"
Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
band
NirvanaNirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
. It is the opening track and lead
singleIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
from the band's 1991 breakthrough album
NevermindNevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...
. Written by
Kurt CobainKurt Donald Cobain was an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the rock band Nirvana....
,
Krist NovoselicKrist Anthony Novoselic II is a Croatian American rock musician , best known for being the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. In addition to Nirvana, Novoselic has played for Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, and most recently in Flipper...
, and
Dave GrohlDavid Eric Grohl is an American rock musician, singer and songwriter. Grohl began his music career in the 1980s as the drummer for several Washington, D.C., area bands, including the hardcore punk band Scream. In 1990 he became the drummer for grunge group Nirvana...
and produced by
Butch VigButch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling albums Nevermind by Nirvana and Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins.Now a resident of Los...
, the song uses a
verse-chorus formVerse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted...
where the main four-chord
riffIn music, a riff is an ostinato figure: a repeated chord progression, pattern, refrain or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though they are most often found in rock music, Latin, funk...
is used during the intro and chorus to create an alternating loud and quiet dynamic.
The unexpected success of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" propelled
Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, often marked as the point where
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
entered the mainstream. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was Nirvana's first and biggest hit, reaching number six on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and placing high on music industry charts all around the world in 1991 and 1992.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" received many critical plaudits, including topping the
Village Voice Pazz & JopThe Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
critics' poll and winning two
MTV Video Music AwardsThe MTV Video Music Awards, also called the VMAs, were established at the end of the summer of 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year...
for its
music videoA music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the...
, which was in heavy rotation on
music televisionMusic television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from bands, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite or cable. Examples are VIVA, MTV, MuchMusic, and Fuse TV....
. The song was dubbed an "anthem for apathetic kids" of
Generation XGeneration X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is a term used to refer to the generation born after the baby boom ended, extending from the early 1960s to late 1970s. The term Generation X has been used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular...
, but the band grew uncomfortable with the success and attention it received as a result. In the years since Nirvana's breakup, listeners and critics have continued to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
Origins and recording
In a January 1994
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
interview, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain revealed that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies, a band he greatly admired. He explained:
Cobain did not begin to write "Smells Like Teen 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, it comprised just the main riff and the chorus vocal melody, which
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Krist Novoselic dismissed at the time as "ridiculous." In response, Cobain made the band play the riff for "an hour and a half." In a 2001 interview, Novoselic recalled that after playing the riff repeatedly, he thought, "'Wait a minute. Why don't we just kind of slow this down a bit?' So I started playing the verse part. And Dave [started] playing a drum beat." As a result, all three band members are credited as songwriters.
Cobain came up with the song's title when his friend
Kathleen HannaKathleen Hanna is an American musician, feminist activist, and zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill, before fronting the dance-punk band Le Tigre in the late '90s and early 2000s. In 1998, Hanna released a solo album under the name Julie Ruin...
, at the time the lead singer of the
Riot GrrrlRiot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement that started in the early 1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism . However, riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave...
punk band
Bikini KillBikini Kill was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in October of 1990. The group is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement, and was well known and notorious for its radical feminist lyrics and fiery performances...
, spray painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall. Since they had been discussing
anarchismAnarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state ....
,
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s 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 SpiritTeen Spirit is an anti-perspirant/deodorant, originally sold by Mennen until the company was acquired by Colgate-Palmolive in 1992. The Teen Spirit line of products steadily lost popularity after its peak in the early 1990s...
, which his then-girlfriend
Tobi VailTobi Vail is a musician, influential DIY punk zinester, activist, and feminist theorist from Olympia, Washington. She formed one of her first bands as the drummer for The Go Team when she was 15, later collaborating in several other groups like Bikini Kill, as well as being involved over the...
wore. Cobain later claimed that he was unaware that it was a brand of deodorant until months after the single was released.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was, along with "Come as You Are," one of a few new songs that had been written since Nirvana's first recording sessions with producer Butch Vig in 1990. Prior to the start of the
Nevermind recording sessions, the band sent Vig a rough cassette demo of song rehearsals that included "Teen Spirit." While the sound of the tape was wildly distorted due to the band playing at a loud volume, Vig could pick out some of the melody and felt the song had promise. Nirvana recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Sound City recording studio in Van Nuys,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
with Vig in May 1991. Vig suggested some arrangement changes to the song, including moving a guitar ad lib into the chorus, and trimming down the chorus length. The band recorded the basic track for the song in three takes, and decided to keep the second one.
