In September 1991, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” altered culture. Yet Kurt Cobain would come to despise the song that defined his generation, eventually refusing to perform it live.
In 1991, teenagers lived in a world ruled by metal and pop stars. Guns N’ Roses and Madonna dominated the airwaves, while hip-hop evolved with A Tribe Called Quest, Naughty by Nature, and Public Enemy. MTV was the gateway to new music, and teens’ social lives revolved around malls, arcades, and landline phone calls. Saved by the Bell, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Saturday Night Live defined TV culture, while the console wars were making gaming mainstream.
Then Smells Like Teen Spirit unhinged the world.
“Nirvanamania!”
Nirvana formed in 1987 in Aberdeen, Washington, with Kurt Cobain as lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter, and Krist Novoselic on bass as the founding members. The band cycled through several drummers, including Aaron Burckhard, Dale Crover, Dave Foster, Chad Channing (who played on most of its debut album Bleach), and Dan Peters. However, once Dave Grohl auditioned and joined the band on September 25, 1990, Nirvana found itself.
The trio first publicly played together 16 days later at Olympia’s North Shore Surf Club on October 11, 1990. The ticket price was $5.
A review of the show by Ian Dickson from a newspaper called The Cooper Point, published on October 18, 1990, said that 500 ‘teenage punk rockers’ were at the show to witness ‘Nirvanamania!'”
“Nirvana had serious problems. The sound kept cutting out in the middle of their first few songs, the drums broke, Kurdt’s voice was off. None of that mattered… They could have played the introduction to ‘Free Bird’ for 2 hours and kids would still be stumbling around dazed, saying ‘oh my gawd, they were so great.’ It’s true. Dave, from D.C’s now defunct Scream, is a great drummer. He hits hard with a smile on his face,” said Dickson.
Early on, Cobain intentionally misspelled his name as ‘Kurdt Kobain’ to distance himself from his music.
“I think I want it to be anonymous. At first, I was really thinking about changing my name for the Nevermind record, but then I just decided to spell it the right way. I just wanted it to be confusing. I wish I would have done the same thing that Black Francis did when the Pixies did—he’s changed his name so many times that nobody really knows who he is. I wish nobody ever knew what my real name was so I could someday be a normal citizen again. I have no real reason. I just didn’t bother spelling it correctly. I didn’t care. I wanted people to spell it differently all the time,” said Cobain.
A year later, on September 10, 1991, Nirvana released Smells Like Teen Spirit. Two weeks later, the album Nevermind arrived — shifting music history.
What happened in those 52 weeks between September 1990 and September 1991 that made Smells Like Teen Spirit become Smells Like Teen Spirit?
The Birth of a Generational Anthem
The inspiration for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” started with friend Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of Bikini Kill. Hanna and Cobain were hanging out one day in August of 1990 in Olympia, Washington.
“In August of 1990, I found myself laying on my stomach in the woods with a pair of binoculars, a bottle of Canadian Club, and my friend Kurt Cobain… I lived in Olympia, Washington, and walked down the hill, went to the bar, got some more Canadian Club, then went to my apartment. We got those 40-ouncers, got a little more drunk. And apparently, I insulted just about everybody in my whole entire town, and I threw up on someone’s legs. It was one of those nights that, like, later on, every time anyone ever mentions it, you don’t want to think about it,” said Hanna.
“Ended up at Kurt’s apartment, I smashed up a bunch of shit, and took out a Sharpie marker. I wrote a bunch of shit all over his bedroom wall, and it was a rental, so it was really kind of lame that I did that. And then I passed out with the marker in my hand, and I woke up, and I had one of those hangovers… So I wasn’t too happy when, six months later, Kurt called me up and said, ‘Hey, do you remember that night? … Well, there’s this thing that you wrote on my wall, and it was actually kind of cool. I want to use it as a lyric in one of my songs,’ recalls Hanna. ‘As long as I can get out of that conversation and not think about it anymore, I’m totally cool. So you can use whatever you want.’ Then I hung up, and I was like, ‘How the fuck is he gonna use Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit as a lyric?’”
“We’d been practicing for about three months. We were waiting to sign to DGC, and Dave [Grohl] and I were living in Olympia [Wash.], and Krist [Novoselic] was living in Tacoma [Wash.]. We were driving up to Tacoma every night for practice, trying to write songs. I was trying to write the ultimate pop song,” said Cobain. “I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it [smiles]. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band — or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard. ‘Teen Spirit’ was such a clichéd riff. It was so close to a Boston riff or ‘Louie, Louie.’ When I came up with the guitar part, Krist looked at me and said, ‘That is so ridiculous.’ I made the band play it for an hour and a half.”
