Release and Reception
"Lithium" was released as a single in July 1992. The packaging included full lyrics for all the songs on Nevermind. In the United States, the single charted at number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart. "Lithium" peaked at number 16 and 25 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock Tracks airplay charts, respectively. The song was tied at number 20 with singles by Ministry, Lisa Stansfield, and Utah Saints in the 1992 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Numerous acts have covered the song, including in psychedelic arrangements by The Polyphonic Spree and the original Nirvana. The latter was intended as a track for a tongue-in-cheek cover album titled Nirvana Sings Nirvana that the British Nirvana abandoned after Cobain's death.
In September 2011, to celebrate 20 years of Nevermind, Kerrang! released a version of the album with all songs (including "Endless, Nameless" and "Sliver") covered by different modern artists. "Lithium" was covered by the British rock band Francesqa.
Read more about this topic: Lithium (Nirvana Song)
Famous quotes containing the words release and/or reception:
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)