Nirvana’s single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ released today in 1991.
Its success propelled album Nevermind to the top of 1992 charts, marking the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream.
We’re so trendy we can’t even escape ourselves.
Kurt Cobain
The unprecedented transition from underground punk to mainstream supergroup saw Nevermind at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 Album charts by January 11, 1992. Nirvana made their SNL debut and performed ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Territorial Pissings’ on the late-night show. And Weird Al Yankovic included a reference to the band in his act.
The song came after a night of drinking with Bikini Kill songwriter/vocalist Kathleen Hanna and drummer Tobi Vail joined Kurt Cobain. The party continued at their home, and Hanna spray-painted “Kurt smells like teen spirit” on Cobain’s wall, a reference to the deodorant Vail, Cobain’s girlfriend, used. Cobain loved the phrasing and wrote the song without knowing of the Teen Spirit deodorant’s real existence until after they recorded it.
Songs ‘Drain You’, ‘Lounge Act’ were also two of many about Tobi Vail on the Nevermind album. ‘Drain You’ begins with lyrics “One baby to another said ‘I’m lucky to have met you’”, which is what Vail had once told Cobain. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is about a woman being over-bored and self-assured was likely about Vail.
The dancing janitor in the song’s music video was an inside joke referencing Kurt Cobain’s old job as a school janitor when he dropped out of school at age 16.
The music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” premiered on MTV’s alternative music show 120 Minutes on Sunday, September 29, 1991. Cobain watched himself in a hotel room at The Roger Smith Hotel in New York City and called his mother to tell her, “There’s me.”
‘Spirit’ sounds much like a Pixies parody and Cobain admitted that the song’s riff was a “rip-off” of The Pixies and Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’.
Cobain’s affection for the band The Pixies heavily influenced his songwriting.
Happy 70th to Joe Perry, guitarist with Aerosmith born today in 1950. Perry scored the 1989 UK No.13 single ‘Love In An Elevator’, and their 1989 album Pump spent 53 weeks on the US charts They had the 1993 US No.1 & UK No.2 album Get A Grip and the 1998 US No.1 & UK No.4 single ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’.
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Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold over 150 million records worldwide.
