your fav Nevermind single

"In Bloom" for the drumming.

ditto!

i kinda started actively following popular music and watching MTV in like mid-'92, so for me "Teen Spirit" and "Come As You Are" just felt like these pre-existing things attached to an established band, and then i remember hearing "Lithium" and "In Bloom" when they were first released as singles and being way more into those, and that's still pretty much how I feel about these songs today.

"In Bloom" for the drumming.

and the hook. they're all catchy, but "heeeee's the one/ who likes all our pretty songs" ...

Anyone could hear just a drum track of "In Bloom" or "Scentless Apprentice" and know exactly what song it is, and that's kind of why they're the best Nirvana songs

lithium for the bass player (and the yeahs)

lithium > in bloom > teen spirit > come as you are

Lithium but I'm surprised how much i still love all 4 of these.

Kind of boring pick, but "Teen Spirit" is so special it cannot be topped here.

As with Bleach, I'm never always 100% sure which title goes with which song. So I thank tipsy for saving me precious seconds of research by confirming my belief that "In Bloom" is the one about the guy who likes to sing along and shoot his guns. Nice gnarled gtr solo on that one. That's my favourite. Actually, I think that entire first side is pretty much unfuckwithable.

"Lithium"

Come As You Are was easily my least favorite at the time, but I've come to regard it as a pretty great song, with Unplugged-style hindsight. but still, second place.

Kind of boring pick, but "Teen Spirit" is so special it cannot be topped here.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:57 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that song is annoying

I mean, seriously. Turning on my pop radio station that played Tiffany and Garth Brooks and hearing that song come out of the speakers instead is about as close in this lifetime as I'll get to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

did you really think that at the time?

i think that's a thread in and of itself

i remember being "I like this" but i didn't change my listening habits. I remember I bought Nevermind (maybe a few months AFTER) and Deee-Lite's World Clique on the same day at the mall.

Basically, if all you listened to was Top 40 radio, all you heard was Tiffany and Right Said Fred and Boyz II Men and Whitney Houston and George Michael and maybe every once in awhile "Sweet Child O' Mine" or "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". And if you didn't like Top 40 radio, you could listen to Country or the lite station playing Debby Boone.

Personally, I was all into Skid Row and GNR and Metallica, but even those bands were running their course with me. Hell yes, the first time I saw Nirvana on MTV and heard their song on the radio when I was 17, it was a watershed moment.

I'd like to say that I was cool enough to be listening to Husker Du when I was 14, but I wasn't. When Kurt Cobain said he didn't mind changing the artwork on In Utero so it could be sold at Wal-Mart "since that's the only place in town for some kids to get music," *sniff* he wasn't too far off from describing me.

"Lithium" for the music video.

That is some strawman shit xpost since they stopped playing Tiffany on the radio in like 1988.

Fine motherfucker. Substitute "Amy Grant" for "Tiffany" and you get the gist of my post about something that happened 17 years ago.

1. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Bryan Adams
2. I Wanna Sex You Up, Color Me Badd
3. Gonna Make You Sweat, C+C Music Factory
4. Rush Rush, Paula Abdul
5. One More Try, Timmy T
6. Unbelievable, EMF
7. More Than Words, Extreme
8. I Like The Way (The Kissing Game), Hi-Five
9. The First Time, Surface
10. Baby, Baby, Amy Grant
11. Motownphilly, Boyz II Men
12. Because I Love You (The Postman Song), Stevie B
13. Someday, Mariah Carey
14. High Enough, Damn Yankees
15. From A Distance, Liette Midler
16. All The Man That I Need, Whitney Houston
17. Right Here, Right Now, Jesus Jones
18. I Adore Mi Amor, Color Me Badd
19. Love Will Never Do (Without You), Janet Jackson
20. Good Vibrations, Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch Featuring Loleatta Holloway

PP OTM re: Nirvana

I had to go to Youtube to figure out which song Lithium was. I'm going with In Bloom because the video for that one actually capitalizes on the whole Ed Sullivan point mentioned up thread (which I see as a relevant point, even if 70 million people didn't watch Nirvana videos on the same night).

The 2nd time I saw Nirvana was in mid-91. The band announced that they had just signed to Geffen and they debuted Smells Like Teen Spirit for us. It was so boring and obvious compared to their other material that at least a hundred people booed that single song and many of us flipped them off.

The rest of that concert was still one of the best shows I've ever seen though. They were titans on stage when they were still fighting their way toward the top. When I saw them in October '91 right after Nevermind came out, they'd really lost that spark and I never saw them again.

It was so boring and obvious compared to their other material that at least a hundred people booed that single song and many of us flipped them off.

that's so weird, it really doesn't sound that different than their other stuff (except for being overplayed)

At the time, it just seemed really to accentuate all their most bubblegum qualities (which Bleach is full of), but de-emphasized the heaviness (a big problem for me with the production of Nevermind).

None of this is an attempt to be retro-actively snobby. If anything, it's a bummer that I was at an age, in a time and place, where I saw the whole Nirvana/Alternative movement as a scene-ruiner while thousands of kids around me thought it was the dawning of a new and better age.

