Modern Rock No. 1s: Nirvana and "About a Girl"

"About a Girl" gets a significant acoustic upgrade from its Sub Pop roots and soars to #1 on the Modern Rock charts in the aftermath of lead singer Kurt Cobain's suicide

Matt Madurski

May 04, 2025

Nirvana - “About a Girl”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock chart: 1 week (December 10, 1994)

Previous Modern Rock #1 hit: The Cranberries and “Zombie”

Next Modern Rock #1 hit: R.E.M. and “Bang and Blame”

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

Boyz II Men - “On Bended Knee” (12/3/94 and 12/10/94, 2 total weeks)

Back in the 1960s, there was a musician who made a name for himself as part of a famous quartet of rock-and-rollers. He scored multiple No. 1 hits with that band across multiple countries worldwide, both as a performer and as a songwriter. That band broke up in the early 1970s, and this fellow went on to become a modestly successful solo artist. Though he only hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 music chart in the ‘70s one time, he had several prolific hits, and as the calendar turned to the 1980s, he seemed primed for a renewed push to the top.

That artist, John Lennon, released Double Fantasy in October 1980, his first release in five years. Early reviews were lukewarm and the first single from that album, “(Just Like) Starting Over,” while hardly a pushover on the charts — reaching as high as #6 on the Hot 100 the week ending Dec. 6, 1980 — was not otherwise rising rapidly to #1. Tragically, on Dec. 8, Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York City. The shockwaves at the time were undoubtedly massive (I was just a toddler at the time, so the gravity escapes me), and the effect on the charts was quick and noticeable.

Within three weeks of Lennon’s passing, “(Just Like) Starting Over” found its way to the top of the charts, a position it held for several weeks. As lamentations poured in from across the world, Double Fantasy shook off the initial poor reviews and quickly scaled the Billboard 200 album chart, starting out at #25 upon initial release (it first charted on Dec. 6, 1980) but rocketing to #1 three weeks later.

Within a month of Lennon’s untimely death, another interesting thing happened: Older albums from both Lennon’s solo catalog and his time with that ‘60s rock-and-roll outfit, The Beatles, starting charting again. Shaved Fish, Imagine, and Mind Games all returned to the album chart, as did Beatles albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul.

The phenomenon of Lennon’s posthumous return to the music charts isn’t just a Beatles-level occurrence. Indeed, even in the past 20 years, artists like Whitney Houston, Prince, XXXTentacion, and Michael Jackson either returned to the charts after long absences or hit #1 almost immediately after their unexpected passing. Prince, in particular, had two ‘80s hits return to the top 10 of the Hot 100 in 2016: “Purple Rain” hit #4 and “When Doves Cry” hit #8 on the charts two weeks after his passing on the chart dated May 21, 2016.

In the realm of alternative music, the phenomenon took on a different form with Nirvana, who scored a #1 alternative hit a few months after the suicide of Kurt Cobain with “About a Girl.” The song was originally released in June 1989 on the band’s Bleach album, but was reimagined as part of the October 1994 release of MTV Unplugged in New York, the acoustic set Nirvana recorded prior to Cobain’s death.

Two things stand out to me about this performance: First, I appreciate Cobain’s subtle jab at the beginning: “This is off of our first record. Most people don’t own it.” At the time, Bleach was not the juggernaut album that the band’s major-label records became, and it’s entirely possible at the time of recording that “About a Girl” would be something the audience might not have recognized as quickly.

The second thing is the band’s appearance. I know the pastiche of “MTV Unplugged” is presenting a stripped-down, threadbare production of a band’s music, but looking at the way these guys dressed, it brings warm vibes of the countercultural aesthetic of the time. But it also underscores just how different Nirvana was when it came to this kind of setup: They came dressed in jeans, T-shirts, weird green sweaters and look like no one prepped them for television. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl both bring some A+ hair stylings to the forefront, and Cobain — as he did often during those years — defined the style of the time without intending to, adding more weight to the silent burden he bore of being a generational icon without having the desire to assume that role.

All in all, I can’t say for sure whether this song or this album would have hit #1 upon release in late 1994, but I have to think Cobain’s death played a significant role in their rise up the charts, just as it did for Lennon, XXXTentacion, and others. MTV Unplugged in New York hit #1 on the album charts upon its release, and while the single “About a Girl” didn’t hit #1 for nine weeks, it was buoyed at #2 for several weeks behind juggernaut singles like “Zombie” and “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?,” the latter of which debuted at #1 on the chart just a couple months prior.

And I’ll be honest: Compared to the Bleach version of the song, the acoustic performance of “About a Girl” is far superior. Even if members of the audience or the general public knew the Bleach version of the song, I think they’d be hard-pressed to argue for its greatness when compared to the stripped-down acoustic version. Back in 1989, when Nirvana was still a fledgling rock-punk act on indie label Sub Pop, songs like “About a Girl” had a crisp crunchiness that belied the era in which they were composed and performed. But just because it fit the aesthetic of the time doesn’t mean it was a great song on its own.

Before you consider this indictment to be too harsh, I will admit that part of what makes the acoustic version great is its counterpoint from Bleach. The song is, predictably, “about a girl,” in this case Cobain’s girlfriend at the time, Tracy Marander. The lyrics speak to the frustrations borne out of young love, maintaining a relationship and each person having expectations for the other that they’re not prepared to meet. In this case, it was Cobain’s lack of focus on getting a job or doing household chores, the kinds of things people fight about in their relationships in their early 20s.