Composition
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is written in the
keyIn music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a certain key, such as in the key of C or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the key of...
of
F minorF minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....
, with the main guitar riff constructed from four
power chordIn music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
s (F5-B♭5-A♭5-D♭5) played in a
syncopatedIn music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed...
sixteenth notethumb|right|Figure 1. A sixteenth note with stem facing up, a sixteenth note with stem facing down, and a sixteenth rest.thumb|right|Figure 2. Four Sixteenth notes beamed together....
strum by Cobain. The guitar chords were double-tracked because the band "wanted to make it sound more powerful," according to Vig. The chords occasionally lapse into
suspended chordAn added tone chord is a triadic chord with an extra "added" note, such as the added sixth . This includes chords with an added thirteenth and farther "extensions", but that do not include the intervening thirds as in an extended chord...
voicings as a result of Cobain playing the bottom four strings of the guitar for the thickness of sound. Due to being neither major nor minor, the occasional use of suspended chords also allows the
chord progressionA chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord...
used in the riff to be thought of as a I-IV-♭III-♭VI major chord progression. The song's chord progression has been described as "an ambiguous, harmonically dislocated sequence," and "it is the asymmetrical nature of Cobain's riff [. . .] that makes it so great." Musicologist Graeme Downes, who led the band
The VerlainesThe Verlaines are a rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand notable for combining rock passion with classical compositional ideas. The Verlaines were formed in 1981 by Graeme Downes, Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr; the band went through multiple line-ups before going on an...
, says that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" illustrates
developing variationIn music composition, developing variation is a formal technique in which the concepts of development and variation are united in that variations are produced through the development of existing material....
. Listeners made many comments that the song bore a passing resemblance to
BostonBoston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists...
's 1976 hit "
More than a Feeling"More Than a Feeling" is a song by the rock band Boston, released as the lead single from their eponymous debut album on Epic Records in September 1976, with "Smokin'" on the flipside. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The track has become a staple of classic rock radio...
." Cobain himself held similar opinions, saying that it "was such a clichéd riff. It was so close to a Boston riff or
[The KingsmenThe Kingsmen are a 1960s garage rock / frat rock band from Portland, Oregon. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
's] '
Louie Louie"Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists. The song is written in the style of a Jamaican ballad; and tells, in simple verse-chorus form, the first-person story...
.'"
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" utilizes a "somewhat conventional formal structure" consisting of four-, eight-, and twelve-bar sections that includes an eight-bar verse, an eight-bar first chorus (pre-chorus), and a twelve-bar second chorus (main chorus). Elements of the song's structure are marked off with shifts in volume and dynamics, going back and forth from quiet to loud a number of times during the length of the recording. This structure of "quiet verses with wobbly,
chorusedA chorus effect is:* A condition in the way people perceive similar sounds coming from multiple sources.* A simulation of this effect created by signal processing equipment.* A signal processing device designed to produce this effect.- Methods :...
guitar, followed by big, loud
hardcoreHardcore punk, often just called hardcore, is a subgenre of punk rock that originated primarily in North America in the late 1970s. The new sound was generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock...
-inspired choruses" became a much-emulated template in alternative rock because of "Teen Spirit."
The song begins with Cobain strumming the main riff, adding distortion when the rest of the band joins in. During the verse Cobain plays a sparse two-note guitar line over Novoselic's
eighth notethumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes linked together....
bassline, which outlines the chord progression. In the pre-chorus, Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the phrase "Hello, hello, hello, how low?" Cobain then resumes the main guitar riff for the chorus, where the band plays loudly and Cobain yells the lyrics. The first and second choruses both end with a brief four-bar interlude where Cobain shouts "Yeah!" twice over a new riff. After the second chorus, Cobain plays a 16-bar guitar solo that almost completely restates his vocal melody from the verse and pre-chorus. The band extends the third and final verse and chorus as Cobain sings the refrain "A denial" repeatedly. At this point Cobain's vocals become strained and his voice is almost shot from the force of yelling. The song ends with the feedback of the guitar.
