Essential Nirvana: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked
30 years ago, Kurt Cobain and Co. released In Utero—Nirvana's final studio album. Here, we revisit the tracks that exhibit the Seattle grunge trio's raw power
Music Lists Nirvana
Thirty years ago, Nirvana’s final act began with the September 1993 release of In Utero. Recorded with Steve Albini—the engineer behind Pixies’ Surfer Rosa—In Utero sounded as vital and twitchy as an exposed nerve: the trio of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl dedicated themselves to creating an unvarnished counterweight to the polished roar of Nevermind.
In Utero leapt out of the speakers: it didn’t sound like a final record, it sounded like the next chapter in a long career (for further proof, witness Robert Christgau’s contemporaneous review of the album, which suggests it was merely one in a long line of excellent Nirvana LPs). It wound up being the last studio album they’d release during Cobain’s lifetime. Over the years, there have been many posthumous reissues—another is coming next month, when In Utero gets its third expanded edition—but the 30th anniversary of its initial release provides an excellent opportunity to revisit Nirvana’s core catalog. Their 30 essential songs retain their essential power three decades later: they still sound as raw, vital, and alive as they did when they first were released.
74 Comments
I remember when In Utero came out and so many of my friends hated it. They wanted Nevermind 2.0 and “Heart Shaped Box” tricked them into thinking that might be what they were getting instead of a more refined Bleach. But Bleach-esque screeching, snarling noise was exactly what I wanted again, so I ended up liking In Utero better.We didn’t know at the time we only had Kurt for 6 more months.My personal top 5 would probably be “About a Girl”, “Negative Creep”, “Sliver”, “Sappy”, “Been a Son” but that’s kind of a nonsense list for most people I think. There are also a couple of deep cuts not on this list that I like a lot: “AeroZeppelin” (hearing Kurt do the Robert Plant vocal yowls at the end cracks me up every time) and the two Vaselines covers (“Molly’s Lips”/”Son of a Gun”) from Incesticide.
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Random guitar tangent, but this dude found the crazy secret to Kurt’s tone on In Utero. It was weird Fender amp that never sold well, and for the last year of its production, they changed the speakers in it to a new one…Solved a mystery: lotta guys had been looking for IU’s tone, knew Kurt used a Quad Reverb. They got Quad Reverbs, and sounded nothing like Kurt…because they got the most common Quad Reverbs. I love stories like this.
That is a great story and totally not surprising. Similar story, a lot of guys I knew who played guitar were super into King’s X and figuring out what Ty Tabor’s rig consisted of was basically the holy grail. None of them ever got it (they were also all about 5% as good as Ty as players in general).
True – tone, as they say, is in the fingers…but the right gear gets you a good chunk of the way there. I just love the simplicity of this, as most tone-hunting journeys normally end up off the edges of the maps, deep into the realm of amps fettled by one guy in LA who doesn’t advertise and or take bookings but you have to know a guy who puts a word for you.This is a regular bit of kit, lost to consumer apathy, and with some random last ditch changes probably at the behest of some CBS bean counter. It’s not a one-off, just an obscure quirk of mass production.
Yeah, appreciation of unappreciated gear is something I very much relate to, even though most people would rather set themselves on fire than hear me attempt to do anything musical.
In the relentless modernism of the digital world, it’s strangely comforting to be exposed to things that aren’t bad because they’re old, but simply different.
A seriously Cobain thing to do. Love it.
There’s a lot of lore on the metal and shred guitarist’s gear, or other famous axemen like SRV and Hendrix – and Cobain was a good guitarist but he wasn’t really, well, known for being a good guitarist first and foremost, to the point where people would start hunting down his gear and cataloguing it. It’s refreshing to see someone like Aaron obsessed with Nirvana, who, as impactful as they were, didn’t really attract the gear junkies.
I’ll admit I was among those underwhelmed by In Utero. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that All Apologies was my favorite song on the album. It very much felt like a record made by a band that did not want to fall into the overproduced mainstream, deliberately alienating the more straight-up rock and roll side of its audience for the benefit of its punk fellow travelers. Easier to see that now than at the time and I respect them for it, moreso than the way Pearl Jam seemed to deliberately piss on its fans for a number of albums, despite the fact they’d been an arena rock band from the beginning (I say this as a PJ fan).
I always think of the beginning & end of In Utero as kind of announcing that Nevermind 2.0 was not happening (“Serve the Servants”) and then apologizing for that (“All Apologies”). I also love “All Apologies” – I kinda think it’s low-key one of the most beautiful songs ever written.With PJ, after Vitalogy, I always got the feeling that Eddie wanted to be like Cat Stevens or Bob Dylan or something instead of a big rock star and the rest of the band wanted to just play anything different than Ten or Vs. but they whiffed on a lot of their attempts at that. I like the punkier stuff on Vitalogy and then No Code came and that was their real WTF moment for me.
for me, pearl jam was all about stone’s riffs and the drums, particularly dave abbruzzese.
once those two things went away, i lost interest real fast.
