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Smells Like Teen Spirit

December 02, 2023

For the Vampire Diaries episode, see Smells Like Teen Spirit (The Vampire Diaries).
Not to be confused with Smells Like Green Spirit.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream.[1] It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. It was met with wide critical acclaim, and described as an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X. Although Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the mainstream and commercial attention the song brought to them, listeners and critics continue to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest songs of all time.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
7-inch vinyl UK standard edition
Single by Nirvana
from the album Nevermind
B-side
ReleasedSeptember 10, 1991 (1991-09-10)
RecordedMay 1991
StudioSound City (Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California)
Genre
Length
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Butch Vig · Craig Montgomery (mentioned)
Nirvana singles chronology
"Here She Comes Now / Venus in Furs"
(1991) 		"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
(1991) 		"On a Plain"
(1991)
Alternative cover
US CD single
Music video
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" on YouTube

The music video for the song is based on the concept of a high school pep rally which ends in chaos and riot, inspired by Jonathan Kaplan's 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones' film Rock 'n' Roll High School. It won two MTV Video Music Awards, and was in heavy rotation on MTV during the 1990s. In subsequent years Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving the channel "a whole new generation to sell to". In 2000, the Guinness World Records named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the "Most Played Video" on MTV Europe.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ranked the song at number 80 on their Songs of the Century list. In 2002, NME ranked the song the number two on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time", while Kerrang! ranked it at number one on its list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time".[2] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fifth on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[3] In 2017, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Writing and recording edit

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of several songs written following Nirvana's first recording sessions with producer Butch Vig in 1990. Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain began writing it a few weeks before recording their second album, Nevermind, in 1991.[4] He said it was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies, a band he admired:

I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.[5]

When Cobain presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the main guitar riff and the chorus vocal melody.[6][7] Cobain said the riff was "clichéd", similar to a riff by Boston or the Richard Berry song "Louie Louie".[5] Bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed it as "ridiculous"; in response, Cobain made the band play it for an hour and a half.[5] Eventually, Novoselic began playing it more slowly, inspiring drummer Dave Grohl to create the drum beat,[8] which drew from disco artists like The Gap Band.[9] As a result, it is the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as writers.[10]

The title derives from a phrase written on Cobain's wall by his friend Kathleen Hanna, singer of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit."[11][12] Hanna meant that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which she and Tobi Vail, his then-girlfriend, had discovered during a trip to the grocery store.[13] Cobain said that he was unaware of the deodorant until months after the single was released, and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan, as they had been discussing anarchism and punk rock.[14]

Prior to the album recording, the band sent Vig demos for songs including "Teen Spirit". While the sound was distorted due to the band playing at a high volume, Vig felt it had promise.[15] Vig and the band recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Sound City Studios in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Van Nuys in May 1991.[16] Vig suggested changes to the arrangement, including moving a guitar ad lib to the chorus and shortening the chorus.[17] The band recorded the basic track in three takes, and used the second take.[7] Vig corrected some timing errors created by Cobain switching between his guitar effects pedals. Cobain recorded only three vocal takes; according to Vig, "I was lucky to ever get Kurt to do four takes."[18]

Music edit

 
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Sample of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind. The sample illustrates the change in dynamics from verse to pre-chorus and chorus.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a grunge[19] and alternative rock[20]song. It was recorded in the original key of F minor and follows a F5 -B♭-A♭5 -D♭ chord progression,[21] with the main guitar riff constructed from four power chords played in a syncopated sixteenth note strum by Cobain.[22] The guitar chords were double tracked to create a "more powerful" sound.[23] The chords occasionally lapse into suspended chord voicings as a result of Cobain playing the bottom four strings of the guitar for the thickness of sound.[22] The riff resembles that of Boston's 1976 hit "More Than a Feeling",[6] though it is not identical.[21] During the verses, Cobain used a Small Clone effect pedal to add a chorus effect.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" uses a "somewhat conventional formal structure" consisting of four-, eight-, and twelve-bar sections, including an eight-bar verse, an eight-bar pre-chorus, and a twelve-bar chorus.[24] Musicologist Graeme Downes, who led the band the Verlaines, says that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" illustrates developing variation.[25] Elements of the structure are marked with shifts in volume and dynamics, moving from quiet to loud several times. This structure of "quiet verses with wobbly, chorused guitar, followed by big, loud hardcore-inspired choruses" became an alternative rock template.[26]

During the verses, the band maintains the same chord progression as the chorus. Cobain plays a two-note guitar line over Novoselic's root-note eighth note bassline, which outlines the chord progression. Approaching the chorus, Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the word "Hello".[21] Following the first and second choruses, Cobain simultaneously sings the word "Yay" and performs a unison bend on his guitar.[27] After the second chorus, Cobain plays a 16-bar guitar solo restating his vocal melody from the verse and pre-chorus.[24] During the closing refrain, Cobain sings "A denial" repeatedly; his voice becomes strained from the force of yelling.[23]

Lyrics and interpretation edit

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."[28] 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.[29] 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 Marsh noted comments by disc jockeys 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."[30] Marsh, trying to decipher the lyrics, 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."[31]

The book Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes "Teen Spirit" as "a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness".[32] 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". Additionally, the "famously obscure couplet"—"A mulatto, an albino / A mosquito, my libido"—is, according to Azerrad, "nothing more than two pairs of opposites, a funny way of saying the narrator is very horny".[33] In Heavier Than Heaven, Charles R. Cross' biography of Cobain, 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".[34][35]

"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted as a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the music video.[36] In an interview conducted the day Nevermind was released, Cobain stated the song was about his friends, explaining, "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."[10] In Michael Azerrad's biography Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain said he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age".[14] He also 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."[33] As Cobain did more interviews, he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the meaning.[10] Grohl 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."[37]

Release and reception edit

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released to radio on 27 August 1991. On 10 September, it was released as the lead single from Nevermind, Nirvana'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 Nirvana fanbase.[38]

The single was intended to be a base-building alternative rock cut from the album, and was not expected to be a hit; the follow-up "Come as You Are" was planned as the single that could cross over to mainstream radio formats. However, campus and modern rock radio stations placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on heavy rotation. Danny Goldberg of Nirvana's management firm Gold Mountain said: "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."[39]

