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

Blew
Dive
Drain You
Aneurysm
You Know You’re Right
Lounge Act
On A Plain
Paper Cuts
Love Buzz
Sifting
Breed
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Something in the Way
Very Ape
Downer
Big Long Now
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Come As You Are
Dumb

Been a Son
Lithium
Sappy
Scentless Apprentice
On a Plain
Lounge Act
Very Ape
I Hate Myself and Want to Die
Breed
Aneurysm
Heart-Shaped Box
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
All Apologies
Pennyroyal Tea
Drain You
Tourette's
Oh, the Guilt
Milk It
Old Age
School

Serve The Servants
Drain You
In Bloom
On A Plain
Sappy
Heart-Shaped Box
Sliver
School
Very Ape
Breed
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Been A Son
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
Turnaround
Territorial Pissings
Tourette’s
Endless, Nameless
Lithium
Negative Creep
Pen Cap Chew

favorite album:
Nevermind

Nirvana covering Devo was always such an eye-opener for me, things like that are a window into Cobain's taste beyond the obvious influences that people associate him with, plus "Turnaround" totally kicks ass

i think the song i've enjoyed the most listening to the poll results that i didn't think of voting for is "Swap Meet," really overlooked that one

yes!!!

Milk It
Dumb
Lithium
Aneurysm
Negative Creep
Pennyroyal Tea
Where Did You Sleep Last Light?
Very Ape
Drain You
Lounge Act
School
D7
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Stay Away
Scentless Apprentice
Sappy
Breed
Molly’s Lips
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Swap Meet

favorite album: In Utero

i don't dislike "You Know You're Right" but i kind of appreciate seeing, some years after all the hype that attended its release, that it's been more or less discarded as an inessential leftover and not The Great Lost Nirvana Single.

maybe it's just that it's one of my favorite Velvet's songs, but I love their version of 'Here She Comes Now' that's on the Fifteen Minutes tribute.

i enjoy "you know you're right" as a song but the mix on the self-titled 'best-of' is atrocious. would have been good with rawer 'in utero' style production, imo

scoffing @ #1

scoff away

Dive
Drain You
Aneurysm
Come As You Are
Floyd the Barber
In Bloom
Curmudgeon
Lounge Act
Spank Thru
School
Scentless Apprentice
Very Ape
Breed
Hairspray Queen
Dumb
Beeswax
Negative Creep
Blew
Oh the Guilt
Swap Meet

Lounge Act
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Sappy
Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Son Of A Gun
Pennyroyal Tea
Lithium
Molly's Lips
You Know You're Right
All Apologies
Endless, Nameless
Rape Me
Breed
Territorial Pissings
Sliver
School
In Bloom
Polly
Stay Away
Heart-Shaped Box

album: Nevermind

1. “On a Plain”
2. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
3. “Heart-Shaped Box”
4. “All Apologies”
5. “Dumb”
6. “Sliver”

Thanks Gavin!

Frances Farmer Will Have her Revenge on Seattle
Aneurysm
Dumb
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Heart Shaped Box
Serve the Servants
Aero Zeppelin
Swap Meet
Love Buzz
Lithium
The Man Who Sold the World
Sifting
Milk It
On a Plain
Hairspray Queen
Mr Moustache
Big Long Now
Paper Cuts
Lounge Act
Where Did You Sleep Last Night

I didn't vote because apparently I have a terrible memory for Nirvana song titles (all through the countdown I was going "hmm... <goes to youtube> oh yeah, this one!") but thank you all for the joy I felt when School - Sliver - Breed came up in quick succession

"Sliver", "Sappy", and "Dive" were the ones I didn't vote for that I was happiest to rediscover through this poll.

Also, thanks, Gavin!

im remembering so many songs too!

TOKEN EASTERN SONG!

https://youtu.be/rmFcXfRGYWI

Won't post my entire list, but I was the guy that voted for Breed as my #1.
#2 was On A Plain.

huh, nobody voted for Talk to Me. I almost did, maybe I should have.

didnt vote but probably should have. genuinely surprised at SLTS taking #1. i thought Aneurysm was a shoo-in

oh man that velvets cover is amazing and i'd somehow never heard it before

kurt screaming out the chorus just feels right

would have voted for it

Considering also what was left off that's not a bad list of songs - as a legacy of a decent songwriter I think it holds up pretty well.

really i do suspect those of you who don't think "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of Nirvana's 20 best recordings of pure frontin'

^^^^^

i didn't vote for it, but my thinking was more like "it would be just outside my top 10 but it doesn't need my vote and i can make room for more songs"

really i do suspect those of you who don't think "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of Nirvana's 20 best recordings of pure frontin'

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius)

You and I seem to have very different taste in Nirvana songs, but I would agree with this.

