Nirvana: "Lithium"

Nirvana arose from the Seattle grunge scene to become one of the most influential bands in modern music. Despite being active for less than a decade in the late '80s and early '90s -- cut short by lead singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994 -- the mark they left completely changed the public's conception and the music industry's marketing of alternative rock. The New York Times called Nirvana "the voice of a generation."

Slight tangent: Lynn Hirschberg wrote an incredible narrative piece for Vanity Fair in 1992 that centers on Cobain's life with wife (and crazy person) Courtney Love. It's about a 30-minute read and completely worth it, both for the beautiful prose and the incomparable look into the couple's life together. The piece is titled, aptly enough, "Strange Love."

This song, recorded in 1990 before Nirvana's second album, "Nevermind," garnered a lot of attention both in and out of the industry. The verses are calm and even; the choruses explode. Cobain leans and forces his voice to its end with his raspy "yeah"s, which most people totally couldn't get away with as far as one-word choruses go. But no one could sing this song like Kurt Cobain.

I don't know how else to describe it. It's impossible not to rock out to this song. Enjoy.

"Lithium," performed by Nirvana.
Original on Nirvana's "Nevermind" (1991).