The video received its world premiere on MTV's late-night alternative rock program 120 Minutes on 29 September,[40] and proved so popular that the channel began to air it during its regular daytime rotation.[29] MTV added the video to its "Buzz Bin" selection in October, where it stayed until mid-December. By the end of the year, the song, music video, and the Nevermind album had become hits. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Nevermind became a rare cross-format phenomenon, reaching all the major rock radio formats including modern rock, hard rock, album rock, and college radio.[41]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was also a critical and commercial success. It topped the 1991 Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" and Melody Maker 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 Hot 100 singles chart the same week that Nevermind reached number one on the albums chart.[42] "Teen Spirit" hit number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and has been certified platinum (one million copies shipped) by the Recording Industry Association of America.[43] However, many American Top 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation and restricted it to night-time play.[44]

The single was also successful in other countries. In the United Kingdom, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released on 18 November 1991, reaching number seven on the UK Singles Chart and charting for 184 weeks.[45][46] The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal and Best Rock Song.[47] Entertainment Weekly would later name Nirvana's loss to Eric Clapton in the Best Rock Song category as one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history.[48] Outside the United States, the song topped the charts of Belgium, France, New Zealand, and Spain. It charted within the top five of several European countries and reached number five in Australia. It appeared on several year-end charts, including number 10 in New Zealand, number 17 in Belgium and Germany, and number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart.[49]

In the wake of Nirvana's success, Michael Azerrad 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."[50] Nevertheless, the music press awarded the song an "anthem-of-a-generation" status, placing Cobain as a reluctant spokesman for Generation X.[51] The New York Times wrote that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' could be this generation's version of the Sex Pistols' 1976 single, 'Anarchy in the U.K.', if it weren't for the bitter irony that pervades its title ... as Nirvana knows only too well, teen spirit is routinely bottled, shrink-wrapped and sold".[52]

Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the song's success and, in later concerts, often excluded it from the set list.[36] Prior to the release of the band's 1993 follow-up album In Utero, Novoselic remarked, "If it wasn't for 'Teen Spirit' I don't know how Nevermind would have done ... There are no 'Teen Spirits' on In Utero."[53] 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."[5]

Music video edit

 
Announcement from the band encouraging people to participate in the making of the music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
 
The Fender Mustang guitar played by Kurt Cobain in the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video.

The music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the first for director Samuel Bayer. Bayer believed he was hired because his test reel was so poor the band anticipated his production would be "punk" and "not corporate".[23] The video is based on the concept of a school concert which ends in anarchy and riot, inspired by Jonathan Kaplan's 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones' film Rock 'n' Roll High School.[54] It had an estimated budget of between $30,000 and $50,000.[55]

The video was filmed on 17 August 1991,[56] on Stage 6 of GMT Studios in Culver City. It features Nirvana playing at a pep rally 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 features an appearance by Burton C. Bell, later known as frontman of heavy metal band Fear Factory.[57] Occasionally, the scene cuts to a janitor (played by Tony De La Rosa) wearing a navy blue jumpsuit and dancing with a push broom handle. The video ends with the students destroying the set and the band's gear. The discontent was genuine; 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 his shit throughout the day," Cobain said.[58]

Cobain disliked Bayer's final edit and oversaw a re-edit of the video, creating the final version.[46] One of Cobain's major additions was the penultimate shot, a close-up of his face after it had been obscured for most of the video.[58] Another major change involved two sequences of a principal standing next to a loudspeaker and being sprayed with confetti, and a teacher dressed like a nerd dancing to the song with a "Dunce" cap before being tied to a basketball hoop pole. Cobain had the principal footage and most of the teacher footage removed, aside from the ending scene which shows the teacher tied to the pole as the janitor sweeps the floor.[59] Bayer said that unlike subsequent artists he worked with, Cobain was not vain, and was more interested that "the video had something that was truly about what they were about".[54]

Reception edit

The music video received positive reviews. The Rolling Stone writer David Fricke described the video as looking like "the greatest gig you could ever imagine".[23] In addition to a number-one placing in the singles category, "Teen Spirit" also topped the music video category in the Village Voice's 1991 "Pazz & Jop" poll.[60] The video won Nirvana the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Group awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards,[61] and in 2000 the Guinness World Records named "Teen Spirit" the Most Played Video on MTV Europe.[62] Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's Programming department, later said the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving them "a whole new generation to sell to".[23]

Rolling Stone placed the music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number two on their 1993 list of "The 100 Top Music Videos".[63] MTV ranked the song's music video at number three on its "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" list in 1999.[64] VH1 placed the debut of the "Teen Spirit" video at number eighteen on its 2000 list of "100 Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on TV", noting that it made alternative rock "a commercial and pop culture force".[65] In 2001, VH1 named it the fourth-greatest video.[66] The video was parodied in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "Smells Like Nirvana"[67] and in Bob Sinclar's 2006 music video for "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)".[citation needed] By 25 December 2019, the video had been viewed 1 billion times on YouTube.[68]

Equipment edit

Live performances edit

 
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" (live)
Sample of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, from the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996). The band performs the song at a faster tempo than the studio recording.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was first performed live on 17 April 1991, at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington.[69] The performance is featured on the DVD of the 2004 box set With the Lights Out, while shorter clips are included on the Classic Albums' Nevermind DVD, as well as the documentary film Hype!. 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 Box. A similar early live performance of the song is found in the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke, filmed during a 1991 summer tour in Europe with Sonic Youth.[citation needed]

The international television debut performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was on 8 November 1991, on the UK TV series The Word.[70] Cobain opened by declaring: "I want everyone in this room to know that Courtney Love, the lead singer of the sensational pop group Hole, is the best fuck in the world."[71] Cobain and Love married the following year.[72]

Nirvana often altered the song's lyrics and 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 Wishkah. 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".[73] 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 pre-recorded backing track and Cobain deliberately sang the whole song an octave lower 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 Smiths frontman Morrissey.[74] 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.[75] This performance can be found on the 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.[76]

