Top Ten Songs by Nirvana
Love Buzz (1989) – A cover of a Shocking Blue song, Love Buzz was the first single Nirvana released, and remains the most listenable song on their first album Bleach, released through Subpop records in 1989. While failing to garner national attention, the album established them as a fresh sound in the Pacific Northwest, and the grittiness shows signs of what’s to come. The simple A-B format of Love Buzz foreshadowed much of their career. Other possible picks from Bleach would be Floyd the Barber and School.
Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) – I have to include this, no? There’s nothing I can say about this song that hasn’t already been said a million times. If you haven’t heard it, go thee to a record store at once!
Lithium (1991) – The fifth song on Nirvana’s breakthrough album Nevermind (which Smells Like Teen Sprit opened), Lithium is my personal favorite song by the band. It enjoyed significant success as a single and still gets airplay today. The opening bass lines are simple but well-played, and provide the perfect prelude to the overdriven guitars and yelling in the chorus of the song. This odd juxtaposition is perfect for the subject material, as the song’s opening lyrics show it is about (at its most basic level) a madman: I’m so happy, ’cause today I found my friends, they’re in my head. It’s one thing when a song rocks; it’s another when the artists can match structure to content.
Polly (1991) – The sixth song on the legendary Nevermind, Polly introduced an important theme for the band: disturbing subject material done in a softer tone. Polly remains one of the few Nirvana songs where the guitar is soft and simple and the lyrics are crystal-clear all the way through. It’s an awkward, yet somehow sublime song about abduction and rape. It fact, it’s one of the few songs that works well both in the original electric format and in the accoustic format done for the Unplugged album (Come As You Are works only as electric; About a Girl only as accoustic).
Aneurysm (1992) – Aneurysm is the closing song on Incesticide, a collection of previously recorded odds and ends in late 1992. However, the song was first released as a B-side to Smells Like Teen Spirit and predated 1992 by a good margin. Did I mention that it’s their most powerful song, in my opinion? The descending guitar intro is an energy-builder that can rival Sirius by the Alan Parson’s project, only it has shaggy hair and wants to kill someone. It’s loud but musical and comprehensible, and It’s consistently a fan favorite.
Heart-Shaped Box (1993) – In Utero was the third and final studio-produced album for Nirvana, and in the opinion of this writer, it is a major artistic leap forward. Heart-Shaped Box was the first single, one whose music video drove the album to the top of the Billboard 200. It has all the features of Nirvana: eerie guitar harmonies, absurd lyrics (I wish I could eat your cancer…), a very dark tone, and a rocking sound. Though opening song Serve the Servents may set the tone, it’s Heart-Shaped Box which puts In Utero in a whole new league.
Rape Me (1993) – Their most controversial song (MTV refused to let them play it at the VMAs), Rape Me is in many ways the opposite song as Polly. In Polly, Kurt told the story from the point of view of the rapist; in Rape Me, he tells the ironic point of view of the victim. This is matched in that where Polly is written for accoustics with a softer texture, Rape Me goes all out with a loud coda of yelling “Rape Me” based on easily-copied power chords. Why people protested the latter and not the former probably says a lot about our society, but regardless, the song rocks.
Pennyroyal Tea (1993) – If I had to choose one song to capture the emotion of melancholy, I would be hardpressed to find something better than Pennyroyal Tea. It was supposed to be released as their next single after All Apologies, but Cobain’s suicide stopped the printing. It’s just dark, and eerie, and it’s one of the songs that makes In Utero so deep and full of a rich texture to which Nevermind just couldn’t aspire.
Dumb (1993) – I just as easily could have picked the closing All Apologies, but I like Dumb better; it’s cynical outlook perfectly captures the mood of the entire album, if not all of Nirvana’s career. And the common denomonator between the two songs is something that sets Nirvana apart – strings. What is a grunge band doing with strings? Making a beautiful song, that’s what.
About a Girl (1994) – I need something to represent their final album, MTV Unplugged, since it did shoot to number one on the Billboard 200, and I’m going with the easy choice: their only single from the album About A Girl, although their are many choices on an album that shows a different side of Nirvana and in a way completes them as a band.
NEAR MISSES/ALSO IN THE DISCUSSION:
From Bleach: School, Floyd the Barber
From Nevermind: On a Plain, Come As You Are, In Bloom, Breed, Something in the Way
From Incesticide: Sliver, Been a Son
From In Utero: All Apologies, Serve the Servents, Frances Farmer…
From Unplugged: The Man Who Sold The World, Jesus Doesn’t Want Me….
Odds and Ends: Sappy, I Hate Myself and Want to Die, You Know You’re RIght
It’s amazing to me that a band that only lasted a short time and only released 4 main albums had such a repetoire to choose from. I had to leave off three noteworthy singles that still get air time on rock radio, and a posthumous song that reached number one on the rock charts. Some bands go for 20 years and barely put out ten songs worthy of a top ten, but Nirvana was a blip in time and gave us so much.