Release, success, and acclaim
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released on September 10, 1991 as the lead single from
Nevermind, the band's major label debut on
Geffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
(DGC). The song was not expected to be a hit, for it was merely intended to be the base-building alternative rock cut. It was anticipated that the follow-up single "Come as You Are" would be the song that could cross over to mainstream formats. However,
campus radioCampus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the station is based...
and
modern rockModern rock is a term commonly used to describe a rock music format found on American commercial radio. Generally beginning with late 1970s punk but referring especially to rock music since the 1980s, the phrase "modern rock" is used to differentiate the music from "classic rock", which focuses on...
radio stations picked up on the track, and placed it on heavy rotation. Danny Goldberg of Nirvana's management firm Gold Mountain later admitted that "none of us heard it as a crossover song, but the public heard it and it was instantaneous [. . .] They heard it on alternative radio, and then they rushed out like lemmings to buy it." The video received its world premiere on
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
's late-night alternative rock program
120 Minutes120 Minutes is a television show in the U.S. dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....
, and proved so popular that the channel began to air it during its regular daytime rotation. As a result,
Nevermind began to sell thousands of copies a week, culminating in the album knocking
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson , known as the "King of Pop", was an American musician and one of the most commercially successful and influential entertainers of all time...
's
DangerousDangerous is a studio album by Michael Jackson, released on November 26, 1991. It became his second to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks...
album from the top spot on the
Billboard charts in January 1992.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a critical and commercial success. The song topped the 1991
Village Voice "
Pazz & JopThe Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
" and
Melody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s-1960s:Originally the Melody...
year-end polls, and reached number two on
Rolling Stone's list of best singles of the year. The single peaked at number six on the
Billboard singles chart the same week that
Nevermind reached number one on the album charts. "Teen Spirit" hit number one on the
Modern Rock TracksAlternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart, and has since been
certified platinum (one million copies shipped) by the
Recording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a group which represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA say "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings...
. However, many American Top 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation due to its sound, and restricted it to night-time play. The single was also successful in other countries. In the United Kingdom, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" reached number seven and charted for 184 weeks. The song was nominated for two
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
s:
Best Hard Rock Performance with VocalThe Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance has been awarded since 1990. In 1989 it was presented as Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance until the following year, when the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance category was formed. From 1992 to 1994 the award was presented as the...
and
Best Rock SongThe Grammy Award for Best Rock Song has been awarded since 1992. The award is presented to the writers of the song. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year. Bruce Springsteen is the category's biggest winner, at four awards.-...
. Nirvana's loss to Eric Clapton in the Best Song category would later be named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications US Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EWs primary concentration is on entertainment...
.
In the wake of Nirvana's success,
Michael AzerradMichael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...
wrote in a 1992
Rolling Stone article, "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is an anthem for (or is it against?) the 'Why Ask Why?' generation. Just don't call Cobain a spokesman for a generation." Nevertheless, the music press awarded the song an "anthem-of-a-generation" status, placing Cobain as a reluctant spokesman for Generation X.
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
observed that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' could be this generation’s version of the
Sex PistolsThe Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They are responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
' 1976 single, '
Anarchy in the U.K."Anarchy in the U.K." is a song by the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released as the group's debut recording on 26 November 1976.-Information:...
', if it weren’t for the bitter irony that pervades its title," and added, "As Nirvana knows only too well, teen spirit is routinely bottled, shrink-wrapped and sold." The band grew uncomfortable with the song's success, and in later concerts often pointedly excluded it from the setlist. Prior to the release of the band's 1993 follow-up album
In UteroIn Utero is the third and final studio album by the American grunge band Nirvana, released on September 13, 1993, on DGC Records. Nirvana intended the record to diverge significantly from the polished production of its previous album, Nevermind...
, Novoselic remarked, "If it wasn't for 'Teen Spirit' I don't know how
Nevermind would have done," and observed, "There are no 'Teen Spirits' on
In Utero." Cobain said in 1994, "I still like playing 'Teen Spirit,' but it’s almost an embarrassment to play it [. . .] Everyone has focused on that song so much."
