Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I'm bored and POLLed: The ILM Nirvana poll results thread (Poll #69)

The Prodigy, of course, sampled it for 'Voodoo People' too.

It was my #8. I didn't even expect to vote for it, but, after a few listens, it won me over.

Despite being a huge Prodigy fan in the '90s I never noticed that until it was pointed out to me (xpost).

http://i.imgur.com/u5Bcsfo.jpg

21. Dive
368 points, 12 votes, 2 #1 votes

...aaaaaaand there it is: my #1. Fucking awesome song.

'Dive' is so fucking awesome, actually, that it should be up there with all of their most well-known tracks. High five to the other person that made it their #1.

My number one too!

Dive fans unite.

i'm hoping the top 20 tracks will ameliorate my new feelings that i don't get Nirvana.

Dive was my #2.

#5 for me.

My #2. Courtney Love OTM: "It's my favorite Nirvana song. It's so sexy."

The Prodigy, of course, sampled it for 'Voodoo People' too.

whhaaaaaaa?????

Also the first released evidence of what wonders a real producer (Butch Vig) could do for their sound.

Is it worth me doing another five (and then doing the top 15 tomorrow) or should I stretch it out a bit?

Go for it!

Right you are.

http://i.imgur.com/y8mgcpc.jpg

20. Scentless Apprentice
407 points, 21 votes

My #5 and one of my big highlights of In Utero. I was secretly hoping that this one would go Top 10 on here... heh heh!

"Very Ape" = my #6, should have maybe been higher.

"Scentless Apprentice" = my #20, should definitely have been higher.

It's actually worth mentioning at this point that half of In Utero has already placed!

Well Nevermind and In Utero are clearly going to place in their entirety. Not really a shock in a 40-track rundown by a band whose studio albums contain a grand total of 37 songs.

my god the Voodoo people sample is so obvious – how did i never notice??!!??!

http://i.imgur.com/TRD8Ikf.jpg

19. Pennyroyal Tea
434 points, 20 votes (incl. 1 vote for the MTV Unplugged version)

Gutted this didn't make the top 10 - I had it at #2 but for a long time it was my favourite Nirvana song.

that'd be 12th for me

Well Nevermind and In Utero are clearly going to place in their entirety. Not really a shock in a 40-track rundown by a band whose studio albums contain a grand total of 37 songs.

Ha, yeah, I voted for 10/12 songs on In Utero and 8/12 songs on Nevermind.

"Pennyroyal Tea" #18 for me.

gimme
a Leonard
Cohen afterworld

Well, of course, but we've only just hit the Top 20 and more songs from In Utero have placed than songs from Nevermind. I can only think of two songs from Bleach that could possibly be up this high, 'About a Girl' of course being one of 'em, and I can think of two big songs from Incesticide that are yet to place.

In terms of my own ballot, 11 of them have already placed... remaining are: 2 songs from Bleach, 2 from Nevermind, 1 from Incesticide, 3 from In Utero and one which I don't think has a fucking chance of placing at this stage.

'Pennyroyal Tea' was one of the songs on In Utero I didn't vote for. I like it, but I think superior tracks from the record have already placed.

I think it's weird that #24 is the first thing on Gavin's ballot to show up.

for a few years i'd misremembered that line as "Leonard Cohen afterbirth"

wonder why they bitched about how Albini had gotten the mix 'wrong' on Pennyroyal Tea when even the Litt remix doesn't sound.. hugely different.

gimme
a Leonard
Cohen afterworld

Slightly regretting not going with "Gimme A George M. Cohan Afterworld" as a d/n.

The backing vocal is louder on the Litt remix and there's been a tiny bit of sweetening up, but not a great deal. Litt's version of 'Heart-Shaped Box' had far more done to it.

for a few years i'd misremembered that line as "Leonard Cohen afterbirth"

Haha, that sounds more typically Cobain than the real line

Christ, I hope the Top 5 isn't 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come As You Are', 'Lithium', 'About a Girl' and 'Heart-Shaped Box' ... god, that would just be so fucking boring.

Calling It:"M.V." #1

I have had five songs place now - I skew slightly away from the noisy/Bleach side of Nirvana and there seemed to be a lot of that lower down (xposts).

You know when you see a list of song titles ahead of an album, and imagine how they might go?

Well, its just as well ILX pre-covers weren't around, as I had the "Sit and drink penny royal tea" line long before I heard the song.

http://i.imgur.com/slF1K3E.jpg

18. Where Did You Sleep Last Night
449 points, 18 votes

FUCK - how did I forget to put Moist Vagina on my ballot? goddammit!

I think "Pennyroyal Tea" is one of the few songs on Unplugged that's markedly inferior to its studio version. A lot of people find it devastating, I know, but having Kurt play it solo just highlights his severe limitations as an acoustic guitarist, and makes him sound petulant. It needs those anthemic surges on the chorus.

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night," on the other hand, is one of those few performances that really, honestly makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I know that 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' has always been a popular track, but after looking at what tracks have yet to place I kinda figured it wouldn't place at this stage. I'm actually delighted to see it here, even if I didn't vote for it.

otm on both counts. His voice cracks in the wrong place on the Unplugged version. Plus, it not a great melody? It needs the full band.

Maybe I should have voted for it, actually, because I love Cobain's performance on it.

I think bleach's negative creep sounds bad next to the wishkah version

The Unplugged version of 'Pennyroyal Tea' is undoubtedly my least favourite version, so I couldn't agree more.

Christ, I hope the Top 5 isn't 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come As You Are', 'Lithium', 'About a Girl' and 'Heart-Shaped Box'

Damn, I have 3 of those in my top 5 because I was more interested in accuracy than not-boring!

Thanks to only having terrestrial tv back then, it took ages for the Unplugged show to air over here, about a year after Kurt had gone.

Anyway, due to being out on that night I had set the vcr to record it, and my settings were such that the recording ended about 10 seconds before the end of "Sleep last night" just as k had taken a deep breath for the last "whole night through".. BANG! Off.

That was hair raising times two.

xxxxp to Alfred - Yeah, "Pennyroyal Tea" has a great set of lyrics but it's harmonically threadbare. Another performance that gives the lie to the eternally stupid idea that you can't call it a great song unless it translates to solo acoustic.