The 10 greatest Nirvana songs, from 'In Bloom' to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

Twenty-five years since Kurt Cobain's death, Mark Beaumont picks the Seattle band’s greatest tracks

(Rex )

In rock music it takes a second to make a tragedy, but decades to make a legend. Of the roll call of musicians morbidly classed as the 27 Club – Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and others who died at music’s cursed age – Kurt Cobain most immediately fit the epithet. Far beyond his unique talents he was a generational icon, the grunge punk pioneer at the epicentre of his entire movement. A figure that encapsulated the early Nineties alternative rock explosion in one defiant-yet-pained gaze into camera and, by being so honest and relatable to his fans, made them feel that they did too.

Listing Nirvana’s greatest songs to mark the 25th anniversary of Kurt’s suicide, you quickly realise they can’t be separated from the tragedy of his death – his demons sank their claws deep into the following 10 choice tracks. But you’ll also be struck by the wit, vitality, light and affection bubbling beneath their oil-black surfaces. There’s as much celebration as commiseration here, the power and passion of a little group that always will, until the end…

Read our interview with Nirvana's former manager Danny Goldberg, here