Heart Shaped Box
Serve The Servants
Do Re Mi
Curmudgeon
Milk It
Oh The Guilt
Beeswax
Hairspray Queen
Breed
If You Must
The Money Will Roll Right In
Been A Son
About a Girl
Son Of a Gun
Endless Nameless
Blew
Scentless Apprentice
Drain You
Scoff
Pennyroyal Tea

xp Yeah "Turnaround" kicks so much ass. Although out of the 4 covers from that session, their version of "Son of a Gun" pulls on my nostalgia strings the most.

#43-59 comprise most of the Nirvana jams I still pump on a somewhat regular basis.

"Francis Farmer" getting the most #1 votes means it's the actual winner.

"Scoff" getting only two votes is kinda absurd

wow do I love "Scentless Apprentice", I think I'd never really listened to it before this poll (despite buying the album the day it came out). but sometimes it takes years, and new ears, and tbh good headphones.

so thanks poll! never really gave In Utero a real chance until now.

One of the reasons (of many) that I like In Utero so much is that I can hear a fair amount of post-punk influence in there... 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter' reminds me quite a lot of 'Annalisa' by Public Image Ltd. and the bridge between the verses and the "GO AWAY!" chorus on 'Scentless Apprentice' (the ascending guitar part) reminds me a lot of the intro to 'Something Must Break' by Joy Division.

There's hints of post-punk, The Beatles, R.E.M. and Pixies amongst other things, and all tied together with Kurt's unique melodic sense and the way he formulates his chord progressions.

Thanks to Mr. Gavin. Leeds for running the pool! It will live forever in the Heart Shaped Box of my heart.

My ballot:

1
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Drain You
In Bloom
Lounge Act
All Apologies
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Breed
Very Ape
Come As You Are
On a Plain
Dive
Sliver
Rape Me
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
School
Sifting
About a Girl
Opinion
Lithium
Sappy
20

Teen Spirit is a moment in time that I cant get back to. I couldn't vote for it. Other songs still work the way they're supposed to; just not Teen spirit.

I still find "Breed" as thrilling as any great Ramones song. It never gets old. Maybe I should have made it my #1. Or maybe I should have voted...

i wish i had voted in this. aneurysm! oh the guilt!

i had that grunge family tree taped up in my locker during high school.

i wish i had included Dive in my list. not an oversight so much as having not realized how good it was until after the results came out.

Toad or toe, people? The only thing I liked about that song was that he may have run down his pet amphibian.

oh the guilt = my favourite song not to place

moist vagina is such a great overlooked track, classic alone for Kurt wailing "MARIJUANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" and then the vocal fry at the end

really i do suspect those of you who don't think "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of Nirvana's 20 best recordings of pure frontin'

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Sunday, November 15, 2015 4:05 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think it is, and I'm definitely not "frontin'"

ok i believe you

(i just don't understand)

Yeah, I don't quite get the Smells Like Teen Spirit contempt. That's part of the reason I made it my #1, to counteract the negative creeps (Just kidding). In truth any of my top 5 could have been 1.

I'm far far more sick of Lithium and Come As You Are than Smells Like Teen Spirit.

been a son is a pretty cool song. i've never heard it before. thanks poll!

Thanks to the poll for making me listen to "Do Re Mi" for the first time. It's great! I can't believe I never sought it out. I guess I was put off by the price of the big box set (I had no money then) and ignored the "best of the box" thing. It's a rough cut, but I had bits of it stuck in my head for days. What a shame the world never got the "next" Nirvana record, with that, "You Know You're Right," and hell maybe even some songs that showed up on the first Foo Fighters album. Wasn't it meant to be like the White Album, with a little bit of everything? Maybe I'm wrong, but I recall Kurt was supposed to go out to Georgia and meet with Michael Stipe and throw around some ideas. Ach, what a loss...

Lounge Act
Aneurysm
School
Dumb
Even In His Youth - actually discovered this song while making my list
Scentless Apprentice
Milk It
Stay Away
Drain You
Negative Creep
All Apologies
Come As You Are
Molly's Lips
Breed
Sliver
Been A Son
Do Re Mi
Marigold
The Man Who Sold The World
Heart-Shaped Box

The funny thing was that I had a really hard time picking 20 songs but ordering those 20 didn't matter too much.
I love that 'Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle' ranked so high because that was my hardest cut.

I'm also glad that Wishkah did really good considering 'Spank Thru' was the only song that didn't place.
The Wishkah versions of several songs are better than the stereo versions.

'Molly's Lips' was the other song I never actually noticed until I made my list.