It was the third Nirvana album released following the death of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain in 1994.

It also includes a version of "Been a Son" that was previously only available on a UK limited release, and the Scott Litt remix of "Pennyroyal Tea".

[5] The dispute was largely centered around "You Know You're Right", which Novoselic and Grohl had wanted to release on a long-delayed Nirvana rarities box set.

[10][5] In September 2002, it was officially announced that the lawsuit had been settled, and that "You Know You're Right" would be released on Nirvana, a greatest hits compilation or "one-CD history of the band," in November, with the box set to follow in 2004.

These are followed by "Heart-Shaped Box", "Pennyroyal Tea" and "Rape Me", three singles from the band's third and final studio album, In Utero, released in 1993.

All non-US and Canadian versions of the album end with "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", another song from MTV Unplugged in New York, from which it was also released as a promotional single.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "the presence of a few more tracks, along with placing 'You Know You're Right' at the end where it belongs, would have made this collection not just stronger, but possibly definitive.

"[20] Will Bryant of Pitchfork called the album "an artful selection of the band's most seminal material", but also dismissed it as "a party mix for parents who want to appreciate Cobain's Lennon-esque knack for great melodies without having to click past 'Scentless Apprentice' or 'Territorial Pissings'...utterly inoffensive: an impulse buy from Columbia House, perhaps, with no more artistic value than the Eagles' Greatest Hits or the Beatles' 1.