were so good.  This song is no exception.  You just start humming these lyrics or singing along after moments of hearing it.  I read Cobain uses a pedal to give the guitar a watery/psychedelic effect.  Sounds like a rock song underwater.  Per songfacts.com, the hometown of Cobain, Aberdeen, Washington has a road sign from 2005 that reads, ‘Welcome to Aberdeen. Come As You Are.’ I googled this.  I saw pictures.  I would love to see it in person.

5. On a Plain
I think something about the songs that were appealing was the ability they had to reach out.  The song, to me, sounds like it about drug use, addiction, depression, loneliness and longing.  The abrasive guitar and reckless percussion brings it all together.  “Love myself better than you” is identifiable, especially for a teenager.  For me, it wasn’t connected with any sort of drug use.  I was far from that growing up and otherwise but I did feel alone.  As mentioned earlier, I had friends, at the time, who shared this adoration for Nirvana.  This shared love for this band bonded us together.  It’s a big part of why my memories of Nirvana are so strong.

4. Something In the Way
“It’s okay to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.”  It’s a memorable lyric I think about more often than I’d like to admit.  I remember giggling about it with my friend, Carrie.  We would spend afternoons in her room listening to music.  The ‘Seattle scene’ was huge and we dove into all the bands that emerged from it.  Still, Nirvana was a stand out with songs like this one and this lyric.  It’s odd enough to make you smile a bit and not in a cruel way just in a way that sparks contemplation for the songwriter.  Who is this guy and why is he so fascinating?  Part of my fascination with Kurt Cobain, specifically, were the words he chose for his songs.  I loved how unique he was.  There wasn’t another songwriter like him and I don’t think there ever will be again.

3. Smells Like Teen Spirit
This song is important that most every friend of mine who is a fan could tell you where they were when they first heard it.  For me, it was late at night.  It was midnight, to be exact.  The Point 105.7 had announced the song would be debut at midnight.  I stayed up.  I had my boombox ready.  I pressed record at midnight because, I knew, this was going to be something monumental.  There was a crazy buzz about Nirvana and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ before I had ever even heard the song.  I couldn’t google the song.  I could not search the internet to learn more hear it leaked because that wasn’t a thing at the time.  So, I hear this song at midnight.  It was hypnotic.  The, now iconic, guitar riff that begins the song.  The steady verses that are calm and curious.  Some of the lyrics, I can’t even make out completely.  Then the chorus and it’s not sung, but it is screaming raw energy like nothing I had ever heard before… and then it cycles through all over again.  I talked about it the next day at school with my friends.  I loved being a part of whatever it was that I was witnessing.  Then there is the video, right?  This video, back when Mtv  played music videos and before YouTube… is absolutely fantastic.  The school pep rally run amok.  The anarchy-clad cheerleaders, the janitor rocking out to the teen anthem we didn’t know we needed.  The only surprise, possibly, here is that it isn’t number one of the list.

2. Lithium
I listen to this song more than other Nirvana songs.  This song ranks so high on the list because it’s that type of song that you can dial up whenever you want to get out that frustration and play it as loud as possible and shout-sing along ‘YEAAAAAAAH, YEAAAHAAHHHHHHHAH, YEAAAHAHAHAAAAAH!’ I adore the mellow verses, which Nirvana because rather beloved for – and I adore the contrasting chorus.  The lyrics are clever and angsty and a vocal melody that is quite lovely.  I love singing this song.

1 Lounge Act
Have you ever had a favorite song from a band and you feel like no one else lists that song as their favorite song from that band and therefore, you feel like it is a connection that no one else has with that band except for you?  This is how I feel about ‘Lounge Act’ I clung to it as if it belonged to me alone.  I wound up dating someone who, as we were getting to know each other, exchanged some, what felt like personal information about music likes and dislikes and I asked him what his favorite Nirvana song is and he said… Lounge Act.  It was meant to be! (back then and even though we didn’t stay together for life or anything, that was such a cool connection to have with someone else.)  It was one of those things where you feel understood.  I think ‘Lounge Act’ is one of the best rock songs in existence. I love how the same lyrics are repeated much louder and stronger and bolder than the first time through.  It is as if he is putting emphasis on something that he feel more emotional about than perhaps, previously.  The song erupts.

My honorable mentions could be so much longer than the following list.  This ranking was really challenging.  I switched some songs around actually while I was writing it.  Some songs were hard to remove or replace.  So, below, are some of the casualties which I could see, on any other day, making their way onto this exact list.
Love Buzz
Stay Away
Polly
Territorial Pissings
You Know You’re Right
Molly’s Lips
Sliver
Serve the Servants

I could go on and on.. I could.  Mason and I were very fortunate to have received tickets to the Foo Fighters show over the weekend.  A very special thank you, actually, to the listeners who didn’t pick up the tickets they won so we were able to go in their place. Yay!  I know I will never see Nirvana live.  I know that opportunity has been here and is now gone – but, it was cool to see Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters that night.  I thought about his history and Nirvana’s legacy and just had all sorts of feelings about it.  This post was written in memory of Kurt Cobain… may he rest in peace and be remembered for the music he brought to us when we needed it the most.