This means that Cobain started to conceptualize and write lyrics for Smells Like Teen Spirit February 1991, but would have been on his bouncing around in his mind since that night in August 1990.
“I never wanted to sing,” Cobain stated. “I just wanted to play rhythm guitar — hide in the back and just play. But during those high-school years when I was playing guitar in my bedroom, I at least had the intuition that I had to write my own songs.”
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a reference to Tobi Vail, the drummer of Bikini Kill, who Cobain dated. Vail used Teen Spirit deodorant, and Hanna was joking that Vail had left her scent on him. Vail and Cobain briefly began dating in July 1990, until their breakup during the first week of November 1990.
Cobain misinterpreted the phrase, thinking it referenced their conversation about teen revolution, and thought Hanna suggested he was an inspirational figure. Similar to the plot in the 1979 movie Over The Edge, which Cobain said, “That movie had such an effect on me.”
“I took that as a compliment. I thought that was a reaction to the conversation we were having, but it really meant that I smelled like the deodorant. I didn’t know that the deodorant spray existed until months after the single came out,” said Cobain in Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana.
The first time Nirvana performed Smells Like Teen Spirit live was on Wednesday, April 17, 1991, at the OK Hotel in Seattle. This last minute booking turned out to be a packed event, which also featured Fitz of Depression and Bikini Kill.
“This song is called ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’” Cobain announced to an audience unknowingly witnessing history. The song was still evolving, with different lyrics from the version that would soon define a generation.
“That show at the OK Hotel was legendary,” Seattle-area musician Kurt Bloch stated. “There were a few genre-defining shows, and that was certainly one of them. I remember standing next to [Sub Pop A&R representative] Nils Bernstein and then ‘Hey, here’s a new song, blah blah blah.’ They started playing ‘Teen Spirit’ and Nils and I looked at each other like, ‘Holy fuck! This song is unbelievable.’”
“They started playing the new song, and people erupted,” says Jennie Boddy, a publicist for Sub Pop Records who was at the show. “We were being slimed on by shirtless guys, just moshing… My friend Susan started hyperventilating; she thought it was so good. ‘I can’t—gasp—believe what they just played!’ It was just instantaneous; it was crazy.”
“Nirvana needed gas money to drive down to L.A. to record Nevermind, so they played a last-minute show at the OK Hotel,” said Steve Moriarty, drummer for Seattle-based band the Gits, in the book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. “The band walked away with a few hundred bucks, drove down to L.A., and the rest is history.”
Following the OK Hotel show, Nirvana traveled to Los Angeles in late April to meet with producer Butch Vig. After label interest to move away from Sub Pop Records, Nirvana signed with DGC Records on April 30, 1991.
Nirvana received an advance of $287,000, which was to be split among Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl and spread over two albums, including the upcoming release of Nevermind.
“It’s nicer [being on DGC] because we have the freedom to spend a bit more money. We can take our time now, and we’re guaranteed to get our album in any store, which is the main gripe we had about [being] independent,” said Cobain in Pulse magazine. “The fact that people couldn’t find our record in stores really bothered us.”
According to the terms of the deal, Nirvana agreed to receive 75% of the standard publishing royalty rate for up to ten songs per album, as they controlled both the songwriting and recording. Around 20-25% of their earnings went to Gold Mountain Entertainment, their management company, with additional expenses for an accounting firm Voldal-Wartelle & Co. to handle their finances.
Two days after signing with DGC, Nirvana began recording the album. Between May 2 and 28, 1991, they recorded what would become Nevermind with producer Butch Vig, who had earlier received a demo.
In early June 1991, Nirvana, led by Kurt Cobain, decided on Nevermind as the album title. Cobain shelved Sheep, and Nevermind worked for a number of reasons: it reflected his current attitude; it was deliberately misspelled; and it referenced a key phrase in the lyrics from “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released as the lead single on September 10, 1991. The band had an album release party on September 13, 1991, at Seattle’s Re-bar, which was attended by family, friends, fans, and music industry professionals.
Re-Bar’s owner Steve Wells kicked out Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl from the party because they snuck in hard liquor, got drunk, and started a food fight.
“Suddenly, Kurt, Krist, and maybe Dave started a food fight. I guess I freaked about the whole situation, rounded them up, including Bruce [Pavitt], and with the help of the doormen, got them out of the door just in time for them all to barf on the curb,” recalled Wells.
