Top 10 Best Nirvana Songs Of All Time
We list some of the best Nirvana songs of all time. Nirvana was a popular and highly influential American grunge band. It was part of the Seattle grunge scene of the late 80s, alongside bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. As their popularity rose, alternative rock became a dominant genre on American and Canadian radio and music television during the early-to-mid 90s.
Bio: Who is Nirvana?
Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Nirvana then found unexpected mainstream success with their second album. Released in September of 1991, Nevermind wasn’t an immediate blockbuster, but on the strength of its first single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the album reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 by January 1992. Nevermind, would eventually sell over seven million copies in the United States, and over 30 million worldwide. The album generated four singles and catapulted the band from the tiny Washington city to superstar status. However, Nirvana’s brief run on the top ended with the death of Kurt Cobain. On April 5, 1994, the music world mourned the death of the Nirvana frontman, who died by suicide at the age of 27. More than 25 years later, Cobain and Nirvana’s legacy lives on.
Top 10 Best Nirvana Songs
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was considered the most well-known song by the band, Nirvana. Apparently, Cobain’s girlfriend at the time wore Teen Spirit deodorant, and Kathleen Hana, another musician, wrote “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” in graffiti on his hotel room wall. He had never heard of the deodorant at the time, but decided that it’d be a great fit for Nirvana’s 1991 lead single’s title. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked “Smells Like Teen Spirit” fifth on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2017, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Stream “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
2. Heart-Shaped Box
“Heart-Shaped Box” is a song by Nirvana that was released on In Utero, and is the 3rd track. Cobain claimed that this song was inspired by a television report of children suffering from cancer. However, many believe it was really written about his shaky but passionate relationship with his wife, Courtney Love. The lyrics do tend towards this latter interpretation, since they seem to concern themselves with an unstable romance between two individuals. It’s worth noting that the lyrics mention Pisces and Cancer, Cobain’s and Love’s respective astrological signs. Love, after their second meeting sent a small heart-shaped box, containing, among other things, a doll’s head, to his hotel room. This is believed to have inspired the song’s title. Cobain and Love both shared a love and fascination of dolls. “Heart-Shaped Box” was the last song Cobain performed live with Nirvana, on March 1, 1994, in Munich, Germany.
Stream “Heart-Shaped Box”
3. Come As You Are
“Come As You Are” was the second single from Nirvana’s breakthrough album Nevermind. The song’s lyrics appear to have a foreshadowing tone given Cobain’s death by self-inflicted gunshot wound. However, in the context of the song they seem to be an ironic comment about people’s bad intentions. Kurt Cobain spoke about the lyrics on Nevermind: It’s An Interview: “The lines in the song are really contradictory. One after another they are kind of a rebuttal to each line. It’s kind of confusing I guess. It’s just about people and what they are expected to act like.” It was the band’s second and final American top 40 hit, reaching number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, and second UK top 10 hit, reaching number nine on the UK Singles Chart.
Stream “Come As You Are”
4. Lithium
“Lithium” is representative of the musical style Nirvana had developed during work on Nevermind, alternating between quiet and loud sections. Lyrically, It’s a perfect description of manic depression, where every line is both happy and sad, up and down, while having references to God recalling when Kurt lived with a devout Christian family. The title invokes lithium salts, a key drug in treating the disorder. The song peaked at number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
Stream “Lithium”
5. The Man Who Sold The World
“The Man Who Sold The World” Is a song that Nirvana covered at their 1993 MTV Unplugged concert. The song was originally by David Bowie from his 1970 album of the same name. The song’s main character, a man who felt like he had sold his soul and personality (aka, his “world”) really seemed to fit Cobain’s feelings at the time he played this song. However, it was not until it was covered by Scottish singer Lulu, whose 1974 recording, produced by Bowie and Ronson, peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, that the song gained mainstream attention
Stream “The Man Who Sold The World”
6. Something In The Way
“Something in the Way” was written in 1990 by Kurt Cobain, and it was performed by him for the first time on November 25, 1990, at the Off Ramp Café in Seattle. It is the final song on Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind. Kurt Cobain wrote “Something In The Way” about his life. He talks about living under a bridge, which he claimed happened when he got kicked out of the house and had to live under a nearby bridge. He expresses his feelings and emotions by saying “something in the way” – he thought everything was in the way every time he tried to feel better. “Something in the Way” charted for the first time in August 2020, after appearing in the first trailer for the 2022 superhero film, The Batman. The song peaked at number two on Billboard’s US Rock Digital Songs Sales chart, and number five on their US Alternative Digital Songs Sales charts.
Stream “Something In The Way”
7. About A Girl
“About a Girl” was written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the third song on their debut album, Bleach, released in June 1989. Kurt Cobain wrote this for his girlfriend at the time, Tracy Marander. They lived together for a while, and she took the photo that’s on the album cover. Marander didn’t know the song was about her until she read about it years later in the book Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. It was the first single released since Cobain’s death in April 1994, reaching number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 22 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart.
Stream “About A Girl”
8. Rape Me
“Rape Me” is written by frontman Kurt Cobain. The song was released as the second single from Nirvana’s third album In Utero in 1993, packaged as a double A-side along with “All Apologies”. Kurt Cobain wanted to make a strong statement in support of women and against violence toward them. In his words, the song is a sort of poetic justice. A guy rapes a girl. He ends up in jail and is raped there. It’s also believed that the song was in direct relation to his feeling of being raped by the media, in particular Vanity Fair and MTV. It reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart, and was the band’s final single before Cobain’s suicide in April 1994.
Stream “Rape Me”
9. In Bloom
“In Bloom” is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. Written by frontman Kurt Cobain, the song addresses people outside of the underground music community who did not understand the band’s message. In an interview with Melody Maker, Cobain admitted that his songwriting was inspired by the ’80s alternative rock, namely, The Pixies. Like Cobain, their songwriting is a collage-style tableau of words with apparent influence from the Dada and Surrealist art movements. Or put another way, less Black Flag and more “The Iggy Pop/Aerosmith-type songwriting,” as Cobain described it and admitted to imitating on Nevermind. The music video won Best Alternative Video at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.
Stream “In Bloom”
10. All Apologies
“All Apologies” was written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It appears as the 12th track on the bands third and final studio album, In Utero. An acoustic fan favorite, “All Apologies” has Kurt Cobain “apologizing” for how he behaves, in a way he summarized as “Peaceful, happy, comfort”. He went on to dedicate it to his wife Courtney Love and their daughter, Frances Bean. The song deals with everything that was expected of him and the changes he had been through, which weren’t all pleasant judging by the lines, “Married… Buried.” “All Apologies” became the third Nirvana song to top the Modern Rock chart, and reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart
Stream “All Apologies”
Honorable mentions
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