(I do) I need an easy friend
I do, with an ear to lend
I do, think you fit this shoe
I do, but you have a clue

I'll take advantage while
You hang me out to dry
But I can't see you every night
Free

What’s fascinating is the unintended and disciplined depth that comes with the acoustic performance of the song. Cobain was 26 at the time he recorded MTV Unplugged in New York, married with a young daughter, and likely had graduated past “simpler” fights with girlfriends and gravitated toward larger issues affecting his family and his future. Marriage and parenthood will make you grow up real quick, and there’s something about that maturation that comes through amid the nervousness of performing a laid-back acoustic set. “About a Girl” feels like an embodiment of the personal growth Cobain experienced to that point. Whereas the Bleach version promotes and expresses the raw emotional energy of that time in his life, MTV Unplugged in New York shows a Cobain who is more at peace and contemplative in his complaints. It’s almost like he’s thinking, “Yeah, those issues still exist in relationships, but maybe I can be a little more chill about dealing with it.”

Looking back on this album, MTV Unplugged in New York feels like it was exactly what the alternative music scene needed at the time. The album was a warm hug from a departed friend, a kind letter found in a loved one’s closet that wasn’t opened until it was too late. Though the album didn’t spawn additional commercial singles, several songs became staples on alternative radio, including the band’s terrific cover of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World.”

Nirvana set the tone for many of the artists I’ve discussed here, and their influence on music will carry itself through many more artists and #1 hits into the mid-1990s and the next decade. MTV Unplugged in New York became the band’s second-highest selling album, now listed at 8x platinum by the RIAA, ahead of the studio album that preceded it, In Utero, which was recently listed at 6x platinum. Whether it was because of Cobain’s unexpected death or because the album is that good is subject to debate and discussion, but regardless of the reasons, this live set now exists as a showcase of both the ‘90s aesthetic and Nirvana at their very best.

Interestingly, this isn’t the last time we’ll see Nirvana in this space. One more posthumous single remains, and its legacy is nowhere near as strong as the singles that hit their peak during the early 1990s. It’s a far-flung example of what led today’s discussion, wherein a deceased artist’s catalog is brought out and consumed quickly because it’s all we have left of their contributions to the music landscape. In the case of that single, it probably could have been kept in the vault, especially when we have great tracks like “About a Girl” to keep us sated.

Rating: 9/10

Chart Check

Other notable MRT chart songs from this time period

This week’s “Chart Check” section features two bands on the rise and two bands who peaked just as the post-grunge wave was hitting its high-water mark. It’s somewhat poetic/ironic to feature Courtney Love’s band Hole in this section, interlinked with the chart-topping performance from her late husband. This week also sees another top-25 performance from Candlebox, and two solid chart debuts from Veruca Salt and Oasis.

“Doll Parts” by Hole (#4):

Future Modern Rock Tracks #1 artist Hole hit the top 10 of the charts for the first time with “Doll Parts,” the second single off the band’s 1994 release Live Through This. The placement of the song behind Nirvana’s “About a Girl” is uniquely synergistic, as band lead singer Courtney Love was Kurt Cobain’s widow, and the song was written from Love’s perspective, reflecting on her insecurities in Cobain’s romantic interest in her back in the early ‘90s. The song peaked at #4 behind her husband’s track and would be the first of several top-10 tracks for the band.

“Seether” by Veruca Salt (#8):

Veruca Salt had a short-lived run as one of the premiere female-led alternative rock acts in the mid ‘90s, and they exploded into the mainstream with “Seether,” a song that peaked at #8 behind Nirvana in late 1994. I liked Pitchfork magazine’s review of it when it listed the track as #221 on their “250 Best Songs of the 1990s” list: “‘Seether’ is bubblegrunge at its finest, all guitar fuzz and pop stickiness and crackling angst animating a personification of anger that just can’t be leashed.” Something about the term “bubblegrunge” makes me smile, and helps explain why the radio-listening audiences of the ‘90s couldn’t fight the seether: too infectious to overcome.

“Supersonic” by Oasis (#11):

Future Modern Rock Tracks #1 artist Oasis makes its debut on the MRT chart with “Supersonic,” the first single released on the band’s Definitely Maybe album. The song peaked at #11 behind Nirvana, and had a much bigger profile in the U.K., where it debuted in the mainstream top 40 at #31.

In an alternative timeline, Oasis and Blur would have taken their Britpop feud stateside during this period, and it would have overtaken the imaginations of alternative rock listeners throughout the United States. But given the inescapable force of grunge and the post-grunge wave, U.S. audiences were too enamored with their own domestic music push to pay much attention to shenanigans on the other side of the Atlantic. That didn’t keep Oasis away, though — it just delayed the onset of their influence on U.S. charts. We’ll see them again in the coming months.

“Cover Me” by Candlebox (#23):

Coming off the success of their “Far Behind” single earlier in 1994, follow-up track “Cover Me” made modest waves on the alternative charts, peaking at #23. Much like Veruca Salt, Candlebox erupted onto alternative radio during the peak post-grunge wave of 1994-95, and they rode that wave for a couple of years before fading. They’ll hit the top 10 one more time on the MRT charts before disappearing from Billboard’s survey altogether.