Legacy edit

Dubbed an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X,[77][78] in the years following Cobain's 1994 suicide and Nirvana's breakup "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has continued to garner critical acclaim, and is often listed as one of the greatest songs of all time. It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" in 1997.[79] In 2000, VH1 rated the song at number forty-one on its "100 Greatest Rock Songs" list,[80] while MTV and Rolling Stone ranked it third on their joint list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs".[81] The Recording Industry Association of America placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number eighty on their 2001 "Songs of the Century" list.[82] In 2002, NME awarded the song the number two spot on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time",[83] with Kerrang! ranking it at number one on its own list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time".[2] VH1 placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number one on its list of "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years" in 2003,[84] while that same year, the song came third in a Q poll of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[85] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fifth on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[86] The song was placed at number six in NME's "Global Best Song Ever Poll" in 2005.[87] In 2022, it was included in the list "The story of NME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs": Mark Beaumont wrote that with this song, Nirvana rejuvenated American rock, "honing the melodic roars of Husker Du, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth into an MTV friendly quiet-loud dynamic".[88]

In the 2006 VH1 UK poll The Nation's Favourite Lyric, the line "I feel stupid and contagious / Here we are now, entertain us" was ranked the third-favorite lyric by over 13,000 voters.[89] VH1 placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number one on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs Of The '90s" in 2007,[90] while Rolling Stone ranked it number ten on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[91] In 2009, the song was voted number one for the third time in a row on the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in Australia[92] (it was first place previously in 1991[93] and 1998).[94] That year, VH1 ranked the song seventh on its list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs".[95] Despite previously proposing in its 2006 entry for Nevermind on "The All-TIME 100 Albums" that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' ... may be the album's worst song",[96] Time magazine later included it on its list of "The All-TIME 100 Songs" in 2011.[97] That same year, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" kept its number nine ranking on Rolling Stone's updated list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[98] while in 2019, the magazine ranked it at number one in its list of "50 Best Songs of the Nineties".[99] NME placed the song at number two on its list of the "100 Best Tracks Of The '90s" in 2012,[100] and at number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014.[101] In 2015, the song was also named the most iconic song of all time according to a study by Goldsmith's College, which analysed various songs featured in numerous 'all-time best' lists, using analytical software to compare their key, BPM, chord variety, lyrical content, timbral variety, and sonic variance – the result of which designated the title to this song.[102] In 2017, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[103]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was rereleased as a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single in December 2011. In an attempt to emulate a successful 2009 Facebook campaign to promote Rage Against the Machine's song "Killing in the Name", an online campaign was launched to promote "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart in protest at the dealings of The X Factor television series with the children's charity Rhythmix.[104] A similar campaign was also launched in Ireland to get the track to 2011 Christmas number one in the Irish Singles Chart.[105] The campaign resulted in the song reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 30,000 copies.[106] According to Nielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 145,000 spins. All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s.[107] In June 2021, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became only the second song from the 1990s to reach 1 billion streams on the Spotify platform.[108][109] It is the 95th most streamed song on Spotify as of January 2023.

Covers and parodies edit

Tori Amos recorded the song and released it in 1992 on her "Crucify" EP single. Dave Grohl commented on Nirvana covers in 1996: "There are a few bands that go out there and do Nirvana covers and it's absolutely ridiculous, That's almost like desecration, that's what I think of it as. Tori Amos' take on it (Smells Like Teen Spirit) was fine. I mean that was pretty hilarious. She can do whatever the hell she wants."[110]

"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song in 1992 with "Smells Like Nirvana", a song about Nirvana itself. Cobain quickly gave permission, but asked, "It's not about food, is it?" Yankovic answered, "No, it's about how nobody can understand your lyrics." Upon hearing the parody, Cobain and his bandmates laughed hysterically. Yankovic has said Cobain told him he realized that Nirvana had "made it" when he heard the parody.[111]

In 1995, the queercore band Pansy Division released a cover version with altered lyrics titled "Smells Like Queer Spirit" on their Pile Up album. Pansy Division guitarist Jon Ginoli insisted that his band's version of the song was not a parody but "an affectionate tribute".[25]

In the 2011 film The Muppets and its soundtrack, one of the acts of the Muppet Telethon involves Rowlf the Dog, Link Hogthrob, Sam Eagle, and Beaker performing the song as a barbershop quartet, where unwilling special guest Jack Black accuses them of "ruining one of the greatest songs of all time".[112][113]

The 2015 film Pan features a cover of the song performed by Hugh Jackman in character as the pirate Blackbeard and other members of the cast in a musical sequence that introduces the character and his crew. It was selected for the scene after other traditional pirate songs "just wasn't jelling" with the filmmakers during rehearsals.[114]

A version recorded by singer Malia J is used in the opening credits sequence of the 2021 film Black Widow.[115]

Formats and track listing edit

All lyrics are written by Kurt Cobain; all music is composed by Nirvana[116]

US 7" single (DGCS7-19050)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 4:38
  2. "Even in His Youth" – 3:03

US/Australian/Australasian cassette single (DGCCS-19050)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 4:38
  2. "Even in His Youth" – 3:03

US & Australian CD single (DGCDS-21673)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 4:38
  2. "Even in His Youth" – 3:03
  3. "Aneurysm" – 4:47

UK 7" single (DGCS 5)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 4:38
  2. "Drain You" – 3:43

UK 12" single (DGCT 5)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 5:00 (LP Version)
  2. "Drain You" – 3:43
  3. "Even in His Youth" – 3:03

UK picture disc 12" single (DGCTP 5)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 5:00 (LP Version)
  2. "Drain You" – 3:43
  3. "Aneurysm" – 4:47

UK CD single (DGCTD 5)

  1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – 4:38
  2. "Drain You" – 3:43
  3. "Even in His Youth" – 3:03
  4. "Aneurysm" – 4:47

Personnel edit

Nirvana

Technical personnel

† Appears in all release formats, except for UK 7" and some promos.
‡ Paired with the track "Even in His Youth" on CD and promo 12" only; also separately on UK 12" (picture disc).

