FEATURE:
A Classic Introduction Riff, the Iconic Video and Its Ongoing Popularity…
Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit at Thirty
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ALTHOUGH Nirvana are being sued…
because of the album cover of Nevermind (Spencer Elden claims the nude image of him as an infant on the band’s iconic album cover constitutes child pornography), there is going to be a big celebration on 24th September when the Seattle band’s second studio album turns thirty. Ahead of that, its lead single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, hits its thirtieth birthday. On 10th September, there is going to be a lot of attention for the track. I have seen various features about the song going up over the past few weeks. It is clear that this song means a lot to many people. Not only is it one of the 1990s’ best moments and a classic Grunge track. Smells Like Teen Spirit is one of the greatest songs ever written. Penned by band members Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl, it is the only track from Nevermind where all three band members contributed (Cobain wrote the rest of the album himself, save for a co-write on Territorial Pissings). I am going to get to the story of Smells Like Teen Spirit, information about its iconic video and a little about how the track has continued to grow in popularity. Reaching new generations and listeners, this is an anthem that will never lose its potency. There are so many reasons to worship Smells Like Teen Spirit. Whereas most bands would put a song like that lower down the tracklisting, Smells Like Teen Spirit is the first thing we hear on Nevermind!
That scratchy Cobain riff opens the album. One feels the build before is a thunderous riff, incredible bass and Dave Grohl’s biblical drumming. It is such a force of nature, one could forgive the rest of the album if it was overshadowed! As it is, the rest of the songs on Nevermind are so strong - so Smells Like Teen Spirit does not stand out like a sore thumb. There are few songs that start as memorably as Smells Like Teen Spirit. Rather than blow the speakers off or go straight in with a fiery riff, the tease and strum that leads to that firepower is terrific! The introduction to Smells Like Teen Spirit is one of the best ever! This article gives us the story of Smells Like Teen Spirit. The single was a massive and instant success – something that Kurt Cobain came to resent:
“’Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was released on September 10 as the lead single from Nevermind, the band’s major label debut on DGC Records. The song did not initially chart, and it sold well only in regions of the United States with an established fanbase for the group. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not expected to be a hit, for it was merely intended to be the base-building alternative rock cut from the album. It was anticipated that the follow-up single ‘Come as You Are’ would be the song that could cross over to mainstream formats.
Kurt Cobain said that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – the opening track and lead single from the group’s second album Nevermind was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies, a band he greatly admired.
IN THIS PHOTO: Dave Grohl, Kurt Coabin, Krist Novoselic in a posed group shot/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns
Cobain didn’t begin to write ‘Spirit’ until a few weeks before recording started on Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, in 1991. When he first presented the song to his bandmates, (just the main riff and the chorus vocal melody), bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed it at the time as “ridiculous.” In response, Cobain made the band play the riff over and over again until collectively the band members slowed the riff down so they had fast and slow sections. As a result, it became the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as joint composers.
Cobain came up with the song’s title when his friend Kathleen Hanna, (at the time the lead singer of the Riot Grrrl punk band Bikini Kill), spray painted “Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit” on his wall. Since they had been discussing anarchism, punk rock, and similar topics, Cobain interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning. What Hanna actually meant, however, was that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which his then-girlfriend Tobi Vail wore. Cobain later claimed that he was unaware that it was a brand of deodorant until months after the single was released. (Sales rocketed of the deodorant and the grunge army were no longer smelly!).
The unexpected success of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in late 1991 propelled Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was Nirvana’s first and biggest hit, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and charting all over the planet in 1991 and 1992.
The video, which was based on the concept of a school concert which ends in anarchy and riot, won the group two MTV Video Music Awards music, which was in heavy rotation on music television and in 2000 the Guinness World Records named “Teen Spirit” the Most Played Video on MTV Europe. The video was shot at GMT Studios in Culver City, California and features real Nirvana fans as the audience.
A notable alternate performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” occurred on BBC’s Top of the Pops in 1991, during which the band refused to mime to the prerecorded backing track and Cobain sang in a deliberately low voice with hilarious result. Kurt also changed lyrics in the song (for example, “Load up on guns, bring your friends” became “Load up on drugs, kill your friends”). Cobain later said he was trying to sound like one of heroes – former Smiths frontman Morrissey.
Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the success and attention “Spirit” received as a result. In the years since Cobain’s death, listeners and critics have continued to praise “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. In the years following Cobain’s death, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has continued to garner critical acclaim. In 2000, MTV and Rolling Stone ranked the song third on their joint list of the 100 best pop songs, trailing only The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday‘ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’”.
One cannot talk about the popularity and iconic status of Smells Like Teen Spirit without referencing the video. I can only imagine what it was like for the extras that featured in the video. Thirty years later, they are probably still talking about it! Ultimate Classic Rock take us inside that sensational video:
“On Aug. 17, 1991, Nirvana assembled a group of fans to a sound stage in Culver City, Calif. What they shot that day would go in to become one of rock’s most iconic music videos.
By this point, the band had built a fanbase beyond Seattle. Nirvana’s debut LP, 1989’s Bleach, sold poorly but generated positive reviews and a strong word of mouth. As such, the group enjoyed an underground following across the country, largely made up of college students.
With their sophomore album, Nevermind, prepped for release, Nirvana played a show on Aug. 15, 1991, at the Roxy on West Hollywood’s famed Sunset Strip. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the third song on the set that night, and during the performance fans were handed flyers inviting them to be extras in the music video shoot.
