I apologize in advance: this list is chock-full of deep cuts. Or maybe that’s a good thing? Either way, it’s my Nirvana Top 5. Whatever. Never mind.
This makes an even dozen (what a great number) of Top 5 lists that I’ve turned out. From Foo to Ozzy to Van Halen to STP, they’re all over here. And they were all made in response to YOUR Top 5 lists, which all live here. But let’s put the focus back on Nirvana; your Top 5 shook out like this:
Vote for the GOAT – Nirvana
5) Lithium
4) Heart-Shaped Box
3) The Man Who Sold the World
2) Come As You Are
1) Smells Like Teen Spirit
Again, my list ended up with a ton of deep cuts. Because that’s how I roll with Nirvana.
5) Serve The Servants – Remember the anticipation for In Utero? The biggest rock band in the world, following up their breakthrough album. From the opening cut, they delivered. And that experience of hearing “Serve The Servants” for the first time still sticks with me.
4) On A Plain – From the opening screech of feedback to the gentle harmonies at the end, it’s quintessential Nirvana. My fave cut from Nevermind.
3) Sliver – Incesticide is my favorite Nirvana release. A cacophony of early singles, B-sides and outtakes, sequenced to perfection. “Sliver” is Kurt at his poppy best.
2) Verse Chorus Verse – Or, “Sappy,” if you prefer. This was the hidden track on the 1993 AIDS benefit compilation No Alternative and it blew my mind that it never made it onto Nevermind.
1) Dive – I told you: Incesticide is my go-to. And the sludgy, grungy growl of “Dive” hits all the right Nirvana notes for me, always.