Charts edit

Certifications edit

Sales certifications for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[174] 9× Platinum 630,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[175] 8× Platinum 640,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[176] 2× Platinum 180,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[177] Gold 250,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[178]
Sales since 2009 		2× Platinum 100,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[179] Gold 5,000*
Portugal (AFP)[180] 3× Platinum 120,000‡
Sweden (GLF)[181] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[182]
Sales since 2004 		4× Platinum 2,400,000‡
United States (RIAA)[183] Platinum 1,000,000^
United States (RIAA)[183]
Digital sales 		Gold 2,837,000[184]
Streaming
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[185] Gold 900,000†
Greece (IFPI Greece)[186] Platinum 2,000,000†

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
† Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

Bibliography edit

  • Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8
  • Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind [DVD]. Isis Productions, 2004.
  • Berkenstadt, Jim; Cross, Charles. Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind. Nirvana. Schirmer, 1998. ISBN 0-02-864775-0
  • Crisafulli, Chuck. Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song. Carlton, 1996. ISBN 0-684-83356-5
  • Cross, Charles R. Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-6505-9
  • Marsh, Dave. Louie Louie. Hyperion, 1993. ISBN 1-56282-865-7
  • Rooksby, Rikki. Inside Classic Rock Tracks. Backbeat, 2001. ISBN 0-87930-654-8
  • Starr, Larry; Waterman, Christopher. American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-510854-X

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Further reading edit

External links edit

  • Smells Like Teen Spirit at MusicBrainz
  • "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (official music video) on YouTube

