Lithium (Nirvana song): Difference between revisions
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|align="left"|[[Mitä hittiä|Finland Mitä hittiä Charts]] <ref |
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Revision as of 19:10, 26 August 2007
 |
| "Lithium" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Been a Son"(live) / "Curmudgeon" |
"Lithium" is a song by the grunge band Nirvana. It originally appeared on and was the third single from their breakthrough album Nevermind. The lyrics were written by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
The name of the song is often attributed to the metal lithium's tendency to be found in mood stabilizers such as lithium carbonate and lithium orotate; because of this the lyrics are often interpreted as describing bipolar disorder. Cobain is said to have had bipolar disorder, which may have led to the writing of the song "Lithium". Still, there is much disagreement about the exact meaning and interpretation of it.
In the Nevermind press kit, Kurt said this about the song: "People who are secluded for so long go insane, and as a last resort they often use religion to keep alive. In the song, the guy's lost his girl and his friends and he's brooding. He's decided to find God before he kills himself. It's hard for me to understand the need for a vice like that, but I can appreciate it too. People need vices."
Other Versions
The song was first recorded at the Evergreen State College on March 20, 1990 during the course of a day where the band used the resources at the College's video studio to make music videos for several of their songs. A few weeks later the first proper demo of the song was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin as part of the band's first session with future Nevermind producer Butch Vig. While both of these performances remain officially unreleased, portions of the Vig demo can be heard on the documentary Classic Albums - Nirvana - Nevermind.
In 2004 an acoustic demo from a September 25, 1990 radio performance on KAOS-FM radio was included on the posthumous box-set release With The Lights Out.
Memorable live performances
Nirvana was asked to perform their first hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards but the band wanted to play a new song called "Rape Me". MTV declined, and eventually it was agreed that the band would play "Lithium" which was their latest hit single. When the band began their performance, Kurt strummed and played the first few bars of the song "Rape Me", before jumping into "Lithium". Keeping in tradition of altering various lyrics during live performances, Cobain replaced the line "I'm to blame for all I've heard/But I'm not sure" with "I'm to blame for all I've heard/But I'm a turd" during the final verse. Nearing the end of the live performance, people began jumping on and off the stage and Krist Novoselic threw his bass into the air, (later saying it was because his bass was cutting out) but misjudged the catch and the bass smacked him in the forehead, causing him to collapse. Cobain and drummer Dave Grohl, oblivious to this, continued to play as Novoselic rose and staggered offstage.
Another memorable live performance of "Lithium" from the Reading Festival in 1992 can be found on the bands VHS Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! which was released in 1994.
Covers
The following artists have covered Nirvana's song Lithium:
- American rock band Papa Roach.
- American rock band The Polyphonic Spree.
- Punk rock band Vice Squad.
- Turkish Alternative rock band Direc-t.
- Steeve Estatof sang Lithium after he won Nouvelle Star.
- Marty Casey sang Lithium on the reality show Rock Star: INXS.
- Dilana sang Lithium in the first episode of the reality show Rock Star: Supernova.
- Lukas Rossi, also of Rock Star: Supernova, covered a rearranged version of the song.
- The song was also partially covered by the Brazilian rock band Legião Urbana and featured on their 2001 live album "Como é que se diz eu te amo".
- Nirvana, a '60s band from the UK (who actually sued this Nirvana for the use of the name) on their 1997 Box Set
- American rock band Breaking Benjamin.
- American trance rock band The Disco Biscuits
Track listing
The following songs appeared on the single:
- "Lithium" [LP Version] (Cobain) - 4:16
- "Been a Son" [live, Paramount Theatre (Seattle, Washington) 1991.10.31] (Cobain) - 2:14
- "Curmudgeon" (Cobain, Nirvana) - 2:58
Chart positions
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Official Finland Singles Charts [1] | 3 |
| Triple J Hottest 100 | 3 |
| Official Irish Singles Charts | 5 |
| Polish Airplay Charts | 9 |
| Slovakian Airplay Charts | 10 |
| Official UK Singles Charts | 11 |
| Official Spanish Singles Charts | 13 |
| Official Italian Singles Charts | 16 |
| Official Dutch Singles Charts | 16 |
| Mainstream Rock Tracks (US) [2] | 16 |
| Finland Mitä hittiä Charts [3] | 18 |
| Modern Rock Tracks (US) [4] | 25 |
| Official New Zealand Singles Charts | 28 |
| Official Belgium Singles Charts | 28 |
| Official Australian Singles Charts | 53 |
| French Airplay Charts | 60 |
| The Billboard Hot 100 (US) [5] | 64 |
Accolades
- Ranked #20 in Kerrang!'s "100 Greatest Rock Tracks Ever" (1999). [6]
- Ranked #42 in Kerrang!'s "100 Greatest Singles of All Time" (2002).
- Ranked #5 in NME's "Top 20 Nirvana Songs" (2004).
- Ranked #8 in Q's "10 Greatest Nirvana Songs Ever" (2004).
References
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2003). Sisältää hitin: levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Otava Publishing Company Ltd. ISBN 951121053X.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Singles&model.vnuArtistId=5316&model.vnuAlbumId=810092.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2003). Sisältää hitin: levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Otava Publishing Company Ltd. ISBN 951121053X.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Singles&model.vnuArtistId=5316&model.vnuAlbumId=810092.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Singles&model.vnuArtistId=5316&model.vnuAlbumId=810092.
- ^ Kerrang! magazine, issue 746, April 17th 1999.