In defense of Pearl Jam, they pursued a strategy that worked for them. It seemed like the idea was to turn themselves from a mainstream phenomenon into a cult band. The problem is that they were always best at arena rock so they sort of traded perfectly realized albums for being, at least for a while, interesting. Their current Deadhead-like fanbase tells you they succeeded at what they wanted to do.
I listen to a lot of their live sets that are aired on XM, and they definitely aren’t afraid to play a whole lot of stuff I haven’t heard of and don’t especially care for. But the audience loves the shit out of it, so I expect you’re right.I always thought Vedder just didn’t want to be a full-on rock star and so a few albums seemed designed to alienate Ten-era fans.
I think In Utero was an album that the band really wanted to record, while Nevermind was the album the executives wanted them to record. In Utero was more raw and personal, while Nevermind had a bit more of that pop sound, at least in a few of the tracks. This is one reason I hold In Utero in a higher regard than Nevermind. Both are great, but In Utero was peak Nirvana. Even if Kurt didn’t enter into the ether, I think it was their last album as a band.
i haven’t listened to it in years, but one thing i love about ‘in utero’ is the how heavy and huge it sounds.
i grew up on thrash music, and ‘heart-shaped box’ is still one of the heaviest songs i’ve ever heard.
“Been A Son” is probably in my top 5, great song.The Cibo Matto cover of “About A Girl” is pretty fun, too. (For a couple of years I had a car stereo that would always pick the first song on my iPod alphabetically by name when I plugged it in, and it was always that one, so it’s burned into my brain now.)
That was a great cover. I’d like to think they appreciated that one more than the Tori Amos “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
Some friend of mine and I went to a party the weekend after In Utero came out and we managed to sneak it into the CD deck that was playing. We . . . got kicked out of that party.
Respect!
I didn’t like In Utero either initially, mainly because… yeah, I was expecting Nevermind 2.0 as well. It did grow on me, however, and I appreciated that they were trying something different, more raw and less studio polished.However, I tried listening to the album again a few years ago for the first time probably since the 90s. Let’s just say, I’m not 17 anymore and my musical tastes have changed quite a bit in the ensuing decades.
Nevermind sorta left my regular rotation a while back but Bleach, In Utero & Incesticide have been mainstays over the decades (!!). I often wonder how much of that is nostalgia and how much is because I really do still think they’re that good.
Your friends were definitely wrong, In Utero is the far superior album.
As great as the songs are, I have a hard time seeing Nevermind as anything but a collection of their greatest hits. If I’m reaching for a Nirvana album, it’s gonna be In Utero; much more cohesive, fantastically abrasive and downright unsettling at times. Like a cool mix between Nevermind and Bleach.
It’s a great album, but there is fat to trim off, whereas Nevermind and Bleach feel much tighter. A combination of the best songs from In Utero and Incesticide would’ve made for a cracking album and it would have very much worked tonally.
The first note of ‘Serve the Servants” (first note of the album) is so definitive. Love blasting it.The thesaurus is working overtime on these descriptions, but I still enjoyed the listicle. Thanks Stephen.Over the past two years, Krist has formed 3rd Secret with members of Soundgarden. They have two recent albums which are both good.
Their absolute best song is About A Girl, because it gave us the greatest video ever made. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, or how foul my mood might be; watching Puddle Of Mudd cover that song will never fail to make me laugh until I cry.
You Know You’re right should be higher, the pureness of the song with the raw power, nothing elsehas matched the intensity of the song imo ever.
A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, fucking slideshow, YAY!
When this scene came on in The Muppets, I was like “Yessss…oh my god, Beaker’s gonna actually say it.” And then I fell out of my seat laughing.
Well, that’s going to be jammed in my head for a while. Can’t wait to explain to the wife what “Mee mee mee moo” is!
Still the best liner notes ever:I don’t feel the least bit guilty for commercially exploiting a completely exhausted rock youth culture because, at this point in rock history, Punk Rock (while still sacred to some) is, to me, dead and gone. We just wanted to pay tribute to something that helped us to feel as though we had crawled out of the dung heap of conformity. To pay tribute like an Elvis or Jimi Hendrix impersonator in the tradition of a bar band. I’ll be the first to admit that we’re the 90’s version of Cheap Trick or the Knack but the last to admit that it hasn’t been rewardingAt this point I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our recordsLast year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song “Polly”. I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience. Sorry to be so anally P.C. but that’s the way I feelLoveKurdt (the blonde one)
That sounds suspiciously woke to me. I’m not going to buy any future records from these Nirvana people.
Grooming the youths!
You forgot the one where Kurt showed up to Headbanger’s Ball dressed in a ball gown!
No, no, the proper procedure is to buy all their records and then films yourself performatively destroying them. That’s how you own the libs!
#1 should be Endless, Nameless, Nevermind’s hidden track that came on while you were asleep with the headphones on. Thank you.
Then and now, my favorite Nirvana tunes are the weirder, more raw stuff that got relegated to B-sides and comps. “On the Guilt,” “Sappy,” “I Hate Myself And Want To Die,” “Curmudgeon,” that’s my shit.