In the years following Cobain's 1994 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 BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
' "
Yesterday"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Yesterday" has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United...
" and
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup...
' "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Satisfaction" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. The number is noted for Richards's three-note guitar riff which opens and drives the song, and for the lyrics, which include...
." The Recording Industry Association of America's 2001 "Songs of the Century" project placed "Teen Spirit" at number 80. In 2002,
NMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it...
awarded the song the number two spot on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time," while in 2003
VH1VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City...
placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" number one on its list of "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years." The song came third in a
QQ is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new...
poll that same year.
Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ninth in its 2004 list of
The 500 Greatest Songs of All TimeThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time...
, and described its impact as "A shock wave of big-amp purity, [it] wiped the lingering jive of the Eighties off the pop map overnight." In the 2006
VH1 UKVH1 UK is a music television channel from MTV Networks Europe. VH1 is based on the American channel of the same name...
poll
The Nation's Favourite Lyric, the line "I feel stupid and contagious/here we are now, entertain us" was ranked as the third-favorite song lyric among over 13,000 voters. In contrast,
TimeTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine proposed in its entry for
Nevermind on "The All-TIME 100 Albums" from 2006 that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' [. . .] may be the album's worst song."
Lyrics and interpretation
The lyrics to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" were often difficult for listeners to decipher, both due to their nonsensicality and because of Cobain's slurred, guttural singing voice. This problem was compounded by the fact that the
Nevermind album liner notes did not include any lyrics for the songs aside from selected lyrical fragments. This incomprehensibility contributed to the early resistance from radio stations towards adding the song to their playlists; one Geffen promoter recalled that people from rock radio told her, "We can't play this. I can't understand what the guy is saying." MTV went as far as to prepare a version of the video that included the lyrics running across the bottom of the screen, which they aired when the video was added to their heavy rotation schedule. The lyrics for the album—and some from earlier or alternate versions of the songs—were later released with the liner notes of the "Lithium" single in 1992. American rock critic
Dave MarshDave Marsh is an American music critic who briefly attended Wayne State University, became a formative editor of Creem magazine, wrote for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and also edited Rock and Roll Confidential, a newsletter about rock music and...
noted comments by
disc jockeyA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
s of the time that the song was "the 'Louie Louie' of the nineties" and wrote, "Like 'Louie,' only more so, 'Teen Spirit' reveals its secrets reluctantly and then often incoherently." Marsh, trying to decipher the lyrics of the song, felt after reading the correct lyrics from the song's sheet music that "what I imagined was quite a bit better (at least, more gratifying) than what Nirvana actually sang," and added, "Worst of all, I'm not sure that I know more about [the meaning of] 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' now than before I plunked down for the official version of the facts."
"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted to be a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the song's music video. When discussing the song in Michael Azerrad's biography
Come as You Are: The Story of NirvanaCome as You Are: The Story of Nirvana is a 1993 book by Michael Azerrad, covering the career of Nirvana from its inception. For the book, Azerrad met with the members of the band and conducted extensive interviews about the band and its members' histories.The book was completed in June 1993, and...
, Cobain revealed that he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age." The book
Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes "Teen Spirit" as "a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness." Azerrad plays upon the juxtaposition of Cobain's contradictory lyrics (such as "It's fun to lose and to pretend") and states "the point that emerges isn't just the conflict of two opposing ideas, but the confusion and anger that the conflict produces in the narrator—he's angry that he's confused." Azerrad's conclusion is that the song is "alternately a sarcastic reaction to the idea of actually having a revolution, yet it also embraces the idea."
In
Heavier Than HeavenHeavier Than Heaven is the name of a 2002 biography of musician Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the grunge band Nirvana. It was written by Charles R...
,
Charles R. CrossCharles R. Cross is a rock music journalist and author based in Seattle. He is the founder of Backstreets magazine, a periodical for fans of Bruce Springsteen, editor of Springsteen: the Man and His Music, a compilation of Backstreets articles, and is also author of a biography of Kurt Cobain,...
