Two years after feting the 25th anniversary of Prince’s Purple Rain with a special issue and a free tribute album, SPIN is similarly celebrating another seminal album, Nirvana’s Nevermind.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl brought grunge into the mainstream with their Butch Vig-produced set. Though taking on those now-classic tunes may be sacrilege to some Nirvana purists, several of the album’s 13 tracks have already been covered in the intervening years (here, here, here, and most recently here, for instance).

Dedicating a special issue to reminiscing about the release and cultural impact of Nevermind, SPIN’s accompanying soundtrack, cleverly dubbed Newermind, tackles the 1991 album in full, from start to (hidden track) finish. Surfer Blood, Butch Walker and The Black Widows, Amanda Palmer, and others contribute new covers, with Nirvana faves The Vaselines and Meat Puppets joining the tribute. You’ll recall that Nirvana covered songs by those bands during their 1993 appearance on MTV Unplugged (with Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets joining on stage), so it’s something of a full circle moment come ’round again.

Here’s the tracklisting for Newermind:

01 Meat Puppets – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
02 Butch Walker and The Black Widows – “In Bloom”
03 Midnight Juggernauts – “Come As You Are”
04 Titus Andronicus – “Breed”
05 The Vaselines – “Lithium”
06 Amanda Palmer – “Polly”
07 Surfer Blood – “Territorial Pissings”
08 Foxy Shazam – “Drain You”
09 Jessica Lea Mayfield – “Lounge Act”
10 Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band – “Stay Away”
11 Telekinesis – “On A Plain”
12 JEFF The Brotherhood – “Something In The Way”
13 EMA – “Endless, Nameless”

My top picks from the baker’s dozen are Butch Walker’s roadhouse version of “In Bloom,” The Vaselines’ elegaic arrangement of “Lithium,” and Amanda Palmer’s spare music-box-and-banjo turn on “Polly.” Surfer Blood does “Territorial Pissings” proud, and Foxy Shazam revisits “Drain You” partly through the lens of the late Freddie Mercury & Queen.

Each of the artists involved have commented on their contributions to Newermind. “[We] always being asked if we’d ever cover a Nirvana song,” explains The Vaselines’ singer-guitarist Eugene Kelly. “We’d always said no. We just didn’t think we could find a way to do it that wasn’t going to feel stupid.” But find a way they finally have. “Keep it sparse,” he says of the Scottish indie-poppers’ approach. “The more simple and naive the better.” Hear here:

Free download of Newermind via SPIN’s Facebook page through July 25.