I'm over all of it now, but it was a really disappointing year for me seeing as how in '91 Nirvana, Metallica, Ministry, and Voivod all put out commercial albums that were markedly inferior to what they'd done before...

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" may not have sounded new and fresh to those who had spent the past years listening to Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, but those people were very few, plus Nirvana combined those elements with a pop sensibility and a songwriting genius that made them way better. And still sounding very fresh to those who were used to hearing "More Than Words" and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

Part of "Nevermind", not to mention most of "In Utero", is too noisy and screamy for my taste, but "Smells Like Teen Spirit" remains one of the defining moments of the 90s. A truly genius single from an album that did also contain several other great songs, but none as great as that one.

In Bloom, cuz the 1st time I listened to Nevermind, it was my favorite song that wasn't Breed. Still is, and at no point in between has it been any different.

Nate sorta offTM. At the time it was easy to see Nevermind and especially Smells Like Teen Spirit as cheapening something valuable, but only to the extent that you were caught up in indie rock scene policing. I was and I did, at least a little. But retrospectively, the main difference between Bleach and Nevermind = ambition + money. More of each. Sound is definitely less raw/heavy, but they more than make up for it in the songwriting dept.

PP otm

i knew as a young kid from hearing REM and stuff like 'detachable penis' on someone's mixtape that there was 'cool music' out there somewhere but i wasn't cool and i lived in the middle of nowhere. it's a very particular parochial experience but nirvana were Important.

Favorite nevermind song poll been done yet? I like 'lounge act' and it probably is my favorite nirvana song (the chorus pushes it over the edge against songs I like better for the instrumentation).

But retrospectively, the main difference between Bleach and Nevermind = ambition + money. More of each. Sound is definitely less raw/heavy, but they more than make up for it in the songwriting dept.

"Nevermind" isn't any rawer or heavier than "Bleach", really, but you can hear the bigger budget in that the vocals and the drums are mixed more at the front of the sound. Plus the songs were much catchier.

I meant that Nevermind is less raw and heavy, Geir. A deficiency that the A+ songwriting mitigates.

Basically, if all you listened to was Top 40 radio, all you heard was Tiffany and Right Said Fred and Boyz II Men and Whitney Houston and George Michael and maybe every once in awhile "Sweet Child O' Mine" or "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

But the last two were Number One songs! You must have heard them a lot.

btw fuck you guys and the Amy Grant hate. I had no problem putting "Good For Me" on the same tape as "Lithium."

'Territorial Pissings'->'Baby Baby' - a flawless segue imo

myonga is otm about the first side being unfuckwithable...come as you are is lacking love a bit, but that song is as blurry and delicate as anything by the cocteau twins...

lithium, though..."i'm so excited/i can't wait to meet you there/and i don't care" there's scary brilliance in that song...

"Nate sorta offTM. At the time it was easy to see Nevermind and especially Smells Like Teen Spirit as cheapening something valuable, but only to the extent that you were caught up in indie rock scene policing."

I thought my post made it pretty clear that I felt this way because of the time, place, and age I was. I don't see things quite the same way in retrospect.

At the time, it was really disheartening to see great bands get funded to make records like Nevermind, Angel Rat, and the Black Album.

Now, I see that it's just part of a natural cycle, influenced by a ratio between corporate greed and bands that have worked very hard, for very little, who eventually deserved some sort of payday/recognition. Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, I misinterpreted the vehemence of yr 1st post, but I get you now. Still, Psalm 69 is really pretty okay.

I think all those records are pretty ok now, though Angel Rat is the only one I've ever purposefully sat through, from start to finish.

I'm kind of saving all those seminal '91 albums. One day I'll get all the anniversary remasters and really get down with them.

At the time, the only band that I thought gracefully rose to the corporate label level was Babes in Toyland. Their major debut Fontanelle definitely has teeth.

But now I've gone off topic. I voted In Bloom and I'm sticking with it.

"smells" like a blowout? or is an upset "in bloom"?

sorry

listening back to these today i really noticed how produced and compressed the drums sound

That was always my impression. I remember listening to it for the 1st time on headphones and thinking, "man, this must have cost a million dollars." It sounded like more money than I'd ever see in my lifetime. A weird feeling to get from a local punk rock band. Anyway, magical drum-doctoring was a big part of that.

I remember at the time going "wow, they got the guy who produced Killdozer!".

But baby, Killdozer never sounded like this!

That was supposed to be funny somehow. I'm not sure how, exactly, but somehow. Maybe there should have been quotes. Anway, Butch Vig is the best name ever, but you have to think he missed his calling and should have taken up a position at a cement mixer in Queens.

Real nice job on the Laughing Hyenas, too.

"lithium." "come as you are" is the weakest of these songs.

Die Kruzen's Cement was good training. For a guy named like Cement Mixer Queen.

Teen Spirit > In Bloom > Come As You Are > Lithium

At the time, the only band that I thought gracefully rose to the corporate label level was Babes in Toyland. Their major debut Fontanelle definitely has teeth.

i would argue mudhoney and L7 did to a similar extent as well

Mudhoney certainly didn't embarrass themselves, but they were not reaching any newer or better ground.

