All 5 Nirvana Albums, Ranked

Rock music has gone through several distinct eras. Elvis Presley was the king of the 50s. What the Beatles and the bands they influenced in the 60s can’t be understated. Hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath took over in the 70s. Hairbands were all the rage in 80s. From the 2000s on, the internet has made it so that few rock bands can truly break it out, leading to some saying that “rock is dead.” For many, it came to an end when Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994. Nirvana represented a tidal change in the 1990s, as grunge destroyed everything in its path and became a pop culture sensation. Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl led the way. Nirvana didn’t last long, only putting out a few albums (a wide array of live albums and collections not included), but each one is now a timeless classic. Here’s how we rank them.

5

‘Incesticide’ (1992)

Nevermind, the album that changed everything, came out in September 1991. By early 1992, the Seattle band was ruling the charts and playing on Saturday Night Live. Wanting to capitalize on their success now, Nirvana released Incesticide in December 1992 as a collection of outtakes, demos, and B-sides. While not an album of new songs, this didn’t mean Incesticide was a weak collection of cast-off songs. The album is dirty, punk-rock brilliance.

“Dive” immediately gets your head banging and the up and down build up to the frantic explosion of “Aneurysm” is up there as one of Nirvana’s greatest songs. The band released one music video for the album, “Sliver,” which is highlighted by images of Cobain’s baby daughter, Frances Bean. The song’s simplistic lyrics, about a little boy being babysat by his grandma who wants to go home, are heartbreaking, especially with the gut punch ending. After singing “Grandma take me home” over and over, Cobain confesses, “I wanna be alone.”

4

‘Bleach’ (1989)

Casual fans think Nevermind was Nirvana’s first album. It wasn’t. That distinction goes to 1989’s Bleach. Released by indie label Sub Pop, the first effort is missing the slick gloss that would come a few years later. This is a good thing. Bleach is raw, a collection of songs without description before grunge was a descriptor. It was just a bunch of poor kids from rainy Washington making music for the pure fun of it.

Bleach was made before Dave Grohl became the drummer. Here, it’s Chad Channing and Dale Crover sharing duties. Neither have the rapid fire genius of Grohl, but their style fits the aesthetic. Kurt Cobain channels the Beatles in “About a Girl” while also screaming his lungs out in “Negative Creep.” Bleach is pop meets metal, an album which paved the way for what was to come but also stands on its own as an alt-rock goodbye to the 80s.

3

‘In Utero’ (1993)

Nirvana had an impossible challenge. How in the world do you follow up one of the most influential albums ever made? There was no way to top Nevermind. Kurt Cobain knew this. So, instead of doing more of the same, 1993’s In Utero is stripped of Nevermind‘s polish and gets back to the raw roots of their origins. Because of this, some fans didn’t like it. That’s exactly why it’s so great though. It refuses to stay inside the lines and be restrained.

In Utero gets your attention by starting with “Serve the Servants,” as Cobain admits, “Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old.” Dave Grohl tears it up on the drums for “Scentless Apprentice.” The shocking title of “Rape Me” takes on how female victims of sexual assault are treated. As “Tourette’s” rages at an impossible pace, “Dumb” and “Pennyroyal Tea” slow it down. For the best songs, you can’t do better than “Heart-Shaped Box” and the pain of “All Apologies.” Not even seven months later Cobain would be gone. In Utero showed where Nirvana was going had tragedy never struck.

2

‘MTV Unplugged in New York’ (1994)

In the 90s, MTV was what every band wanted to be part of. The channel was the epitome of cool. That didn’t just go for music videos either. MTV also started an Unplugged series where rock bands would play a live, acoustic performance of their greatest hits in front of a small, intimate crowd. In November 1993, as the end was near, Nirvana took the stage for MTV Unplugged, with an album of the show, MTV Unplugged in New York, released in November 1994.

Nirvana’s version of the show is the best ever because Kurt Cobain refused to play the hits. Instead, he played mostly covers of obscure and little known songs. The Meat Puppets came out to join the band for three covers of their songs, and cellist Lori Goldston brought an ethereal quality to several selections. Cobain showed his incredible vocal range with a take on David Bowie‘s “The Man Who Sold the World.” The most powerful is saved for last. After telling the crowd how much Leadbelly meant to him, Cobain sings “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” Before he hits the last notes of the final line, Kurt’s eyes go wide, he sucks in a deep breath, and lets out everything inside of him. What a fitting goodbye.

1

‘Nevermind’ (1991)

This is the one that changed the direction of music. In 1991, rock and roll was in a strange place. Outside of a few bands like Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the genre was still ruled by 80s hairbands. Nirvana brought an immediacy and rawness back to rock with Nevermind. In one fell swoop, shiny, overproduced songs about nothingness went away. It begins with that unforgettable intro to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, an anthem for the frustrations of Generation X. It’s the defining track, but Nevermind is so much more than one song.

Everything on Nevermind is jaw-dropping. It might be saddled with the grunge label Cobain hated, yet it’s more like Black Sabbath meets the Beatles. “Come As You Are” and “In Bloom” are sensations that took over the radio and MTV nearly as much as “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The bizarre lyrics of “Drain You” pull the listener in. And “Something in the Way” conveyed the pain of loneliness and feeling stuck decades before The Batman showed how much the message still resonated.

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