There was also a packed in-store listening party at Beehive Records in Seattle on September 16, 1991, where Nirvana performed to promote the album.
“When Kurdt started slingin’ the open chords to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ the crowd erupted into a slamming mass of ecstatic youth. I started to become so fucking happy that I began to feel like a silly child myself, wrote a review by Adam of the gig in a magazine called Hype. “Nothin’ like watching happy, violent kids take over a record store. I even saw the Soundgarden guys get turned away at the door because the place was too packed.”
“Kurdt Kobain scares me. The guy never smiled, despite the fact that every other person in the building was orgasming. I think I would probably be pretty happy if I had Seattle by the nose-ring, like Nirvana does. But then again, maybe I’d be worried too if my next task was conquering the world with a guitar. Not to worry though, with these new songs, they can’t lose. My enjoyment of the set was briefly marred by a bomb threat called in from Boston by Matt Lukin which forced everyone to evacuate the building. So I rode a Metro home, smelling like teen spirit,” said Adam from Hype.
After the listening party, on September 21, 1991, the band headed north to Canada to play in Toronto, then Montreal on the 22nd, before heading back to the USA to play in Boston.
Nevermind was officially released on Monday, September 24, 1991. Other albums that dropped that day included Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory.
That night, Nirvana played at Boston’s Axis club to a sold-out crowd. DGC Records had modest expectations, shipping just 46,251 copies of Nevermind to the US and 35,000 to the UK.
Demand popped off.
The Smells Like Teen Spirit music video, resembling a high school rally with actual Nirvana fans as extras, debuted on MTV’s 120 Minutes on September 29, 1991, bringing both alternative rock and grunge to the mainstream.
In just 123 days since Smells Like Teen Spirit was released, and 109 days since Nevermind was available, on Saturday, January 11, 1992, Nirvana’s Nevermind, rocketed by Smells Like Teen Spirit, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, dethroning Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, which the King of Pop held the top spot for four weeks with Black or White.
Nirvana was in New York City as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. They played Smells Like Teen Spirit and Territorial Pissings. At the end of their set, Cobain rammed the neck of his guitar into the speakers while Novoselic gently dropped his bass and joined Grohl in tossing his drum kit around.
When the show ended, host Rob Morrow, known for his role in Northern Exposure, thanked the cast, crew, Nirvana (Grohl was smoking), and everyone watching.
Novoselic seized the opportunity, kissing, making out with, and hugging Grohl before doing the same with Cobain. Grohl and Cobain then hugged, and Grohl twirled Cobain. Novoselic and Grohl mingled, while Cobain stood just outside the group with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans — until Kevin Nealon shook his hand, followed by a double handshake from Chris Farley.
At its peak, the album was selling 300,000 copies per week, Nevermind has become certified 13 times platinum in the U.S., shipping over 13 million copies, with worldwide sales exceeding 30 million. ‘Nevermind’ has spent over 700 total weeks on the Billboard 200.
Smells Like Teen Spirit is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. A 2015 study by Goldsmiths, University of London, declared it the ‘most iconic song of all time’, based on its blend of key, tempo, chord variety, lyrical content, and delivery. Imagine by John Lennon is next.
Thus, backed by culture and science, Cobain’s desire to create the “ultimate pop song” was achieved.
Lyrically: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Do the lyrics make sense? Can they be understood? What does Cobain mean and how and why does ‘an albino’ fit into all this?
The guitar and drum sequence at the start of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” captured attention and is ingrained in the minds of millions, of which I am one. Everything took off when Cobain started singing the lyrics.
“It’s a typical teenage aggression song. It has revolutionary themes, but I don’t really mean it in a militant [light],” stated Cobain in an October 1991 interview with Pulse! “The generation’s apathy is getting out of hand. [I’m] pleading to the kids, ‘Wake up!’”
Load up on guns, bring your friends
It’s fun to lose and to pretend
The opening lyrics, coupled with Cobain’s initial impression that inspired the title and song, as him being the figure to lead a generation, feels as if he’s speaking directly to you — and to those who listened and heard the message. It’s a call-to-arms to arise, stand up, and come as you are.
The opening lyrics, coupled with Cobain’s initial source of impression, with him being the figure to lead a generation, feels as if he’s speaking directly to you — and to those who listened and heard the message. It’s a call to arise, stand up, and come as you are.
