All A-poll-ogies: Nirvana on the Modern Rock Tracks Chart

"On a Plain" has become my favorite Nevermind tune, so much so that I'll catch myself singing bits of it at least once a week.

Love that song! It's a deep cut, or whatever

Don't have any memory of hearing that on the radio.

"Sliver" is my fave song among these, but tied up with hearing the 7" on WFMU in 1990. So voted "Come As You Are."

Had no idea it charted until I did this, and never heard it on the radio. Nonetheless, one of my favorite tracks on Nevermind.

I feel like "Come As You Are" was the radio staple in the UK, and maybe the only one that was completely over-saturated. Teen Spirit was too new, and didn't really start getting played until after it had charted. I guess "Heart Shaped Box" got played a fair bit, but not at nearly the same rate.

Voted "Sliver." Great song, and pretty weird for a mainstream band single.

crazy 'in bloom' and 'verse chorus verse' not charting, heard them an insane amount. 'lithium's peak also seems low, early. sorta weird 'dumb' isn't up there also considering how it's become kinda overplayed over the years. voted 'sliver' both cuz it's my actual fave up there and just the symbolism of this track that was pure college radio gold actually getting heavy commercial radio airplay on rerelease just two years later in the aftermath of nevermind.

wtf "In Bloom" was inescapable. probably the Nirvana video that was aired most frequently on MTV aside from SLTS. so weird that it didn't chart.

"On a Plain" is evidence that Nirvana was really the 2nd coming of the Beatles.

sliver vs on a plan for me too

on a plain, plan not planned

on a plain, for those amazing harmonies

also, 'got so high / scratched till i bled' remains one of my favourite lyrics

re: in bloom, would love to know what was on the chart during its airplay peak - given what the last year of polls has taught me about the Modern Rock chart, I'm imagining the top twenty just stuffed with Elvis Costello, Jesus Jones and 10,000 Maniacs.

Heart-Shaped Box for me. Great song, reminds me both of 9th grade wood shop and of my job in the college library at UGA: one of our middle-aged, decided un-alt supervisors would constantly install new seasonal screen-savers, and the Valentine's one, it turned out, played a MIDI of Heart-Shaped Box as candies and chocolates drifted around on the screen, which was pretty awesome the first time it came on, with her off to lunch and the rest of us looking around, comprehension slowly dawning. DOO DOO, BRAAAANG, doo doo, BRAYANG, doo doo DEUW DEUW DOO DEE DOO...

Is that 'About A Girl' the unplugged version or the album version? Somehow I hate the unplugged versions, they always sounded a tad out of tune to me.

judging by the date, has to be Unplugged.

Wow, "Sliver" charted 3 years after it was released on SubPop or did Geffen repackage it?

Incesticide.

Did 'In Bloom' really never placed in the charts? Echoing a comment above but asides 'Smells like teen spirit' and 'heart-shaped box' that's the only other Nirvana video I remember had a heavy rotation on MTV Mexico. The other singles in here I have no remembrance of ever seeing their respective music videos.

It's also one of the best (and most pop-friendly) songs on Nevermind.

I heard every NM track on college radio.

yeah it hit #5 on mainstream rock, not sure when that was but in the month after 'in bloom's release as a single the modern rock chart is generally dominated by 10k maniacs 'these are the days', peter gabriel's 'steam', rem's 'ignoreland' ('drive' is on the mainstream rock chart - ?)(maybe it had already peaked on modern rock chart?)(mainstream rock chart is dominated by bon jovi's 'keep the faith' and some black crowes song i don't remember), lemonheads' 'mrs robinson', soul asylum's 'somebody to shove', and some ned's atomic dustbin song i don't remember.

"I'm Not Sleeping Around."

'Aneurysm'

the Valentine's one, it turned out, played a MIDI of Heart-Shaped Box

Dr. C, I had this sort of experience w lots of Nirvana songs, but they tended to come in new DooM WADs. I remember one such level pack being the closest I ever came to tracking down "Verse, Chorus, Verse" (never knowing the name of that awesome song they played once on the radio).

I also remember the unplugged "Polly" getting airplay in the summer of 1995, as well as "Lake of Fire" around the same time.

Voted Lithium. It's been said upthread, but it's really weird that In Bloom charted on mainstream rock, but not modern rock. How could that have possibly happened? In Bloom felt huge to me; great riff, catchy chorus, the funniest single from that record. Why would modern rock have avoided it?