' biography of Kurt Cobain, the author posits the lyrics were influenced by something else besides Cobain's anger, boredom, and cynicism. Cross argues that the song is a reference to Cobain's relationship with ex-girlfriend Tobi Vail. Cross cites the line "She's over-bored and self-assured" and states the song "could not have been about anyone else." Cross backs up his argument with lyrics which were present in earlier drafts, such as "Who will be the King & Queen of the outcasted [sic] teens."
Cobain has said, "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." Drummer Dave Grohl has stated he does not believe the song has any message, and said, "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."
Music video
The music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the first for director
Samuel BayerSamuel David Bayer is an American commercial and music video director.-Career:A graduate of New York City’s School of Visual Arts in 1987 with a degree in Fine Arts, he moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and became a popular director during the alternative rock era. He has directed videos for The...
. Bayer believes he was hired because his test reel was so poor the band anticipated his production would be "punk" and "not corporate." The video was based on the concept of a school concert which ends in
anarchyAnarchy may refer to any of the following:* "No rulership or enforced authority." * "Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder."...
and riot. Inspiration was taken from
Jonathan KaplanJonathan Kaplan is an American filmmaker. He is the son of film composer Sol Kaplan and actress Francis Heflin; the nephew of actor Van Heflin...
's 1979 movie
Over the EdgeOver the Edge is a film directed by Jonathan Kaplan released in 1979. Due to the negative publicity surrounding a wave of recent youth gang films, Over the Edge had a limited theatrical release...
, as well as the
RamonesThe Ramones were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname 'Ramone', though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring...
film
Rock 'n' Roll High SchoolRock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 musical comedy film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush, and featuring The Ramones.The film starred P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, and Clint Howard. Darby Crash and Lorna Doom of The Germs also played extras in this film...
. Filmed on a soundstage in Culver City, the video featured the band playing at a
pep rallyPep rallies are events that occur primarily in the United States, Belize and Canada. A pep rally is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school and College age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of...
in a high school gym to an audience of apathetic students on bleachers, and cheerleaders wearing black dresses with the Circle-A anarchist symbol. The video ends with the assembled students destroying the set and the band's gear. The demolition of the set captured in the video's conclusion was the result of genuine discontent. The extras that filled the bleachers had been forced to stay seated through numerous replays of the song for an entire afternoon of filming. Cobain convinced Bayer to allow the extras to mosh, and the set became a scene of chaos. "Once the kids came out dancing they just said 'fuck you,' because they were so tired of this shit throughout the day," Cobain said. Cobain disliked Bayer's final edit and personally oversaw a re-edit of the video that resulted in the version finally aired. One of Cobain's major additions was the next-to-last shot of the video, which was a close-up of his own face after it had been obscured for most of the video. Bayer noted that unlike subsequent artists he worked with, Cobain did not care about vanity, rather that "the video had something that was truly about what they were about."
Like the song itself, the music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was well received by critics.
Rolling Stone writer
David FrickeDavid Fricke, is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was Managing Editor before stepping down.-Background:...
described the video as looking like "the greatest gig you could ever imagine." In addition to a number one placing in the singles category, "Teen Spirit" also topped the music video category in the
Village Voices 1991 "Pazz & Jop" poll. The video won Nirvana the Best New ArtistThe MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist is one of the four original general category that has been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984...
and Best Alternative GroupThe MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video was first given out in 1992. Prior to its inception, though, this award was known as Best Post-Modern Video in 1989 and 1990. The last of this award was given out in 1998, after which some artists and videos which would have been eligible for it...
awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music AwardsThe MTV Video Music Awards, also called the VMAs, were established at the end of the summer of 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year...
, and in 2000 the Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
named "Teen Spirit" the Most Played Video on
MTV EuropeMTV Europe is an pan-European cable television network launched on August 1, 1987. A 24-hour English-language network aimed at viewers aged around 16-35, it reaches more than 100 million households in 43 territories...