TIL Verse Chorus Verse was renamed Sappy. He should have renamed the earlier song.
Yeah, I guess I had assumed that I was wrong about that song’s title when I was a kid, which seemed possible since it was unlisted on No Alternative. Regardless, great song!
Not sure if it deserves a top 30 slot but I always loved the skewering of Smells Like Teen Spirit at the beginning of Rape Me. It was one of the first instances as a kid where I felt like I had a grasp on irony and sarcasm.
They played “Rape Me” in one a concert that was televised on MTV and it was hilarious to hear the crowd scream in joy, thinking they were about to hear “Smells Like Teen Spirit” before falling completely silent after the opening rift.
Saw them in concert after the album came out and they did the same thing. Hearing the crowd basically go “YYYYEAAA—AWWW” was pretty funny. The album is out! You knew that would happen!
Couldn’t help but notice the conspicuous absence of the R-word song from the Top 30.
I agree, Radio Friendly Unit Shifter is a criminally underappreciated song. I’d put at at #5, personally.
Rape Me is absolutely a top 30 Nirvana song, from actual sound/musical composition to awesome and extremely on brand messaging.
*ascending guitar riff*Kurt: a-WAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE*ascending guitar riff*Kurt: a-WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee…
“Come As You Are” simmers on a percolating riff that vaguely resembles Killing Joke’s “Eighties”
If by “vaguely resembles” you mean directly lifted. Between that and Grohl’s admission that he lifted drum beats from the Gap Band, my opinion of Nirvana has lessened over time. Also, “Eighties” is a better song.
Oh god, grow up.
The riff is similar, but Nirvana does something totally different with it—entirely different melody and feel.
Out of the two responses to my comment, yours was the best. Thanks for not being childish.
Yes, and Killing Joke stole the riff from The Damned (“Life Goes On”), who stole it from a band called Garden of Delight.. who stole it from a band called The Equals. & Grohl is a modest dude, he was just being complimentary and gracious. Musicians are constantly observing and emulating artists who came before them, it’s omni-present in the industry.In other words, give me a break.
But you do know Killing Joke completely lifted that riff from an older song called “Life Goes On” by The Damned? Listen on Youtube. And there’s no way you could reasonably argue Come As You Are isn’t a much better song than “Eighties” or “Life Goes On”.
“Drain You” at 15 feels like straight up trolling, I’m sorry.
Explain why. It’s a great song and a fan favorite off of Nevermind. Also, Kurt apparently really liked it.
Because it should be a lot higher?
Listen/Read this: https://www.theringer.com/2023/5/17/23725739/smells-like-teen-spirit-alternate-lyrics-courtney-loveand also, “Sliver” is my personal fav.
That was a pretty incredible interview. Also Sliver is the best Nirvana song.
“…fitting neatly into the loud-soft-loud template the group adapted from Pixies.”Such a bad take. So ignorant of music, so blatantly stupid. Anyone who writes about music and repeats this stupid “Nirvana took their sound from the Pixies” line should consider changing careers.
I guess I wasn’t angsty enough for a lot of their music. I definitely have favorites but the songs that true fans seem to love most I often find annoying, either because of the woe is me lyrics or feedback freakouts.
Kurt’s cover of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” still gives me chills. The story goes that after the band walked off-stage, MTV producers wanted an encore and Kurt asked in disbelief (I’m paraphrasing), “You think I can top that?” Such a haunting performance that — nearly 30 years later — still feels like an outlet for Kurt’s pain.
That sigh and thousand-yard stare he makes right before the ending “Laaaaast Niiiiiiiight” still breaks me.
“Like a werewolf” in Neil Young’s words.
We were sitting in traffic waiting to get into the Guns N’ Roses/Metallica show in Houston when the local hard rock station had the WORLD GLOBAL PREMIERE of “Heart Shaped Box” and the fucking DJ talked over the entire intro of the song. 🙁
Nirvana? The clothing brand?
Nirvanna, the band
Glad to see ‘Aneurysm’ in the top five.
Spring of ‘91, a friend calls me up. “Hey, a bunch of us are going to the Westward(live music venue), you up for it?> Uhhh, I dunno, I have to be at work really early, who’s playing?> I forget the name, I think they’re from Seattle or something.> Nah man, I’m gonna just hang out here for the night.”Yeah, I didn’t go see Nirvana in a club for $9. Three months later they were the biggest band in the world. Fuck.
Never heard of her
Nirvana was the last rock androll band that was culturally relevant. There have been lots of good and even great rock bands that have created good and even great songs and albums, but since 1993 rock and roll music has not been a culturally relevant art form. Change my mind.
No Lounge Act?
I would personally feed 10,000 Kurts into a woodchipper to get back 1 Freddie Mercury.
Overall very few things jump out as crazy rankings here: Dumb at 24 is nonsense, it’s much better than…half-ish of the songs ahead of it. Rape Me is 100% a top 30 song probably top 20 at worst. Come As You Are is way to high.