You know you're right, because I wanna be a contrarian

(Lithium would be the honest pick)

"In Bloom" was released as the fourth single from Nevermind on November 30, 1992. The single was only released commercially in the United Kingdom; promotional copies were released in the United States. [...] While lacking an American commercial release, the song charted at number five on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.[14]

it's almost like we don't need to poll arbitrary selections of an act's singles discography that appeared on one rock chart but not another

I never cared about it that much at the time, but to my surprise, in 2014 I want to hear "All Apologies" more than any other song they recorded.

Dunkle told New Times that she submitted a resume of sorts to Cobain's mother, for approval, to confirm "she wasn't a 'crazed fan' and could actually pull this off."

I used to be in the American Criminal Justice Association, so I made a long list of everything I've ever done and emailed it to the real estate agent, and she said she was forwarding it to Mrs. O'Connor. After that, they started taking me more seriously, I think. It took weeks of phone calls and emails, but I successfully set up an appointment to see the house. I deliberately arranged it to be on what would have been Kurt Cobain's 47th birthday…

http://pitchfork.com/news/54416-fundraising-campaign-launched-to-turn-kurt-cobains-childhood-home-into-museum/

Voting "teen Spirit" because someone should.

Voting "teen Spirit" because someone should.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative)

Pretty sure it's the best song here by any objective standard.

there are no objective standards for what is the best art

Cobain's mother Wendy O'Connor and sister Kim Cobain put the home up for sale for $500,000, in hopes of connecting with someone who will turn it into a museum.

A Nirvana fan since childhood, Dunkle is hoping to raise $700,000 for the museum—"making sure this house is memorialized by us fans so it doesn't end up in the clutches of capitalist greed."

What is the extra $200,000 for? To make _extra_ sure it doesn't end up in the clutches of capitalist greed?

Maybe Kurt just had an accurate vision of the future and decided, fuck humanity.

I like In Utero more as an album but those Nevermind singles are all fantastic. "Lithium" would win this easily but I always thought "Yeah yeah yeah" was a little bit of a letdown as a chorus. I'm not sure I've ever heard "Sliver" before now!

some ilxors hv heard my karaoke Sliver

Maybe Aneurysum for some of the best drugs-lingo-as-a-metaphor-for-love / love-lingo-as-a-metaphor-for-drugs lyrics ever.

Come on over and do the twist
Over-do it and have a fit
Love you so much it makes me sick
Come on over and do the twist

Beat me outta me - Beat it beat it
Beat me outta me

Come on over and do the twist
Over-do it and have a fit
Love you so much it makes me sick
Come on over and shoot the shit

Beat me outta me - Beat it beat it
Beat me outta me

She keeps it pumpin' straight to my heart

But also maybe All Apologies because man that's a beautiful song

I'm somehow always impressed by the way they mixed major and minor modes in otherwise simple songs like "Lithium" and "Heart-Shaped Box".

i love the crap out of aneurysm, proper chaos rollercoaster rock out

some ilxors hv heard my karaoke Sliver

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius)

Quite want to hear this. Trust you changed the chorus to "You should watch more films!"

"all apologies," which sounds better and better every time i hear it. it's like the song john lennon spent his solo years trying to write.

After listening to all of them, it turns out that I do like the In Utero singles more than these Nevermind singles, although "In Bloom" would put up competition if it had made this chart. ("Lounge Act" would too if it were a single.) So one of those, maybe "Heart-Shaped Box".

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Lithium is imo the best thing Kurt did.

"All Apologies" though ""Where Did You Sleep Last Night" would get my overall vote.

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

I can't complain!

High five

Hey, wait...

relistened to "You Know You're Right" for the first time in a while, as I figured ILX was being overtly harsh on that tune. but actually I've soured on it - there are good moments in that song, but they don't add up to much.

someone said it sounded like "Puddle of Mudd" in another thread and I initially blew that off, but the chorus ("PAAAA-AAA-EE-AAA-AHH-EEE-AAAAAA-AYYY-AAAAYN") actually does sound like the groundwork for some of the meathead alternative-metal of the late 90s.

whereas the simple "yea-aaah-aaahh-eee-aahh" of Lithium still sounds badass.

Anyone else remember Hole performing an early version of You Know You're Right during their 1995 unplugged performance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XlCuVlev60

Think I prefer that to the Nirvana version.

Yeah, love that Hole version. That Unplugged session is really great, actually.

Wow forgot how good that version is