I totally agree on L7. I just always liked Babes in Toyland better.

spring is here again/reproductive glands

"Teen Spirit" was biiiiig deal for me as a kid. I hated metal (except "Once Bitten, Twice Shy") and Nirvana seemed scarier and yet more attractive than any other "metal" I'd seen or heard. Bought the cassingle from a friend after he bought the album, brought my little tape player into the living room and hopped around like a maniac while no one else was home. For some reason I thought I was being rebellious, that I was finally getting into metal. When the narrative about "alternative" came around, I was sooooo happy I didn't have to try and get Metallica, and could keep being an REM-loving enthusiast of "college" music.

It's one of those songs I really can't imagine what it was like to see in any other context. Be it a Metallica fan, Dino Jr. fan, whatever. I like the other songs but this is one of those cases where the cultural narrative strikes a personal nerve and I have to go with that.

When a friend tried to hip me to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", I assumed it would be comedy punk like Dead Milkmen or Mucky Pup. I mean, you'd think that, wouldn't you?

Come As You Are > Teen Spirit > In Bloom > Lithium

Never a big fan of Lithium actually. The chorus is kind of boring. Surprised at the lack of love for CAYA here. That's an incredible song IMO.

The chorus is kind of boring.

best one word chorus ever?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Lithium > Teen Spirit > Come As You Are > In Bloom

best one word chorus ever?

"The One I Love" has a good one.

SLTS sounded like the greatest song in history the first few times i heard it. bar maybe "fight the power," i don't think there's any other rock/pop song of that era that sounded so huge and important and just overwhelming.

SLTS sounded like the greatest song in history the first few times i heard it. bar maybe "fight the power," i don't think there's any other rock/pop song of that era that sounded so huge and important and just overwhelming.

("Hallelujah" is another good one-word chorus.)

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" may not have sounded new and fresh to those who had spent the past years listening to Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, but those people were very few

they weren't 'mainstream' bands by any means, but i don't know about 'very few' either. i had listened, at least a little, to them pre-SMTS, mostly through the aid of my friend who was a fan/booster, and nirvana definitely sounded new and fresh to me. to my mind at the time they also had at least as much to do with pearl jam - i think they both hit me within about a week of each other, when SMTS and Alive were released to video in the same month. (i had been aware of nirvana the name/reputation, but not sure i actually heard them - or really listened, at least - until the video turned up (debuted?) on headbanger's ball late one night)

(Southern Methodist Teen Spirit?)

lol old people, "In Bloom" sounds like Puddle of Mudd.

Nirvana were also a lot more compelling than the preceding bands to my teenage self, never mind how their various sounds shook out, and again i spent a lot more time listening to PJ

In Bloom is the only song on this album I really really like.

In Bloom is definitely the least of the 4

ok, listening to these one-after-another, i think that the Puddle of Mudd singles had better hooks. Don't call this a 'challop,' it's just an objective opinion from someone who isn't starting his mid-life crisis just yet.

I like Puddle Of Mudd singles on the whole and I call this a "challop."

Also "objective opinion" is an oxymoron.

I is youthful! My tedious challop = "objective"!

Unless someone's arguing Nirvana ran the Brill Building...

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/videos/drv100/v156/v15645ehhhi.jpg

Also "objective opinion" is an oxymoron.

― da croupier, Monday, December 22, 2008 6:40 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ok. all this (obv.) means is that i'm as removed as you're going to get in this situation, i never really listened to either band, whereas many of you guys are prone to nostalgia-driven opinions.

whatever, they're both bad. i'll go back to discovering the 13th floor elevators

You are old! Therefore nostalgia (awwww). I is youthful! Therefore challop.

"I'm not bothered by this at all."

i don't think anyone would argue that puddle of mudd didn't give nirvana's sound an extra bit of late '90s rock radio sheen along with lyrics that more nakedly express the perspective of a mouthbreathing, self-loathing misogynist (I bring it up whenever arguing why Mudd isn't merely a Nirvana rip-off). But declaring your discovery here with "objective" pride is some challopsy bullshit.

Don't bother with the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, dude, just go straight to Bad Company.

wha?

nirvana could never be as overrated as the 13th fucking floor elevators

Things are getting strange in here.
I voted for Lithium.

Lithium

I'm going with Lithium as well. May have heard this song first, on my college's radio station.

"Unsatisfied" by The Replacements is still my favorite Nirvana song, however.

that's a little, you know, literal for Nirvana

"Lithium" is best for upsetting gay karaoke night patrons, but c'mon, SLTS.

I voted for "Lithium" for the borrowed chords, which nabisco has discussed previously. I'll now return to grading theory exams.

And I think, like, my grandmother is more removed in this situation than Tape Store is. I'll play Nirvana and Puddle of Mudd for her some time

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

y'know pretty much any result would've been plausible to me when i really think about it, but i had no idea "Lithium" was gonna take the lead given most of the posts in this thread.

happy to see "Come As You Are" in a distant last place, though.