. In subsequent years Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's Programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving them "a whole new generation to sell to." VH1 placed the debut of the "Teen Spirit" video at number eighteen on its list of "100 Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on TV," noting that "the video [ushered] in alternative rock as a commercial and pop culture force." In 2001, VH1 ranked the video fourth on its "100 Greatest Videos" list. The video has been parodied at least twice: in
"Weird Al" YankovicAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, comedian, and satirist. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
's music video for "
Smells Like Nirvana"Smells Like Nirvana" is a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" written and performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It helped to reenergize Yankovic's career, and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain considered the parody a sign that they had "made it" as a band...
" and in
Bob SinclarBob Sinclar, mistaken many times as "Sinclair" is a Grammy Award-nominated French record producer, House music DJ, remixer and owner of the label Yellow Productions.-Career history:...
's 2006 music video for "
Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)"Rock This Party " is a song by Bob Sinclar, co-produced by regular partner Cutee B and featuring Dollarman and Big Ali on vocals...
."
Live performances
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was first performed live on April 17, 1991 at the
OK HotelThe OK Hotel was a bar and music venue located under the viaduct in Seattle's Pioneer Square district. The club's 15-year-plus life span came to an end with the Nisqually earthquake of February 28, 2001, which damaged numerous buildings in the historic district.Most widely recognized as a prominent...
in
Seattle, WashingtonSeattle is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Situated in the western part of Washington State on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about south of the Canada – United States border, it is named after Chief Sealth, of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes...
. The performance is featured on the DVD of the 2004 boxset
With the Lights OutWith the Lights Out is a box set, containing 3 CDs and 1 DVD, from the American grunge band Nirvana. It was released in November 2004. The title refers to the line "with the lights out, it's less dangerous" from the successful "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single.-History:Rumors of a posthumous Nirvana...
,
while shorter clips are included on the NevermindNevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...
Classic AlbumsClassic Albums is a documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.-Format:...
DVD, as well as the documentary film Hype!Hype! is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the steps of grunge, from its subversive inception in neighborhood basements, to its explosion as a pop culture...
. As the song's lyrics had not yet been entirely written, there are notable differences between it and the final version. For example, the first performance started with "Come out and play, make up the rules" instead of the eventual opening of "Load up on guns, bring your friends." A recording of the earlier version appears on With the Lights Out
and again on Sliver: The Best of the BoxSliver: The Best of the Box is a compilation album from the American grunge band Nirvana. It was released in November 2005.-Recording and release:...
. A similar early live performance of the song is found in the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke1991: The Year Punk Broke is a 1992 documentary directed by Dave Markey featuring American alternative rock band Sonic Youth on tour in Europe in 1991. While Sonic Youth is the focus of the documentary, the film also gives attention to Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, Gumball and The Ramones...
, filmed during a 1991 summer tour in Europe with Sonic YouthSonic Youth is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Mark Ibold and Steve Shelley ....
.
Nirvana often altered the song's lyrics and tempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
for live performances. Some live performances of the song had the line "our little group has always been" changed to "our little tribe has always been," which can be heard on the 1996 live album From the Muddy Banks of the WishkahFrom the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a live album by the American grunge band Nirvana. It was released on October 1, 1996 and features live performances recorded from 1989 to 1994...
. Rolling Stone
remarked that the Wishkah
version of "Teen Spirit" "[found] Cobain's guitar reeling outside the song's melodic boundaries and sparking new life in that nearly played-out hit." A notable alternate performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" occurred on BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
's Top of the PopsTop of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
in 1991, during which the band refused to mime to the prerecorded backing track and Cobain sang in a deliberately low voice and altered numerous 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 former SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
frontman MorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known primarily as Morrissey, is a British singer-songwriter. After a short stint in the punk rock band The Nosebleeds in the late 1970s, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths...
. The ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a left-liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-History:The...
stated Nirvana's performance was responsible for "Teen Spirit" entering the UK top ten the following week; when Top of the Pops
was cancelled in 2006, The Observer
listed Nirvana's performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as the third greatest in the show's history. This performance can be found on the 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!Nirvana: Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! is a video album released by the grunge band Nirvana on laserdisc and VHS on November 15, 1994. The DVD version was released November 7, 2006. Kurt Cobain compiled much of the video himself, but did not complete it prior to his death...
.