December 02, 2023
smells, like, teen, spirit, vampire, diaries, episode, vampire, diaries, confused, with, smells, like, green, spirit, song, american, rock, band, nirvana, opening, track, lead, single, from, band, second, album, nevermind, 1991, released, records, unexpected, . For the Vampire Diaries episode see Smells Like Teen Spirit The Vampire Diaries Not to be confused with Smells Like Green Spirit Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song by the American rock band Nirvana It is the opening track and lead single from the band s second album Nevermind 1991 released on DGC Records The unexpected success of the song propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts at the start of 1992 an event often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream 1 It was Nirvana s biggest hit charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992 and was number one on the charts in Belgium France New Zealand and Spain It was met with wide critical acclaim and described as an anthem for apathetic kids of Generation X Although Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the mainstream and commercial attention the song brought to them listeners and critics continue to praise Smells Like Teen Spirit as one of the greatest songs of all time Smells Like Teen Spirit 7 inch vinyl UK standard editionSingle by Nirvanafrom the album NevermindB side Drain You UK only Even in His Youth Aneurysm ReleasedSeptember 10 1991 1991 09 10 RecordedMay 1991StudioSound City Van Nuys Los Angeles California GenreGrunge alternative rockLength5 01 album version 4 38 single version LabelDGCSongwriter s Kurt Cobain Krist Novoselic Dave GrohlProducer s Butch Vig Craig Montgomery mentioned Nirvana singles chronology Here She Comes Now Venus in Furs 1991 Smells Like Teen Spirit 1991 On a Plain 1991 Alternative coverUS CD singleMusic video Smells Like Teen Spirit on YouTubeThe music video for the song is based on the concept of a high school pep rally which ends in chaos and riot inspired by Jonathan Kaplan s 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones film Rock n Roll High School It won two MTV Video Music Awards and was in heavy rotation on MTV during the 1990s In subsequent years Amy Finnerty formerly of MTV s programming department claimed the video changed the entire look of MTV by giving the channel a whole new generation to sell to In 2000 the Guinness World Records named Smells Like Teen Spirit the Most Played Video on MTV Europe Smells Like Teen Spirit was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame s list of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll In 2001 the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA ranked the song at number 80 on their Songs of the Century list In 2002 NME ranked the song the number two on its list of 100 Greatest Singles of All Time while Kerrang ranked it at number one on its list of the 100 Greatest Singles of All Time 2 In 2021 Rolling Stone ranked Smells Like Teen Spirit fifth on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 3 In 2017 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame Contents 1 Writing and recording 2 Music 3 Lyrics and interpretation 4 Release and reception 5 Music video 5 1 Reception 5 2 Equipment 6 Live performances 7 Legacy 8 Covers and parodies 9 Formats and track listing 10 Personnel 11 Charts 11 1 Weekly charts 11 2 Year end charts 11 3 Decade end charts 12 Certifications 13 Bibliography 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External linksWriting and recording edit Smells Like Teen Spirit was one of several songs written following Nirvana s first recording sessions with producer Butch Vig in 1990 Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain began writing it a few weeks before recording their second album Nevermind in 1991 4 He said it was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies a band he admired I was trying to write the ultimate pop song I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies I have to admit it When I heard the Pixies for the first time I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band or at least a Pixies cover band We used their sense of dynamics being soft and quiet and then loud and hard 5 When Cobain presented the song to his bandmates it comprised just the main guitar riff and the chorus vocal melody 6 7 Cobain said the riff was cliched similar to a riff by Boston or the Richard Berry song Louie Louie 5 Bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed it as ridiculous in response Cobain made the band play it for an hour and a half 5 Eventually Novoselic began playing it more slowly inspiring drummer Dave Grohl to create the drum beat 8 which drew from disco artists like The Gap Band 9 As a result it is the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as writers 10 The title derives from a phrase written on Cobain s wall by his friend Kathleen Hanna singer of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill Kurt smells like Teen Spirit 11 12 Hanna meant that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit which she and Tobi Vail his then girlfriend had discovered during a trip to the grocery store 13 Cobain said that he was unaware of the deodorant until months after the single was released and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan as they had been discussing anarchism and punk rock 14 Prior to the album recording the band sent Vig demos for songs including Teen Spirit While the sound was distorted due to the band playing at a high volume Vig felt it had promise 15 Vig and the band recorded Smells Like Teen Spirit at Sound City Studios in the Los Angeles California neighborhood of Van Nuys in May 1991 16 Vig suggested changes to the arrangement including moving a guitar ad lib to the chorus and shortening the chorus 17 The band recorded the basic track in three takes and used the second take 7 Vig corrected some timing errors created by Cobain switching between his guitar effects pedals Cobain recorded only three vocal takes according to Vig I was lucky to ever get Kurt to do four takes 18 Music edit nbsp Smells Like Teen Spirit source source track Sample of Smells Like Teen Spirit from Nirvana s 1991 album Nevermind The sample illustrates the change in dynamics from verse to pre chorus and chorus Problems playing this file See media help Smells Like Teen Spirit is a grunge 19 and alternative rock 20 song It was recorded in the original key of F minor and follows a F5 B A 5 D chord progression 21 with the main guitar riff constructed from four power chords played in a syncopated sixteenth note strum by Cobain 22 The guitar chords were double tracked to create a more powerful sound 23 The chords occasionally lapse into suspended chord voicings as a result of Cobain playing the bottom four strings of the guitar for the thickness of sound 22 The riff resembles that of Boston s 1976 hit More Than a Feeling 6 though it is not identical 21 During the verses Cobain used a Small Clone effect pedal to add a chorus effect Smells Like Teen Spirit uses a somewhat conventional formal structure consisting of four eight and twelve bar sections including an eight bar verse an eight bar pre chorus and a twelve bar chorus 24 Musicologist Graeme Downes who led the band the Verlaines says that Smells Like Teen Spirit illustrates developing variation 25 Elements of the structure are marked with shifts in volume and dynamics moving from quiet to loud several times This structure of quiet verses with wobbly chorused guitar followed by big loud hardcore inspired choruses became an alternative rock template 26 During the verses the band maintains the same chord progression as the chorus Cobain plays a two note guitar line over Novoselic s root note eighth note bassline which outlines the chord progression Approaching the chorus Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the word Hello 21 Following the first and second choruses Cobain simultaneously sings the word Yay and performs a unison bend on his guitar 27 After the second chorus Cobain plays a 16 bar guitar solo restating his vocal melody from the verse and pre chorus 24 During the closing refrain Cobain sings A denial repeatedly his voice becomes strained from the force of yelling 23 Lyrics and interpretation editThe 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 28 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 29 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 Marsh noted comments by disc jockeys 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 30 Marsh trying to decipher the lyrics 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 31 The book Teen Spirit The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes Teen Spirit as a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness 32 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 Additionally the famously obscure couplet A mulatto an albino A mosquito my libido is according to Azerrad nothing more than two pairs of opposites a funny way of saying the narrator is very horny 33 In Heavier Than Heaven Charles R Cross biography of Cobain 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 amp Queen of the outcasted sic teens 34 35 Teen Spirit is widely interpreted as a teen revolution