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Song · Nirvana

“Sliver” by Nirvana

Released 1990

“Sliver” by Nirvana appears on 18 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1990 and 2023. It was first released in 1990. Its best result is #23 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #140 alternative song of 1990 and #1,419 alternative song of all time.

18countdowns

8stations

#23best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1990–2023years charted

Watch

Nirvana - Sliver (Official Music Video)

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

Nirvana cut "Sliver" as a stand-alone single, released by Sub Pop in the US in September 1990 and by Tupelo in Britain early the next year, with Jack Endino producing, recording and mixing. Mudhoney's Dan Peters sat in on drums, just before Dave Grohl arrived for good, while Kurt Cobain sang and played guitar and Krist Novoselic played bass and added backing vocals.

Cobain's lyric is about as plain as he ever got: a small kid stuck at his grandparents' for the day, begging to go home, nodding off and waking up back with his mother. The band slam it out with a big pop hook tucked inside the racket, and Cobain saw it as a signpost, pointing away from the sludge of Bleach toward the more commercial sound of Nevermind. It turned up again on the Incesticide compilation in December 1992, and a new Kevin Kerslake video followed in May 1993.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

#931 of the '90s

Hard Rock & Metal

#1,600 of all time

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1990	23	John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1990	50

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	449	WHFS	WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999)	500
1999	373	107.7 The End	The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1077
2002	542	KISW	KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002)	999
2002	604	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2004	135	107.7 The End	The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004)	500
2007	1263	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1160	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1064	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	935	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	918	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2013	955	CD101	CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013)	2012
2014	971	CD101	CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014)	2013
2020	323	105.9 The X	105.9 The X July 420 (2020)	420
2021	297	105.9 The X	105.9 The X July 420 (2021)	420
2022	293	105.9 The X	105.9 The X July 420 (2022)	420
2023	354	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s	893
2023	293	105.9 The X	105.9 The X July 420 (2023)	420

Charting alongside it in 1990

Best songs of 1990 →

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