The Nirvana 20 Day Song Challenge

[SorgFamily]

Day 06 - Your favorite official or fan made video


I remember when this video debuted as I was watching TV at that exact moment. I remember being enthralled that a new song was finally released. At first I was disappointed that the new song was just a montage, but what else could they do? It's not like they could go round up the three of them and film something new. As I watched it a couple more times though I realized something. This video was way better than any "music video" could have been. It's three and a half minutes of Nirvana just f*cking around and destroying shit. An actual music video would have taken something away from the song. However, the clips from this montage just amp up the passion. It's not a three and a half minute "story" paired up with music. It's pretty much a condensed Nirvana concert.

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[Alex]

Day 06 - Your favorite official or fan made video


This is a tough one because I like quite a few videos (Heart Shaped Box, Come As You Are, In Bloom) But I guess I'll go for this one

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Yes the video for a alternate version of In Bloom (with Chad Channing on drums) I just like how it's slightly trippy, going from black and white to negative, to colour. I also like how you just see the guys doing normal stuff like practicing and messing about. I especially like how they were those masks and carry on doing stuff as if nothing's out of the ordinary but it looks trippy as hell.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 5 - Song you don't like much.

There's a few on Bleach that I just always skip and can never get used to, with Scoff being probably the most notable. Kurt's singing isn't very clear (shock) and there are several much better songs to skip to.

 

[LilacFray]

Day 07 - Your favorite song from Nevermind

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This. The second shortest song of the album is my favourite. At least I'm telling myself it is. I love them all too much. >.< But hey, I loved Lounge Act enough to make a Lyric video of it. It's loud, catchy and I can sing it in an acoustic style or something along those lines.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Day 4: The song that made you a fan

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What a song. This is the Nirvana song that got me into the band without a shadow of a doubt. I remember seeing the video on TV and it just sounded cool. Apart from "Come As You Are", it remains my favourite track on Nevermind. The way it builds up to the "YEEEAAAAAAHH YEAHHHH EHHHH EHHH YEEEEHHHHHH!" is awesome, and the video is cool too, where you see Cobain smashing the shit out of the bands equipment at the end of the song. That stuck with me as I had never seen a band smashing and breaking their own instruments, I thought it was pretty bad ass.

 

[SorgFamily]

Day 07 - Your favorite song from Nevermind

I tell you this is a hard one. So many great tunes. The thing is when I started listening to rock music and I bought this album I don't think I ever got more than halfway into it. It wasn't anything intentional, it's just when I got into Nirvana the rest of the "grunge" scene was right on it's tail and with so many new bands to listen to I literally did not have the time to listen to everything. I'm still finding bands from that period now and this was ten or twelve years ago. So now when I listen to it (which is rarely) I listen to mainly the second half. It's kind of refreshing to listen to Nirvana and not hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come As You Are" or "Lithium". On the other hand, songs like "Stay Away", "On A Plain" and "Drain You" are amazing while not being songs that are played on every rock station all the time. Even if you're watching a documentary that talks about Nevermind they rarely bring up these songs. So with that in mind I'm going to go with:

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With the incessant drum roll to the funky bass line in the bridge to the raw screaming in the final moments along with the "God is Gay" closing line, this is one of the ultimate songs that to me makes Nirvana, Nirvana. Good stuff.

 

[Alex]

Day 07 - Your favorite song from Nevermind

Well it would be cheating if I put Smells Like Teen Spirit again. So I guess I'll go for one of the lesser known ones.

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Super catchy riff and Dave Grohl's drumming is beasty. The awesome thing is they pretty much stay at the same pace, the chrous slowing down ever so slightly. I also like the batshit insane lyrics (We can plant a house, we can build a tree) it which makes it fun. Just a straight up fun rock tune.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Day 5- A song you dont like much

As much as I love many of Nirvana's songs, and as many classics as they have written....I do think there are alot of poor songs in their back catalogue too.

I struggle to listen to about half of In Utero and half of Bleach, which is strange because the other half of tracks on both those albums are great. It is only Nevermind I can listen to all the way through and not have the urge to skip a few tracks.

So I can't really pick a particular song I don't like for this one. I hope my entry for Day 6 is more useful Lilac, sorry!

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 6 - Favourite fan made or official video.

I already chose this song earlier, but screw it, I'm going for the Come As You Are video.
What I like about the video for this and Teen Spirit, is that they both relate to Kurt's life before Nirvana; he worked as a janitor at his old school (Teen Spirit) and there's a story that he stole his mum's boyfriend's guns and threw them into a river when he was in his teens.
Kurt was feeling very self-conscious on the day of the video shoot and this provides another contradictory example of Kurt's mindset; he's the frontman of the most popular band in the world at the time, but keeps his face obscured via soft-focus, distorted projected images of his face and the use of water too.

 

[LilacFray]

Day 08 - Your favorite song covered by Nirvana

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A poster once dissed Nirvana in a 'What song are you listening to thread' on another forum about how the song wasn't changed in anyway when it was covered. I for one, adore this song. It has so much more emotion than the original done by David Bowie. And it's a really good song. Makes me feel all low yet content in a peculiar way. I really like the cover of Turnaround too, but I like this better.

 

[SorgFamily]

Day 08 - Your favorite song covered by Nirvana

I'm going to choose two songs here. One is just a fun song to laugh at and it's funny when you show a friend for the first time:

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Good stuff.