anthem an interpretation reinforced by the music video 36 In an interview conducted the day Nevermind was released Cobain stated the song was about his friends explaining 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 10 In Michael Azerrad s biography Come as You Are The Story of Nirvana Cobain said he felt a duty to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age 14 He also 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 33 As Cobain did more interviews he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the meaning 10 Grohl 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 37 Release and reception edit Smells Like Teen Spirit was released to radio on 27 August 1991 On 10 September it was released as the lead single from Nevermind Nirvana 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 Nirvana fanbase 38 The single was intended to be a base building alternative rock cut from the album and was not expected to be a hit the follow up Come as You Are was planned as the single that could cross over to mainstream radio formats However campus and modern rock radio stations placed Smells Like Teen Spirit on heavy rotation Danny Goldberg of Nirvana s management firm Gold Mountain said 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 39 The video received its world premiere on MTV s late night alternative rock program 120 Minutes on 29 September 40 and proved so popular that the channel began to air it during its regular daytime rotation 29 MTV added the video to its Buzz Bin selection in October where it stayed until mid December By the end of the year the song music video and the Nevermind album had become hits Smells Like Teen Spirit and Nevermind became a rare cross format phenomenon reaching all the major rock radio formats including modern rock hard rock album rock and college radio 41 Smells Like Teen Spirit was also a critical and commercial success It topped the 1991 Village Voice Pazz amp Jop and Melody Maker 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 Hot 100 singles chart the same week that Nevermind reached number one on the albums chart 42 Teen Spirit hit number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and has been certified platinum one million copies shipped by the Recording Industry Association of America 43 However many American Top 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation and restricted it to night time play 44 The single was also successful in other countries In the United Kingdom Smells Like Teen Spirit was released on 18 November 1991 reaching number seven on the UK Singles Chart and charting for 184 weeks 45 46 The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal and Best Rock Song 47 Entertainment Weekly would later name Nirvana s loss to Eric Clapton in the Best Rock Song category as one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history 48 Outside the United States the song topped the charts of Belgium France New Zealand and Spain It charted within the top five of several European countries and reached number five in Australia It appeared on several year end charts including number 10 in New Zealand number 17 in Belgium and Germany and number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 Year End Chart 49 In the wake of Nirvana s success Michael Azerrad 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 50 Nevertheless the music press awarded the song an anthem of a generation status placing Cobain as a reluctant spokesman for Generation X 51 The New York Times wrote that Smells Like Teen Spirit could be this generation s version of the Sex Pistols 1976 single Anarchy in the U K if it weren t for the bitter irony that pervades its title as Nirvana knows only too well teen spirit is routinely bottled shrink wrapped and sold 52 Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the song s success and in later concerts often excluded it from the set list 36 Prior to the release of the band s 1993 follow up album In Utero Novoselic remarked If it wasn t for Teen Spirit I don t know how Nevermind would have done There are no Teen Spirits on In Utero 53 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 5 Music video edit nbsp Announcement from the band encouraging people to participate in the making of the music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit nbsp The Fender Mustang guitar played by Kurt Cobain in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video The music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit was the first for director Samuel Bayer Bayer believed he was hired because his test reel was so poor the band anticipated his production would be punk and not corporate 23 The video is based on the concept of a school concert which ends in anarchy and riot inspired by Jonathan Kaplan s 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones film Rock n Roll High School 54 It had an estimated budget of between 30 000 and 50 000 55 The video was filmed on 17 August 1991 56 on Stage 6 of GMT Studios in Culver City It features Nirvana playing at a pep rally 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 features an appearance by Burton C Bell later known as frontman of heavy metal band Fear Factory 57 Occasionally the scene cuts to a janitor played by Tony De La Rosa wearing a navy blue jumpsuit and dancing with a push broom handle The video ends with the students destroying the set and the band s gear The discontent was genuine 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 his shit throughout the day Cobain said 58 Cobain disliked Bayer s final edit and oversaw a re edit of the video creating the final version 46 One of Cobain s major additions was the penultimate shot a close up of his face after it had been obscured for most of the video 58 Another major change involved two sequences of a principal standing next to a loudspeaker and being sprayed with confetti and a teacher dressed like a nerd dancing to the song with a Dunce cap before being tied to a basketball hoop pole Cobain had the principal footage and most of the teacher footage removed aside from the ending scene which shows the teacher tied to the pole as the janitor sweeps the floor 59 Bayer said that unlike subsequent artists he worked with Cobain was not vain and was more interested that the video had something that was truly about what they were about 54 Reception edit The music video received positive reviews The Rolling Stone writer David Fricke described the video as looking like the greatest gig you could ever imagine 23 In addition to a number one placing in the singles category Teen Spirit also topped the music video category in the Village Voice s 1991 Pazz amp Jop poll 60 The video won Nirvana the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Group awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards 61 and in 2000 the Guinness World Records named Teen Spirit the Most Played Video on MTV Europe 62 Amy Finnerty formerly of MTV s Programming department later said the video changed the entire look of MTV by giving them a whole new generation to sell to 23 Rolling Stone placed the music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit at number two on their 1993 list of The 100 Top Music Videos 63 MTV ranked the song s music video at number three on its 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made list in 1999 64 VH1 placed the debut of the Teen Spirit video at number eighteen on its 2000 list of 100 Greatest Rock amp Roll Moments on TV noting that it made alternative rock a commercial and pop culture force 65 In 2001 VH1 named it the fourth greatest video 66 The video was parodied in Weird Al Yankovic s music video for Smells Like Nirvana 67 and in Bob Sinclar s 2006 music video for Rock This Party Everybody Dance Now citation needed By 25 December 2019 the video had been viewed 1 billion times on YouTube 68 Equipment edit Kurt Cobain s Competition Burgundy 1969 left handed Fender Mustang Krist Novoselic s 60 s Zen On bass guitar Dave Grohl s Tama Drums drum kit with CHAKA bass drum head Live performances edit nbsp Smells Like Teen Spirit live source source track Sample of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana from the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah 1996 The band performs the song at a faster tempo than the studio recording Problems playing this file See media help Smells Like Teen Spirit was first performed live on 17 April 1991 at the OK Hotel in Seattle Washington 69 The performance is featured on the DVD of the 2004 box set With the Lights Out while shorter clips are included on the Classic Albums Nevermind DVD as well as the documentary film Hype 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 Box A similar early live performance of the song is found in the documentary 1991 The Year Punk Broke filmed during a 1991 summer tour in Europe with Sonic Youth citation needed The international television debut performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit was on 8 November 1991 on the UK TV series The Word 70 Cobain opened by declaring I want everyone in this room to know that Courtney Love the lead singer of the sensational pop group Hole is the best fuck in the world 71 Cobain and Love married the following year 72 Nirvana