What Is The Best Song By Nirvana

From the ashes of the weekly song poll rises “What Is The Best Song By”. A very similar segment where I want to know what your favourite song(s) by the selected artist is! You can let us know in the comments!

The best thing is that if you don’t know the artist then you can see both our recommendations as well as those by other people.

Fox’s Recommendations

The trademark song by the band even if they didn’t like playing it! With its rebellious spirit blending its pop melody with punk like aggression. While it’s grungy and raw, the catchy riff made this a standalone song in my eyes for Nirvana.

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (All Rights Are Retained By Nirvana)

Yet another song with a classic guitar piece in it, they really added an extra layer of emotion on this one too. It highlights at least to me the song writing abilities of the trio with the lyrics finding that perfect balance between vulnerable and ambiguity.

Nirvana – Come As You Are (All Rights Are Retained By Nirvana)

Fox’s Wildcard

I love the bouncy like riff in this song, it feels playful for a band that doesn’t do fun! The chorus hits hard every single time I hear it, with a weird bridge that only adds to the intrigue and complexity for me.

Nirvana – Drain You (All Rights Are Retained By Nirvana)
All rights for the songs used in this post are retained by the recording artist. This site claims no rights over them.

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23 responses to “What Is The Best Song By Nirvana”

  1. richardbist avatar

    I’ve always been partial to “Lithium”. The music is good and the lyrics are fun. Dark, but fun. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      It’s a great song! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Dr. Stephan Pflaum avatar

    My absolute fav: About a Girl. And I really love Nirvana’s Bowie Covers Plugged and Unplugged.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      About a girl is so underrated! I also love the covers 🙂

      Like

  3. Mike avatar

    Heart-Shaped Box (from In Utero, 1993) is Nirvana’s best song when judging pure quality of composition and execution.

    Why this one?

    • Melody & harmony: It has one of Cobain’s most haunting, memorable vocal lines—both the verse melody and the soaring, desperate chorus are sophisticated in a way that feels effortless but is actually very hard to replicate. The chord choices create real tension and release without relying on basic punk power-chord clichés.

    • Structure & dynamics: Masterful quiet-loud shifts, but more nuanced than earlier songs. The verses build unease, the pre-chorus pulls you in, the chorus explodes with jagged shards of guitar, then it nearly collapses before the solo. It’s dynamic without feeling formulaic.

    • Lyrics: Among Cobain’s most disturbing yet poetic (“I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black,” “forever in your precious black hole”). It’s abstract, surreal, personal, and layered—classic late-period Kurt.

    • Performance & production: The band is at its tightest here. Dave Grohl’s drumming is inventive and powerful, Krist Novoselic’s bass locks everything in, and Cobain’s voice goes from fragile to feral. Steve Albini’s raw production lets the aggression breathe without polishing away the edges.

    • Overall impact: It captures everything Nirvana evolved toward—raw emotion, pop smarts, noise, beauty, and self-destruction—all in one tight package. Many critics and deep-dive analyses (music theory breakdowns, retrospective rankings) place it at or near the top when focusing on craft rather than cultural footprint.

    Strong runners-up (very close contenders)

    • All Apologies — Arguably their most elegant and emotionally complete song. The cello, the hypnotic repetition, the resigned beauty in the melody. It’s Cobain at his most vulnerable and musically restrained.

    • Serve the Servants — The perfect opener to In Utero. Brutal honesty in the lyrics (“Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I’m bored and old”), killer riff, one of Kurt’s best guitar solos, and it feels like a mission statement.

    • Where Did You Sleep Last Night (MTV Unplugged version) — If we’re talking pure vocal performance and emotional delivery, this Lead Belly cover is untouchable.
    Cobain’s scream/shiver at the end is one of the greatest moments in rock vocal history.

    • Aneurysm — The ultimate distillation of their quiet-loud dynamic, insanely catchy, ferocious energy, and a monster riff. It’s pure adrenaline in song form.

    Smells Like Teen Spirit is revolutionary and iconic, but it’s more important historically than it is their absolute peak of songcraft. It’s brilliant, but Heart-Shaped Box feels like the band reaching their full potential right before the end.

    So if we’re talking the truest artistic high point—songwriting, musicianship, emotional weight, and everything firing on all cylinders—Heart-Shaped Box is Nirvana’s best song. It’s the one that shows what they could do when everything aligned perfectly.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      No arguments from me! This is very comprehensive, Although its still SLTS for me 🙂 Its iconic for a reason.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Sambuca (✿◠‿◠) avatar

    For the teen rebellion vibes, “Smells” for just hanging out after midnight, smoking a joint or whatever? “Come”. 😀

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Why not both 😉

      Like

      1. Sambuca (✿◠‿◠) avatar

        I’m totes there. 🤘🤘🤘🤘

        Liked by 1 person

  5. amsradio avatar

    Impossible for me to pick just one. I nerd out pretty deep on this band.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Haha give me your best deep cut song I should put on! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. amsradio avatar

    If you’re looking for something more accessible and in line with some of their more popular songs I’d recommend “Sappy,” … if you wanna get weird (and who wouldn’t lol) “Oh, The Guilt”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      I’ll make sure to add them to my queue for the afternoon, thanks! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  7. bredemarket avatar

    If I had to choose only one…”Heart-Shaped Box.”

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      It’s a solid choice! One that is proving popular, and for good reason 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. RasmaSandra avatar

    Among my favorites has always been Come As Your Are

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      I adore that song!

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Michael DeStefano avatar

    “You know you’re right” and “The man who sold the world.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
  10. PDXvagabond(Brian Hardie) avatar
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar

      Not one I know… but I’ll give it a listen!

      Like

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