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Cover of Hormoaning by Nirvana
Cover: Hormoaning

Song · Nirvana

“Aneurysm” by Nirvana

From the EP Hormoaning (1992)

“Aneurysm” by Nirvana appears on 29 radio countdowns from 12 stations between 1996 and 2023. It was first released in 1992 on the EP Hormoaning. Its best result is #12 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1996. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #33 alternative song of 1996, #1,136 alternative song of all time and #340 of the '90s.

29countdowns
12stations
#12best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1996–2023years charted

Watch

Nirvana - Aneurysm (Live at Reading 1992)

Video from YouTube (NirvanaVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Aneurysm" is Nirvana at full throttle, a song Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl wrote together, with Cobain on the words. It first slipped out as a B-side to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in September 1991, then landed on the Hormoaning EP, with Craig Montgomery engineering and Andy Wallace mixing. Cobain sings it and plays guitar, Novoselic's bass churns underneath and Grohl batters away like the song is trying to escape.

It's widely thought to concern Cobain's tangled romance with Bikini Kill's Tobi Vail, and it's one of the rare Nirvana songs to talk about drugs outright. A second studio take appeared on Incesticide in December 1992, and a live version taped at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on December 28, 1991 became the first promo single from From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah in 1996.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1996 37 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1996 107
1996 12 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1996 91
1996 61 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1996 101
1996 17 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 1996 107
1996 28 WBCN Boston, MA WBCN Top 104 Songs of 1996 104
1996 42 WBER Rochester, NY WBER Listener Countdown 1996 100
1996 45 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1996 100
1996 94 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 96 Songs of 1996 96

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1998 87 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1998) 100
1999 822 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 528 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 904 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 955 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 957 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 957 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1338 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 942 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 942 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 941 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2007 427 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2007 955 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 947 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 971 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1004 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 1033 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1085 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1145 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2022 375 KEXP KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) 491
2023 671 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s 893

Charting alongside it in 1996

Best songs of 1996 →
  1. 1Down311
  2. 2PepperButthole Surfers
  3. 3Where It's AtBeck
  4. 4SpiderwebsNo Doubt
  5. 5What I GotSublime
  6. 6MachineheadBush

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