The other is my actual favorite cover they did:

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First of all, who was expecting them to pull out an old blues number as the last song of the night? I'm sure half the audience was expecting "Smells Like Teen Spirit" even though it would have been horrible unplugged. From the opening chords to the blood chilling scream at the end it's a completely unforgettable performance. I read somewhere that the audience and MTV crew wanted them to go back on to do another song but Kurt refused because he knew nothing could top what they'd just done. He was right.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 07 - Your favorite song from Nevermind


Lounge Act has probably been the Nirvana song that I listen to the most over the last couple of years. It's short, poppy and subtly builds in intensity throughout until the last minute or so where Kurt hoarsely repeats the lyrics once again. The reason I like that he essentially sings the same lyrics twice in differing styles, is that it's a song about one of his exes and about the problems he had in the relationship, so by repeating the lyrics it gives a sense of his frustration and that he is tired of saying the same thing over and over.

Apparently Courtney Love didn't like it, but fuck her. I love it.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Not a massive fan but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't share this little ditty by an ex postman from Belfast. Enjoy!

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[Alex]

Day 08 - Your favorite song covered by Nirvana


There are quite a few songs covered by Nirvana that I like. In fact Love Buzz is apparently a cover of a song by a band called Shocking Blue. I also like the songs from the Unplugged session (The Man Who Sold The World, Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam, Where Did You Sleep Last Night)

But my favourite songs Nirvana covered are these two.

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To me this is the superior version. To be honest the Vaselines cover is kind of boring to me. Nirvana amped it up and made interesting.


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While its not that much different to the original by the Wipers its a kick-ass punk song. I especially love how it starts of really slow and in a way boring, but then it kicks into life, speeding up and sounding raw and angry.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 8 - Your favorite song covered by Nirvana

Originally a song by Velvet Underground, I absolutely love this cover. It hardly varies from the original but still sounds very Nirvana-esque, especially as it starts relatively quietly and just gets louder and more intense with every passing minute until Kurt begins to scream the lyrics. Very cool song.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Day 06 - Your favorite official or fan made video


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It has to be "In Bloom". It makes me smile every time I see it. The geeky outfits and glasses that the band have on, the old fashioned black and style video and the cheesy way the band are introduced by the TV show presenter.

I especially love the nerdy audience, and there is one girl in particular who is hilarious.

 

[Alex]

Day 09 - A song you know all the words to and and sing loud while you head bang or cry

Gotta go with Smells Like Teen Spirit again. I know all of those lyrics like the back of my hand. Plus they play the song occasionally when I go out and there's a big dance off, I'm always in the middle of it jumping around like a crazy person.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Day 7: Your favourite song from Nevermind

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Ahhh, "Come As You Are"....my favourite of all the Nirvana classics.

I love the watery guitar riff that starts off the song, and Kurt Cobain has never sounded better than when he sings those lines "Come...as you are...as you were...as I wannnnt you to be..!"

It shows that a grunge anthem doesn't need to be full of aggression and aggressive vocals to have an impact on the listener. Just a phenomenal song, with quite a sad undertone when you hear the line "and I swear that I don't have a gun, no I don't have a gun..."

Yes Kurt, you did. You lied.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Day 09 - A song you know all the words to and and sing loud while you head bang or cry

Gotta go with Smells Like Teen Spirit again. I know all of those lyrics like the back of my hand. Plus they play the song occasionally when I go out and there's a big dance off, I'm always in the middle of it jumping around like a crazy person.

Second favorite Weird Al song

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[LilacFray]

Day 09 - A song you know all the words to and sing loud while you head bang or cry

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I know all of those lyrics like the back of my hand. Plus they play the song occasionally when I go out and there's a big dance off, I'm always in the middle of it jumping around like a crazy person.

Pretty much this. At first I was stuck when I came to this challenge. I've actually never cried or head banged to any song in my life.
The closest I've come to is this song, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Second favorite Weird Al song

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I love this song! Especially the video. My favourite by Weird Al is Constipated.

 

[SorgFamily]

Fell a few days behind there, but I figure as long as I'm keeping up with the thread creator, I'm doing alright.

Day 09 - A song you know all the words to and sing loud while you head bang or cry.

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Many have tried to interpret the lryics and have failed. The insert from In Utero just has "fuck, shit, piss" and the letters may be scrambled but I can't remember for sure. But to me, this song is obviously not about the lyrics it's just about letting out some anger and that's the only time I usually listen to this song. I also like Kurt's "professional" voice in the beginning. "Moderate rock". Lol.

So I'm 50/50 here. I have no idea what the lyrics are but this is the only Nirvana song that makes me want to shake my head in a manner in which a person might say, "Is that man having a seizure?" And another person might say, "No, madam. That man is headbanging."

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 09 - A song you know all the words to and sing loud while you head bang or cry

This is Dumb. It's one of their short songs which does help when it comes to remembering the lyrics, as well as the lines being quite short. The imagery and story of the song is given a lot more meaning with hindsight, but remains a great meditative piece on feelings associated with inadequacy and drug use.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I love this song! Especially the video. My favourite by Weird Al is Constipated.

Constipated is class too but my favorite goes to Amish Paradise - brilliant lyrics and a fantastic riff on Coolio's music video with Michelle Pfeiffer.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Day 08 - Your favorite song covered by Nirvana

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No crazy video, no headbanging to distract from the music, just a beautiful, haunting cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World", with great guitaring to start off the track.

Kurt makes this his own in my opinion, and it is one of the highlights of the legendary Unplugged set. A great song.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Day 10 - A song that makes you happy

I've been holding off using this song for the previous days but for me it has to be Smells Like Teen Spirit.

The song makes great use of the 'quiet-loud-quiet-loud etc' format, from the guitar at the start on its own before the drums make themselves heard too, to the steady beat of the drums and bass while the 2 guitar notes repeatedly play over the verses until the sound explodes at the choruses. Great energy, great composition, great song.