victims. Cobain had not originally intended to turn his reading of the book into a song, but the need for strong lyrics arose when the band collaborated in writing a song together from square one. Release and reception Cobain was pleased with the recording, telling Spin in a 1993 interview that the band wanted to release the song as the album's second single, following "Heart-Shaped Box." Ultimately, no single was ever released for the song before Cobain's death in April 1994, with "All Apologies" and "Rape Me" released as double A-sides as the album's second single instead. However, the song did receive some airplay on US album-oriented rock radio in 1993. Albini was also impressed with the song, citing it and the In Utero track "Milk It" as "the two that struck me as the biggest step for the band," because they represented "the biggest break" from the band's more traditionally melodic material, and "the most adventurous sonically" songs on the album. Legacy In 2008, "Scentless Apprentice" was included in The Pitchfork 500, a book published by the online music publication Pitchfork featuring their list of the "greatest songs" from 1977 to 2006. It was one of two Nirvana songs included in the book, along with the band's 1991 breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked "Scentless Apprentice" at number 24 in their list of the top 102 Nirvana songs. In a reader's poll conducted by Louder Sound in May 2018, "Scentless Apprentice" placed 23rd. In 2019, it was ranked at number 15 on The Guardian's Nirvana's 20 greatest songs list. Accolades Other releases The demo recorded at BMG-Ariola in Rio de Janeiro in January 1993 was released on the 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero in September 2013. The In Utero version was re-released on the compilation CD Strung Out, released by Guitar World in a joint promotion with DGC in 1993. It also appeared on the promo cassette Concrete Music Bloc - Volume III, released by the heavy metal record label Concrete Corner in 1993. The 20th anniversary "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" versions of In Utero also featured a 2013 remix of the song by Albini. A live version, recorded at Pier 48 in Seattle on December 13, 1993, appeared on the live compilation, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, in November 1996. An edited version of the show,