“Nirvana needs YOU to appear in their upcoming music video, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,'” the flyers proclaimed. “You should be 18 to 25 years old and adapt a high school persona, i.e. preppy, punk, nerd, jock…
As the casting call insinuated, the video was set in a high school. The idea was the brainchild of Kurt Cobain, taking inspiration from the films Over the Edge and the Ramones’ Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Its basic concept was a “pep rally from hell,” with an apathetic student body eventually worked into a frenzy by Nirvana’s music.
First time director Samuel Bayer would helm the project, and his personality bristled with the band. “He’s got a little Napoleon complex,” Cobain explained of Bayer in the book Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. “He was just so hyper, such a rocker guy. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe we actually submitted to that.”
Bayer was a disciplinarian on set, chiding extras, attempting to keep the band in check and generally coming across as overbearing. “It was just like we were in school,” Cobain recalled. “He was the mean teacher.”
Several aspects of the video would change due to Bayer’s input. For example, Cobain wanted “really ugly overweight cheerleaders” because he was “sickened by the stereotypical prom queen.” Instead, Bayer went with attractive women, recruited from local strip clubs.
“Kurt hated Sam Bayer,” Courtney Love recalled to New York Magazine in 2011. “For ‘Teen Spirit,’ Kurt wanted fat cheerleaders, he wanted black kids, he wanted to tell the world how fucked up high school was. But Sam put hot girls in the video. The crazy thing is, it still worked.”
“There were certain things we found to be really funny about videos—tits and ass and pyrotechnics, shit like that,” added drummer Dave Grohl, “and when we showed up at the shoot, we were like, ‘Wait a minute, those cheerleaders look like strippers’.”
For his part, Bayer “couldn’t understand why [Cobain] wanted to put unattractive women in the video.” “I think Kurt looked at me and saw himself selling out,” the director admitted. “But to me, these were nasty girls. They had rug burns on their knees. In my eyes, the whole video was dirty.”
The day of the shoot would be grueling for the band, crew and extras. Still, having the crowd made up of actual Nirvana fans -- rather than actors playing the part -- proved imperative.
“We did a couple of takes, and the audience just started destroying the stage,” Grohl recalled. “The director’s on a bullhorn screaming, ‘Stop! Cut!;’ And that’s when it started to make sense to me: This is like a Nirvana concert.”
Cobain convinced Bayer that the video needed to end with anarchy, the student body overtaking the school’s gym and running wild. It would be the final scene shot, and after a long day on the set -- including getting yelled at by the director -- the fans were anxious to let loose. Given the green light, the mob exploded into a massive mosh pit, breaking equipment and even taking some of the band’s instruments.
“Once the kids came out dancing they just said 'fuck you', because they were so tired of [Bayer’s] shit throughout the day," Cobain noted.
Ultimately, that explosion of energy helped make “Smells Like Teen Spirit” the legendary video it became. Cobain would edit Bayer’s original cut, removing footage that had focussed on some of the school teachers. He also added closeups of himself at the video’s end, giving viewers a clear image of the frontman’s intensity.
The “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video would premiere on MTV's 120 Minutes on September 29, 1991. In October, it was added to the network’s “Buzz Bin,” a showcase for acts the network viewed as up-and-coming stars. Soon, Nirvana would find itself among the biggest bands in the world, and reluctant poster boys for the grunge revolution. Meanwhile, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cemented its place as the defining music video of Generation X”.
A lot of the great songs gain respect and success when they are released. That does not mean the momentum continues and the tracks are taken to heart down the line. I am not sure why some songs translate and remain whereas others were at their peak when they were first released. Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song that has remained hugely popular ever since 1991. Such is its relevance and simplicity, legions of fans have kept the track ablaze! There is no telling how many bands were formed from that one song. Back in June, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit joined an exclusive club: it surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. It had already gained more than one billion views on YouTube. NME report on the news that it ‘did the double’:
“Nirvana‘s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has surpassed a huge one billion streams on Spotify, only months before the band’s game-changing 1991 album ‘Nevermind’ celebrates its 30th anniversary.
The iconic track appeared on Nirvana’s second album and helped usher in a new wave of grunge and alternative rock dominance .
It now joins more than 150 tracks that make up Spotify’s Billions Club, which is largely comprised of landmark hits such as Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’.
They’re closely followed by the likes of Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, with roughly 975 million plays) and AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’, which boasts more than 800 million plays.
The track’s impressive Spotify ranking comes after the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ YouTube video scored over a billion views on YouTube in 2019”.
Ahead of its thirtieth anniversary on 10th September, I wanted to revisit a song that defined a decade. Nirvana’s most popular song is one that will be picked apart and studied for generations to come. It is a track that is not just for Grunge fans. The lyrics are not often studied. I love the first verse: “Load up on guns, bring your friends/It's fun to lose and to pretend/She's over-bored and self-assured/Oh no, I know a dirty word”. It is both oblique and somehow crystal clear! Kurt Cobain was one of the great wordsmiths of his day. He can blend words that mean nothing and mean everything into the chorus and manage to captivate millions: “With the lights out, it's less dangerous/Here we are now, entertain us/I feel stupid and contagious/Here we are now, entertain us/A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido/Yeah, hey”. The song’s title is never song; it is not even suggested. My favourite line is “I'm worse at what I do best”. I love how Cobain uses language and the images he summons. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl are stunning. Providing so much weight, power and rhythm, they help turn Smells Like Teen Spirit into a timeless anthem! On 10th September, make sure you put the song on, turn it up loud…
IN THIS PHOTO: Nirvana in Los Angeles, 1991/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro
AND lose yourself.