It’s fun to lose and to pretend
These lyrics reflect a sense of detachment from the mainstream, where losing and pretending become mechanisms — whether intentional or subconscious — to escape from reality. “Losing” is about letting go of the pressure to succeed and seeing failure as a form of freedom, without caring about an expected outcome. “Pretend” could be a way to navigate through situations by masking emotions, even if it’s not authentic, which is relatable to millions of people.
She’s over-bored and self assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word
The lyrics describe a girl who is feeling really bored and self-assured. The line captures her personality as being disinterested, yet confident and sure of herself. It’s widely interpreted that these words are a reflection of Cobain’s feelings at the time towards Tobi Vail, who was his girlfriend until the first week of November 1990.
The ‘Oh no’ feels instantly regrettable, while ‘dirty word’ symbolizes something the person knows is bad or uncomfortable to say, either to themselves or to others.
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello
The repeated “hello” could symbolize a repeated attempt to connect and communicate with whoever is around to hear it, while “how low” expresses a sense an emptiness.
“I’m disgusted by my own and my generation’s apathy. I’m disgusted at what we allow to go on, by how spineless, lethargic and guilty we are of not standing up against racism, sexism and all those other ‘isms’ that the counterculture has been whining about for years while they sit and enforce those same attitudes every night on their televisions and in the magazines,” said Cobain.
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, yay
The chorus is ambiguous by design, such as what specifically is less dangerous with the lights out? The line captures the tension of how darkness (or “lights out”) makes things “less dangerous” because it removes some intensity, while also suggesting a sense of detachment from the world. “With the lights out, it’s less dangerous” is similar to the idea that “ignorance is bliss,” where not knowing something can make life feel easier or happier.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cobain explained the meaning behind “Here we are now, entertain us,” as “something I used to say every time I used to walk into a party to break the ice. A lot of times, when you’re standing around with people in a room, it’s really boring and uncomfortable. So it was “Well, here we are, entertain us. You invited us here.”
“I feel stupid and contagious… Kurt really despised the mainstream. That’s what ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was all about: The mass mentality of conformity,” said Novoselic.
A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido
Yeah, hey, yay
“I was just using pieces of poetry and just garbage — you know, just stuff that just would spew out of me at the time,” Cobain said to MuchMusic in 1993. “A lot of times when I write lyrics, it’s just at the last second because I’m really lazy. And then I find myself having to come up with explanations for it.”
“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, said Grohl. “You need syllables to fill up this space or you need something that rhymes.”
I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
If the perspective is about teenage revolution and being a leader of it, then these lyrics express conflicted feelings about self-deprecation, specialized talents, success, and somehow gratitude.
The lyrics, “Our little group has always been / And always will until the end” can be interpreted as a statement about the band’s commitment to staying true to themselves, until the end.
“Kris, Dave, and I haven’t changed at all. I mean, believe it or not, we get along just as well as we ever did… We’re just the same passive-aggressive people as we used to be, you know. We never fight, and when we’re pissed off at each other, we just hold it under our breath and have respect for one another in that way. You know, it’s just… it’s easier to—it’s easier to work that way, you know, ‘cuz we have a mission,” said Cobain.
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, never mind
These lyrics blend contradictions, reflecting a sense of uncertainty and detachment, perhaps about the impending success or ongoing disillusionment. Oh well, whatever, never mind. With “forget just why I taste” suggests a loss of purpose, while “I guess it makes me smile” hints at forced happiness that returns to mask emotions.
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
A denial, a denial, a denial, a denial, a denial
A denial, a denial, a denial, a denial.
The term ‘denial’ generally refers to the act of refusing to accept or acknowledge something as true. The song ends by repeating “a denial” over and over like a mantra. This suggests that generations will continue ignoring the truth around them, remaining frustrated by mainstream rules.
As Cobain said, “We still feel as if we’re teenagers because we don’t follow the guidelines of what’s expected of us to be adults… It also has kind of a teen revolutionary theme.”
“The entire song is made up of contradictory ideas. It’s just making fun of the thought of having a revolution. But it’s a nice thought,” said Cobain.
Producer Butch Vig stated, “even though we’re not really sure exactly what Kurt is singing about, there’s something in there that you understand – a sense of frustration and alienation. And to me, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” reminds a little bit of how Bob Dylan’s songs affected people in the ’60s. In a way, I think, that was a song that affected a generation of kids in the ’90s. They could relate to it.”
“I wanted to have the adoration of John Lennon, but have the anonymity of Ringo Starr, you know. I didn’t want to be a front-man. I just wanted to be back there but, you know, be a rock ‘n roll star at the same time,” said Cobain.
