Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Bit O' Covers

Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit

By Swapmeet Louie ⋅ January 20, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Filed Under Allison Crowe, Brian Holbrook, MGMT, Nirvana, Of Montreal, Patti Smith, Tori Amos

In my opinion, there hasn’t been anything quite like the death of the 80’s hair bands. If you were alive in the 80’s, I’m sure you can remember the height of this hair band phenomenon… men wore makeup, teased their hair, pouted like those annoying Bratz dolls, and did what they could to be manly, but in a girlish kind of way. At the time it was the “cool” thing to do, but looking back on it, I’m sure most of the hair bands would say, “Somebody paid me to do it.”

The one song that I credit to killing the 80’s is Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

This song came out of nowhere and catapulted a band from nothing to the “voice” of Generation X. This change literally happened in just a few short months… “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released on September 10, 1991, and by January of 1992, the song helped push the album, Nevermind, to the number one position on the Billboard charts, dethroning The King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Grunge music was suddenly everywhere… out with the old, in with the new.

Funny thing is that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was never seen as a hit. It was originally intended to be a song to get some interest for the band. The next single, “Come As You Are,” was meant to be the big “hit” for the album. I guess the public vehemently disagreed.

In a 1994 Rolling Stone interview, writer Kurt Cobain stated that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was his attempt “to write the ultimate pop song.” Cobain was really into The Pixies at the time, and wanted to pen a song in their soft-to-unbelievably-loud style. Well, he obviously succeeded, because the song has been ranked third on Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Best Pop Songs list, number nine on their Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and number two on their Top Songs Written By Nirvana Titled “Smells Like Teen Spirit” list. It doesn’t surprise me that Rick Springfield’s classic anthem, “Jessie’s Girl” tops that last list… it IS, after all, the Greatest Song Ever Written By Man.

Even though I love Cobain’s song, I’ll admit that I never really understood what he was talking about in the lyrics. It never made much sense to me how Cobain could be titled the voice of Generation X with lyrics like:

A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido

People have been trying to interpret the lyrics for years. I never even KNEW the actual lyrics until long after the song was released. It’s a fact that many of my friends (who were Nirvana fans) didn’t have a CLUE as to what Cobain meant when he sang,

And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it’s hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

They just thought it was a cool song and a LOT of fun to sing to because they could scream at the top of their lungs. Just a tip for songwriters: Screaming-at-the-top-of-your-lungs types of choruses are ALWAYS a good addition to any song.

I’m not even going to try to interpret “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” I’ll go with drummer David Grohl when he revealed that he doesn’t believe the song has any message by stating, “Just seeing Kurt write the lyrics to a song five minutes before he first sings them, you just kind of find it a little bit hard to believe that the song has a lot to say about something. You need syllables to fill up this space or you need something that rhymes.”

Is the song a call to revolution? Or is the song about an ex-girlfriend of Cobain’s, Tobi Vail? Maybe the song is about the Teen Spirit deoderent? Nah, can’t be that because Cobain himself admitted that he didn’t know Teen Spirit was an actual product until long after the song was written.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter whether the song has a message or not, because the music itself was enough to do the job. Oh, and the video did wonders for it, too. The video gave every angst-ridden young adult the perfect idea on what to do, how to dress, how to act, and what attitude to embrace while listening to this new subgenre of Alternative music called Grunge.

Yeah, I bought a lot of flannel, too. It’s ok. Flannel is still really cool.

I’ve posted a plethora (what is a plethora?) of cover versions below. There are some interesting interpretations, my favorite being Tori Amos‘. Cobain dug it enough to describe it as “a great breakfast cereal version.”

I’m not sure what he meant by that, but oh well, whatever, nevermind.

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