Cover versions
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" has been covered by numerous artists. One of the first cover recordings was an acousticAcoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
version by Tori AmosTori Amos is a pianist and singer-songwriter of American citizenship. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
on her 1992 Crucify"Crucify" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos that appears on her album Little Earthquakes . The song served as the fifth single from the album, which was released as an EP in the US and as a single in Europe and Australia...
EP, which Cobain referred to as "a great breakfast cereal version.". The jazz trio The Bad PlusThe Bad Plus are a jazz trio from the United States, consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, originating out of Minneapolis, MN.-History:...
recorded the track for its CD These Are the VistasThese Are the Vistas was the second studio album released by the jazz trio The Bad Plus, and the band's first album for a major label . The album was the listening public's first widespread opportunity to hear the band's music, which combines the improvisatory aspect and complexity of jazz with the...
, while the Melvins as well as the industrialIndustrial music is an experimental music style, often including electronic music, that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s to describe Industrial Records artists...
act XorcistFor the album by X-Raided, see Xorcist .Xorcist is the name of an American musical group whose output has ranged from electro-industrial and ambient.-Background:...
have also released tributes. The Moog CookbookMoog Cookbook is the name of an electronica band made up of Brian Kehew and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. as a parody/tribute to the novelty "Moog records" of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The duo performs exclusively on analog synthesizers, especially Moog synthesizers...
put out a synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
-based cover version on The Moog CookbookThe Moog Cookbook was the first album by electronica duo Moog Cookbook, released in 1996. It is a selection of covers of alternative rock tracks performed using Moog synthesizers and other analog synthesizers.-Track listing:...
and the Japanese Beatboxer DokakaDokaka is a Japanese beatboxer who performs music solely by multitracking his own voice, generally with one instrument per track. He has distributed his recordings primarily as free downloads from his website; these include...
has recorded a beatboxed cover version. British group The Flying PicketsThe Flying Pickets is a British a cappella vocal group, that had a Christmas number one hit in 1983 in the UK Singles Chart, with their cover of Yazoo's track - "Only You".-History:...
released an a cappellaA cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style...
version of the song on their album The Original Flying Pickets: Volume 1 - 1994
. Covers of the song on tribute albums include Blanks 77Blanks 77 is a street punk band formed in 1990. Originally based out of Hillside, New Jersey, their current states them as being from Denville, New Jersey.- Members :...
on Smells Like Bleach: A Punk Tribute to Nirvana
, and Beki BondageBeki Bondage is a musician in the punk band, Vice Squad.Bondage is often cited as being the first punk pin-up, and featured on the front cover of a number of influential music tabloids such as Melody Maker, NME, and Smash Hits...
on Smells Like Nirvana
; both released in 2000. In 2005, "Teen Spirit" was covered as a swing song by 1950s star Paul AnkaPaul Albert Anka, OC is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1990.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
. In 2006, the band FlyleafFlyleaf is an American alternative rock band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005. The album went platinum after selling more than one million copies...
covered the song for Yahoo'sYahoo! Inc. is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, , that provides Internet services worldwide...
LAUNCHcastYahoo! Music Radio is an Internet radio service offered by CBS Radio through Yahoo! Music. The service, formerly offered by LAUNCH Media, and originally developed by Todd Beaupré and Jeff Boulter, debuted on November 11, 1999, and was purchased by Yahoo! in October, 2001...
service. In 2007, Patti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk", she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock...
included a cover version, which incorporated a piece of her poetry, on her album of cover songs TwelveTwelve is an album by Patti Smith, released April 17, 2007 on Columbia Records. As the title suggests, the album contains twelve tracks, all of which are cover versions. It debuted on Billboard 200 at number 60, with 11,000 copies sold in its first week...
.
The song has been adapted into other forms over the years. Germany's Atari Teenage RiotAtari Teenage Riot was a German digital hardcore group formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fused anarchist, anti-fascist and anti-Nazi views with punk vocals and the newly emerging techno sound called digital hardcore, which is a term band member Alec Empire used as the name of his...
sampled "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the song "Atari Teenage Riot" from their 1997 album, Burn, Berlin, Burn!Burn, Berlin, Burn! is a compilation album released by Atari Teenage Riot in 1997. Initially released in the United States by the Beastie Boys' record label Grand Royal , the album is a collection of tracks from their first two albums Delete Yourself! and The Future of War...
