Respinables #001 · Week of Aug 24, 2026
Demo data
Nevermind
Nirvana · 1991
Grunge / Alternative Rock · 12 tracks · 49 min · DGC
Respinables Score
931/ 1,000
3-Spin Bump
+26Pregame 905
Audience
948
+17 vs hosts
The rare record that got bigger than its songs and still sounds like a garage.
The verdict at a glance
- Front to Back186 / 200
Sequencing, flow, does it play as one thing
- No-Skip178 / 200
How much of it you actually want every time
- Replay Pull192 / 200
Do you want it again the second it ends
- Highs146 / 150
Peak moments
- Aged133 / 150
How it holds up now
- Personality96 / 100
A point of view you can't confuse with anyone else
Best track
Drain You
The skip
Stay Away
MVP
Dave Grohl's drums
Aged best
Lithium
Aged worst
Territorial Pissings
Best 30 seconds
The breakdown and scream back into the last chorus of Drain You
Monday
Memories + Pregame
Before the relisten. Memory is allowed to be wrong.
Demo content. These are placeholder memories written to show the format. Replace them with the real Monday post.
I did not hear this record in 1991. I heard it in a basement in 1998, on a burned CD with the tracklist written in Sharpie, and I remember being annoyed that the guy who burned it had put the songs out of order. I only figured that out years later when I bought the real thing.
What I think I remember: the loud-quiet-loud thing, which everybody says, and the fact that it feels shorter than it is. I remember "Drain You" being the one I secretly liked more than the singles and being a little embarrassed about that, as if you could be a poser about a Nirvana deep cut.
I remember the back half being weaker. I am not confident that is true.
Tuesday
3-Spin Diary
Three times through. Back-to-back-to-back. Notes as they happened.
Spin 1
Instinct
Demo diary entry. First spin, no notes taken, just letting it run.
The opening riff still does the thing. It is impossible to hear it fresh, but the drum fill in still makes me sit up. "In Bloom" is better than I remembered and I already know the back half is going to surprise me.
Emotional hit of the spin: "Polly." Forgot how quiet and mean it is.
Spin 2
Discovery
Demo diary entry. Headphones. Listening for what is actually happening.
Krist Novoselic is the secret of this record. "Lounge Act" is a bass song. "Breed" is a bass song pretending to be a guitar song. The vocal doubling on the choruses is much wider than I remembered, which is probably the mix talking.
Sequencing note: "Polly" into "Territorial Pissings" is the most violent transition on the album and it works precisely because it is rude.
Spin 3
Conviction
Demo diary entry. Third time through, the novelty is gone. What survives?
"Drain You" survives. "On a Plain" got better every spin, which I did not expect. "Come as You Are" got a little worse, not because it is bad, because it is the one I have heard the most times in grocery stores.
Still anticipating on spin three: the last minute of "Something in the Way," the cello. First skip urge, all three times: "Stay Away."
Wednesday
The Podcast
The main event. Debated, ranked, scored.
Respinables #001: Nevermind
58 minEpisode audio will appear here when it is published.
Games
Do. Marry. Kill.
- Do
- Breed
- Marry
- Drain You
- Kill
- Stay Away
Kill was contested. Nobody fought for Stay Away.
Track Draft
- Round 1
- Drain You, Lithium
- Round 2
- In Bloom, Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Round 3
- On a Plain, Breed
Thursday
Overreaction
You heard us. Now tell us why we're wrong.
The audience thinks Come as You Are is top three. We had it ninth.
Demo content. Placeholder Thursday post.
You heard us. You told us why we're wrong. Loudly.
The audience came in 17 points higher than we did, almost entirely on the back of "Come as You Are," which a lot of you think is a top-three track. We hear you. We disagree. It is a great song that has been on in the background of too many rooms.
The most persuasive pushback was on the skip. A surprising number of people made the case for "Territorial Pissings" as the one you actually skip in the car. Fair. We will note it on the record and move on.
From the audience
“Stay Away is the skip? Territorial Pissings is right there.”
demo listener · email
“Nobody talks about the bass on Lounge Act and now nobody will shut up about it. Good.”
demo listener · email
Corrections
- Butch Vig produced the album; Andy Wallace mixed it. We said the reverse once.
Get next week's album Monday morning.
And the rest of the week for Nevermind, as it lands.