often altered the song s lyrics and 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 Wishkah 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 73 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 pre recorded backing track and Cobain deliberately sang the whole song an octave lower 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 Smiths frontman Morrissey 74 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 75 This performance can be found on the 1994 home video Live Tonight Sold Out 76 Legacy editDubbed an anthem for apathetic kids of Generation X 77 78 in the years following Cobain s 1994 suicide and Nirvana s breakup Smells Like Teen Spirit has continued to garner critical acclaim and is often listed as one of the greatest songs of all time It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame s list of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll in 1997 79 In 2000 VH1 rated the song at number forty one on its 100 Greatest Rock Songs list 80 while MTV and Rolling Stone ranked it third on their joint list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs 81 The Recording Industry Association of America placed Smells Like Teen Spirit at number eighty on their 2001 Songs of the Century list 82 In 2002 NME awarded the song the number two spot on its list of 100 Greatest Singles of All Time 83 with Kerrang ranking it at number one on its own list of the 100 Greatest Singles of All Time 2 VH1 placed Smells Like Teen Spirit at number one on its list of 100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years in 2003 84 while that same year the song came third in a Q poll of the 1001 Best Songs Ever 85 In 2021 Rolling Stone ranked Smells Like Teen Spirit fifth on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 86 The song was placed at number six in NME s Global Best Song Ever Poll in 2005 87 In 2022 it was included in the list The story of NME in 70 mostly seminal songs Mark Beaumont wrote that with this song Nirvana rejuvenated American rock honing the melodic roars of Husker Du Pixies Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth into an MTV friendly quiet loud dynamic 88 In the 2006 VH1 UK poll The Nation s Favourite Lyric the line I feel stupid and contagious Here we are now entertain us was ranked the third favorite lyric by over 13 000 voters 89 VH1 placed Smells Like Teen Spirit at number one on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs Of The 90s in 2007 90 while Rolling Stone ranked it number ten on its list of The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time 91 In 2009 the song was voted number one for the third time in a row on the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time in Australia 92 it was first place previously in 1991 93 and 1998 94 That year VH1 ranked the song seventh on its list of the 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs 95 Despite previously proposing in its 2006 entry for Nevermind on The All TIME 100 Albums that Smells Like Teen Spirit may be the album s worst song 96 Time magazine later included it on its list of The All TIME 100 Songs in 2011 97 That same year Smells Like Teen Spirit kept its number nine ranking on Rolling Stone s updated list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 98 while in 2019 the magazine ranked it at number one in its list of 50 Best Songs of the Nineties 99 NME placed the song at number two on its list of the 100 Best Tracks Of The 90s in 2012 100 and at number one on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2014 101 In 2015 the song was also named the most iconic song of all time according to a study by Goldsmith s College which analysed various songs featured in numerous all time best lists using analytical software to compare their key BPM chord variety lyrical content timbral variety and sonic variance the result of which designated the title to this song 102 In 2017 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame 103 Smells Like Teen Spirit was rereleased as a limited edition 7 inch vinyl single in December 2011 In an attempt to emulate a successful 2009 Facebook campaign to promote Rage Against the Machine s song Killing in the Name an online campaign was launched to promote Smells Like Teen Spirit to 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart in protest at the dealings of The X Factor television series with the children s charity Rhythmix 104 A similar campaign was also launched in Ireland to get the track to 2011 Christmas number one in the Irish Singles Chart 105 The campaign resulted in the song reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart selling 30 000 copies 106 According to Nielsen Music s year end report for 2019 Smells Like Teen Spirit was the most played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 145 000 spins All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s 107 In June 2021 Smells Like Teen Spirit became only the second song from the 1990s to reach 1 billion streams on the Spotify platform 108 109 It is the 95th most streamed song on Spotify as of January 2023 Covers and parodies editTori Amos recorded the song and released it in 1992 on her Crucify EP single Dave Grohl commented on Nirvana covers in 1996 There are a few bands that go out there and do Nirvana covers and it s absolutely ridiculous That s almost like desecration that s what I think of it as Tori Amos take on it Smells Like Teen Spirit was fine I mean that was pretty hilarious She can do whatever the hell she wants 110 Weird Al Yankovic parodied the song in 1992 with Smells Like Nirvana a song about Nirvana itself Cobain quickly gave permission but asked It s not about food is it Yankovic answered No it s about how nobody can understand your lyrics Upon hearing the parody Cobain and his bandmates laughed hysterically Yankovic has said Cobain told him he realized that Nirvana had made it when he heard the parody 111 In 1995 the queercore band Pansy Division released a cover version with altered lyrics titled Smells Like Queer Spirit on their Pile Up album Pansy Division guitarist Jon Ginoli insisted that his band s version of the song was not a parody but an affectionate tribute 25 In the 2011 film The Muppets and its soundtrack one of the acts of the Muppet Telethon involves Rowlf the Dog Link Hogthrob Sam Eagle and Beaker performing the song as a barbershop quartet where unwilling special guest Jack Black accuses them of ruining one of the greatest songs of all time 112 113 The 2015 film Pan features a cover of the song performed by Hugh Jackman in character as the pirate Blackbeard and other members of the cast in a musical sequence that introduces the character and his crew It was selected for the scene after other traditional pirate songs just wasn t jelling with the filmmakers during rehearsals 114 A version recorded by singer Malia J is used in the opening credits sequence of the 2021 film Black Widow 115 Formats and track listing editAll lyrics are written by Kurt Cobain all music is composed by Nirvana 116 US 7 single DGCS7 19050 Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 38 Even in His Youth 3 03US Australian Australasian cassette single DGCCS 19050 Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 38 Even in His Youth 3 03US amp Australian CD single DGCDS 21673 Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 38 Even in His Youth 3 03 Aneurysm 4 47UK 7 single DGCS 5 Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 38 Drain You 3 43UK 12 single DGCT 5 Smells Like Teen Spirit 5 00 LP Version Drain You 3 43 Even in His Youth 3 03UK picture disc 12 single DGCTP 5 Smells Like Teen Spirit 5 00 LP Version Drain You 3 43 Aneurysm 4 47UK CD single DGCTD 5 Smells Like Teen Spirit 4 38 Drain You 3 43 Even in His Youth 3 03 Aneurysm 4 47Personnel editNirvana Kurt Cobain uncredited vocals guitars Krist Novoselic uncredited bass Dave Grohl uncredited drums backing vocals on Drain You Technical personnel Butch Vig producer engineer Craig Montgomery production and engineering on Even in His Youth and Aneurysm Andy Wallace mixing Appears in all release formats except for UK 7 and some promos Paired with the track Even in His Youth on CD and promo 12 only also separately on UK 12 picture disc Charts editWeekly charts edit 1991 1992 weekly chart peaks for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 1991 1992 PeakpositionAustralia ARIA 117 5Australia Alternative ARIA 118 1Austria O3 Austria Top 40 119 8Belgium IFPI Belgium 120 1Belgium Ultratop 50 Flanders 121 1Belgium VRT Top 30 Flanders 122 1Buenos Aires UPI 123 124 1Canada Top Singles RPM 125 9Canada Contemporary Album Radio The Record 126 22Denmark ANR North Jutland 127 3European Hot 100 Singles Music amp Media 128 129 4European Hit Radio Top 40 Music amp Media 130 31Finland Suomen virallinen lista 131 132 133 8France SNEP 134 1Germany Official German Charts 135 2Ireland IRMA 136 15Italy Musica e dischi 137 3Netherlands Dutch Top 40 138 3Netherlands Single Top 100 139 3New Zealand Recorded Music NZ 140 1Norway VG lista 141 2Portugal AFP 142 2Spain AFYVE 137 1Sweden Sverigetopplistan 143 3Switzerland Schweizer Hitparade 144 6UK Network Singles MRIB 145 146 7UK Singles OCC 147 7UK Airplay ERA 148 32US Billboard Hot 100 149 6US Alternative Airplay Billboard 