.
DJ BalloonBalloon is an German DJ in the Techno genre.He began as DJ in 1985 and producing his own tracks in 1995. He is currently the resident DJ in Hamburg's most popular club - J's. He was popular from 1998 to 2001....
, a German techno DJ, also used the sample in his song "Monstersound". An instrumental cover version (slightly altered and named "Self High-Five" to avoid legal complications) was produced by
World Championship WrestlingWorld Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and his...
as the
entrance musicMusic in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of music in professional wrestling is that of the entrance theme, a song or piece of instrumental music which plays as a performer approaches the ring...
for wrestler
Diamond Dallas PagePage Joseph Falkinburg, Jr. better known by his ring name "Diamond" Dallas Page is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and actor...
, with clips of Page's voice dubbed in from time to time. A snippet of the song was also performed in a
cabaretCabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue—a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance being introduced by a master of ceremonies, or MC.Cabaret...
style in the 2001 movie
Moulin Rouge!Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Australian/American/British musical-romantic drama film by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth and on Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata...
.
In addition to cover versions, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has also inspired a few
parodiesA parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
. "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song in 1992 with "Smells Like Nirvana", a song about Nirvana itself. Yankovic parodied the difficulty in understanding Cobain's singing as well as the lyrics and their meaning. Yankovic has said Kurt Cobain told him he realized that Nirvana had "made it" when he heard the parody. In 1995, the
queercoreQueercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. Queercore expresses itself in DIY style through zines, music, writing, art and film....
band
Pansy DivisionPansy Division is an American rock/punk band that formed in San Francisco, California in 1991. Featuring primarily gay musicians and focusing mostly on gay-related themes, Pansy Division is one of the more mainstream-oriented bands to emerge from the queercore movement that began in the...
recorded a parody of the song called "Smells Like Queer Spirit" for its
Pile UpPile Up is a compilation of singles, B-sides, and rarities by queercore band Pansy Division.The album includes numerous cover songs including "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other", "Real Men", "Jack U Off", and "Smells Like Queer Spirit" .-Track listing:#"I Can't Sleep" – 1:31#"Ring...
album. Pansy Division guitarist
Jon GinoliJon Ginoli is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the band Pansy Division, which was founded by Ginoli and Chris Freeman in 1991. Pansy Division is known as one of the founding examples of the queercore genre of punk rock...
insisted that his band's version of the song was not a parody but "an affectionate tribute".
Formats and track listing
UK 7" single
(DGC 5)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:30
- "Drain You
"Drain You" is a 1991 song by American grunge band Nirvana and the eighth track from their breakthrough album Nevermind. It is most famous as a B-side on the band's most successful single "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; however, a live version was later released as a single in its own right.According...
" (Cobain) – 3:43
UK 12" single
(DGCT 5)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 5:01
- "Drain You" (Cobain) – 3:43
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
- Features album version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
UK CD single
(DGCTD 5)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:30
- "Drain You" (Cobain) – 3:43
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
- "Aneurysm
"Aneurysm" is a song written by Nirvana. The song is notable in that it was never released as a single during the group's existence, and yet is one of the group's most popular songs. It is also noted that the song was written by all three members of Nirvana, in contrast to the majority of the...
" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:44
UK picture disc 12" single
(DGCTP 5)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 5:01
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
- "Aneurysm" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:44
- Features album version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
US 7" single
(DGCS7-19050)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:30
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
US CD single
(DGCDS-21673)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic)– 4:30
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
- "Aneurysm" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:44
US cassette single
(DGCCS-19050)
- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 4:30
- "Even in His Youth" (Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic) – 3:03
Chart positions
| Chart (1991) |
Peak
position |
| Swedish Singles Chart |
3 |
| UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
|
7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks |
1 |
| Chart (1992) |
Peak
position |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
|
5 |
| Austrian Singles Chart |
8 |
| Chart (1992) |
Peak
position |
| French Singles Chart |
1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart |
2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart |
6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
|
6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks |
7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play |
14 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales |
27 |
External links