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

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.

just highlights his severe limitations as an acoustic guitarist

This is basically my problem with the whole Unplugged album. "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" isn't bad though.

I like Unplugged in NY but I haven't listened to it in years.

http://i.imgur.com/889DcUW.jpg

17. Lounge Act
469 points, 19 votes, 3 #1 votes

i'm here to represent the Great Unwashed who can't tell a limited acoustic guitarist from Leo Kottke. xp

Don't tell me what I wanna hear.

i like the acoustic guitar on Unplugged! what's wrong with it?

I seem to recall a story about how during the Unplugged taping, on some the more electric-oriented numbers Cobain stomped on imaginary pedals as a reflex action.

Well on "The Man Who Sold the World" he actually does use a distortion pedal

YES! 'Lounge Act'! One of my all-time favourite Nirvana songs, this.

TOO LOW!

Pure hooks.

IMO Nirvana songs are pretty barre chord heavy, so YMMV as how they come across acoustically - Pennyroyal or On a Plain I'm thinking (as opposed to About A Girl etc)

Yup, 'Lounge Act' is just pure hooks... I love pretty much everything about this song, and a great bassline too.

For most of Unplugged I don't really have a problem with the guitar work - the record's really not about that - but even when I got the album for my birthday in 1994 (I was 12 and hadn't yet touched a guitar) I could tell KC wasn't so hot on acoustic.

Yeah love this one.

Lounge Act is so great, one of the songs that wouldn't have fit on Bleach or In Utero at all. Glad to see it in the top 20. That makes 5 in a row I voted for.

I guess another reason why I feel 'Lounge Act' is too low is that aside from 'Breed' (which I voted for) and 'On a Plain' (which I didn't, but easily could have done) the rest of the selections from Nevermind, all of which will undoubtedly place, are all the songs which at this stage I'd be happy never to hear again. I got tired of 'Drain You' years ago, if I'm to be honest, and what's left? 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come As You Are', 'Lithium' and 'In Bloom', which are undoubtedly the four songs on the record which lost their power for me a long time ago to the point where I find 'em a bit boring to listen to.

Novoselic deserves a medal for that bass line

I recall the live version received moderate play on the local alt stations when Wishkah came out, but other than that "Drain You" isn't exactly a radio staple. Maybe you got tired of it 'cause you played it so much?

Last one for today:

http://i.imgur.com/OAvN17R.jpg

15. Come as You Are
469 points, 21 votes

Now this one I actually like better than I used to. Kurt's performance of it on "Unplugged" is almost unbearably raw - unexpectedly made me cry the other night when I listened for the first time in years.

Come as You Are is the one Nevermind single I haven't ever gone through a phase of being fed up of.

xxxpost:

Yeah, 'Drain You' just hasn't withstood repeated listens for me in the same way as a lot of other Nirvana tracks have. I've quite possibly, at this stage, listened to In Utero far more than I ever have Nevermind, but I still don't feel tired of the majority of the material on there, there's really only 'Heart-Shaped Box' that I find myself getting a bit "meh" over, but I can listen to it just fine in the context of the album while never ever feeling like listening to it in isolation.

On Nevermind stuff like 'Breed', 'Lounge Act' and 'On a Plain' have withstood repeated listens for me, but 'Drain You' is definitely one of those that I feel like skipping these days.

I'm actually kinda glad that 'Come As You Are' hasn't placed in the Top 10. Don't get me wrong, I liked it as much as anyone else did when I first heard it - same with all of the Nevermind singles - and I think the bass sound on it in particular is wonderful, but it's got to the point now with those tracks where I'm like "oh great, this song again..."

i can't believe anyone would vote for smells like teen spirit

I think it was #15 on my ballot

Another recap:

TIE 40. Floyd the Barber
TIE 40. Molly's Lips
TIE 38. Sifting
TIE 38. I Hate Myself and Want to Die
37. tourette's
36. The Man Who Sold the World
35. Stay Away
34. Territorial Pissings
33. Swap Meet
32. Rape Me
31. Blew

30. Love Buzz
29. Polly
28. Something in the Way
27. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
26. Milk It
25. Negative Creep
24. Sappy
23. Been a Son
22. Very Ape
21. Dive

20. Scentless Apprentice
19. Pennyroyal Tea
18. Where Did You Sleep Last Night
17. Lounge Act
16. Come as You Are

Will pick things up again tomorrow for the top 15, hoping to start a bit earlier.

xpost:

I didn't vote for it, obvs.

Gonna change the 'sifting' pic?

Would love to but have no mod powers!

XP to Turrican - Nevermind foregrounds its hooks so effectively that it's easier to wear out than some of their other records. In Utero camouflages its hooks almost as well, which is why it's a lot harder to hear as the difficult follow up/the noise record 20 years after the fact. Its tunes sneak up on you.

I agree there - apart from maybe three tracks it's just as tuneful as Nevermind.

I haven't read as much about its creation as I should. were the hooks in the demos? How much help did Butch Vig provide?

'Even In His Youth' isn't gonna place I guess. Same goes for 'Do Re Mi' and 'Marigold'

Yeah, In Utero is definitely a very tuneful record, IMO... 'Milk It' is probably the most "difficult" thing on there.

Shit, I missed Dive getting rolled out. I was another #2 for that one. Came across this post on a courtney love fan tumblr not long ago. I can't find it's source anywhere, but it sure as hell scans like real Courtney.

http://fuckyeahcourtneylove.com/post/132194489676/little-known-fact-kurt-loathed-dive-listen-to

lol Drain You is my #2, never got sick of it. Smells Like Teen Spirit #3 too.
all this knee-jerk hate for the Nevermind tracks feels too cool for school.

Dive was my #3; incredible tune

Come as You Are is the one Nevermind single I haven't ever gone through a phase of being fed up of.

Agreed

not voting for the hits = NOT POPULIST

Spirit of ILX weeps

I didn't vote. I should've voted. Negative Creep is way too low.