150 1US Dance Club Songs Billboard 151 14US Mainstream Rock Billboard 152 7US Top 100 Pop Singles Cashbox 153 5US CHR Top 40 Radio amp Records 154 9US AOR Tracks Radio amp Records 155 156 72021 weekly chart peaks for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2021 PeakPositionGlobal 200 Billboard 157 92US Hot Rock amp Alternative Songs Billboard 158 9 Year end charts edit 1992 annual chart positions for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 1992 PositionAustralia ARIA 159 46Belgium Ultratop 50 Flanders 160 17Canada Top Singles RPM 161 79European Hot 100 Singles Music amp Media 162 10Germany Official German Charts 163 17Netherlands Dutch Top 40 164 29Netherlands Single Top 100 165 28New Zealand Recorded Music NZ 166 10US Billboard Hot 100 49 32US AOR Tracks Radio amp Records 167 632011 annual chart positions for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2011 PositionUK Singles OCC 168 1842021 annual chart positions for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2021 PositionGlobal 200 Billboard 169 113Portugal AFP 170 1822022 annual chart positions for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2022 PositionGlobal 200 Billboard 171 862023 annual chart positions for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2023 PositionGlobal 200 Billboard 172 169Decade end charts edit Decade end broadcast chart peaks for Smells Like Teen Spirit Chart 2010 2019 PositionUS Mainstream Rock Nielsen Music 107 1Canadian Mainstream Rock Radio Billboard 173 1Certifications editSales certifications for Smells Like Teen Spirit Region Certification Certified units salesAustralia ARIA 174 9 Platinum 630 000 Canada Music Canada 175 8 Platinum 640 000 Denmark IFPI Danmark 176 2 Platinum 180 000 Germany BVMI 177 Gold 250 000 Italy FIMI 178 Sales since 2009 2 Platinum 100 000 New Zealand RMNZ 179 Gold 5 000 Portugal AFP 180 3 Platinum 120 000 Sweden GLF 181 Gold 25 000 United Kingdom BPI 182 Sales since 2004 4 Platinum 2 400 000 United States RIAA 183 Platinum 1 000 000 United States RIAA 183 Digital sales Gold 2 837 000 184 StreamingDenmark IFPI Danmark 185 Gold 900 000 Greece IFPI Greece 186 Platinum 2 000 000 Sales figures based on certification alone Shipments figures based on certification alone Sales streaming figures based on certification alone Streaming only figures based on certification alone Bibliography editAzerrad Michael Come as You Are The Story of Nirvana Doubleday 1994 ISBN 0 385 47199 8 Classic Albums Nirvana Nevermind DVD Isis Productions 2004 Berkenstadt Jim Cross Charles Classic Rock Albums Nevermind Nirvana Schirmer 1998 ISBN 0 02 864775 0 Crisafulli Chuck Teen Spirit The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song Carlton 1996 ISBN 0 684 83356 5 Cross Charles R Heavier Than Heaven Hyperion 2001 ISBN 0 7868 6505 9 Marsh Dave Louie Louie Hyperion 1993 ISBN 1 56282 865 7 Rooksby Rikki Inside Classic Rock Tracks Backbeat 2001 ISBN 0 87930 654 8 Starr Larry Waterman Christopher American Popular Music From Minstrelsy to MTV New York Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0 19 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Songs of All Time Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Rolling Stone 2011 Archived from the original on 8 October 2013 Retrieved 7 October 2013 50 Best Songs of the Nineties Rolling Stone 28 August 2019 Retrieved 29 September 2020 NME s 100 Best Tracks Of The 90s Stereogum 16 May 2012 Retrieved 7 October 2013 Pictures of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time 100 1 Photos NME 31 January 2013 Retrieved 3 August 2014 Loudermilk Lauren Smells Like Teen Spirit Named the Most Iconic Song Ever by Science Paste Archived from the original on 25 September 2015 Retrieved 12 November 2021 Nirvana GRAMMY com 19 November 2019 Retrieved 4 February 2020 Michaels Sean 7 December 2011 Nirvana s Smells Like Teen Spirit to be re released for Christmas The Guardian Retrieved 9 December 2011 Murphy Lauren 9 December 2011 Push is on for Christmas No 1 The Irish Times Archived from the original on 13 December 2011 Retrieved 13 December 2011 Sexton Paul 27 December 2011 Michael Buble Military Wives Top U K Charts Billboard Retrieved 21 January 2012 a b Trapp Philip 14 January 2020 Nirvana Were the Most Played Band of the Decade on Rock Radio Loudwire Retrieved 23 January 2020 Schaffner Lauryn 28 June 2021 Nirvana s Smells Like Teen Spirit Has Hit 1 Billion Streams On Spotify Loudwire Retrieved 1 August 2021 Rolli Bryan 29 June 2021 Nirvana s Smells Like Teen Spirit Surpasses 1 Billion Spotify Streams Forbes Retrieved 1 August 2021 Life without Kurt Toronto Sun 5 April 1996 Archived from the original on 1 November 2001 Retrieved 22 July 2020 Weird Al Yankovic Dishes On James Blunt Discusses His Role As the Whitest Nerdiest Rock Star Ever Rolling Stone 19 September 2006 Archived from the original on 27 April 2011 Retrieved 5 April 2011 Gallo Phil 10 October 2011 Muppets Movie Soundtrack Features Feist Flight of the Conchords Andrew Bird The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 11 July 2013 Cherrie Chrysta Smells Like Teen Spirit at AllMusic Retrieved 14 February 2012 So About That Nirvana Song In Pan Bustle com 9 October 2015 Retrieved 15 April 2023 Marvel s Black Widow opens with dark dramatic cover of Nirvana s Smells Like Teen Spirit Kerrang www kerrang com Retrieved 11 October 2022 Nevermind CD liner notes Nirvana DGC 1991 a href Template Cite AV media notes html title Template Cite AV media notes cite AV media notes a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit ARIA Top 50 Singles Retrieved 21 February 2021 ARIA Top 20 Alternative Charts ARIA Report No 105 26 January 1992 p 11 Retrieved 22 November 2021 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in German O3 Austria Top 40 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Top Ten Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 1 February 1992 p 18 Retrieved 31 July 2018 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in Dutch Ultratop 50 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Radio2 top 30 25 January 1992 in Dutch Radio 2 Archived from the original on 23 March 2016 Retrieved 5 March 2023 Los mas populares discos en Latinoamerica El Siglo de Torreon UPI 13 March 1992 p 57 Retrieved 14 April 2023 Los mas populares discos en Latinoamerica El Siglo de Torreon UPI 27 March 1992 p 51 Retrieved 14 April 2023 Top RPM Singles Issue 2060 RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved 5 November 2016 Contemporary Album Radio The Record 3 February 1992 p 7 Retrieved 5 October 2023 ANR Hitlisten artistside Nirvana anrhitlisten dk Retrieved 31 August 2019 Chart was then based on physical sales Hits of the World PDF Billboard 7 March 1992 p 39 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Eurochart Hot 100 Singles PDF Music amp Media 22 February 1992 p 19 Retrieved 4 August 2018 M amp M Charts Airplay EHR Top 40 PDF Music amp Media 29 February 1992 p 39 Retrieved 10 February 2019 Top Ten Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 21 March 1992 p 26 Retrieved 23 March 2019 Top Ten Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 14 March 1992 p 22 Retrieved 23 March 2019 Pennanen Timo 2006 Sisaltaa hitin levyt ja esittajat Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 Otava Publishing Company Ltd ISBN 951 1 21053 X Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in French Les classement single Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in German GfK Entertainment charts Retrieved 13 February 2019 The Irish Charts Search Results Smells Like Teen Spirit Irish Singles Chart Retrieved 21 February 2021 a b Hits of the World PDF Billboard 21 March 1992 p 59 Retrieved 14 December 2021 Nederlandse Top 40 Nirvana in Dutch Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in Dutch Single Top 100 Retrieved 23 October 2015 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Top 40 Singles Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit VG lista Retrieved 21 February 2021 Top 10 Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 27 September 1992 p 18 Retrieved 31 July 2018 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Singles Top 100 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Swiss Singles Chart Retrieved 21 February 2021 Top 10 Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 14 December 1991 p 33 Retrieved 8 June 2020 Top 10 Sales in Europe PDF Music amp Media 21 December 1991 p 39 Retrieved 8 June 2020 Charts Melody Maker MRIB 7 December 1991 p 26 Retrieved 29 June 2022 Charts NME MRIB 7 December 1991 p 46 Retrieved 29 June 2022 Charts Melody Maker MRIB 14 December 1991 p 26 Retrieved 29 June 2022 Charts NME MRIB 14 December 1991 p 44 Retrieved 29 June 2022 Nirvana Artist Chart History Official Charts Company Retrieved 21 February 2021 Top 50 Airplay Chart PDF Music Week ERA Entertainment Retailers Association 14 December 1991 p 16 Retrieved 2 July 2023 Nirvana Chart History Hot 100 Billboard Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Chart History Alternative Airplay Billboard Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Chart History Dance Club Songs Billboard Retrieved 21 February 2021 Nirvana Chart History Mainstream Rock Billboard Retrieved 21 February 2021 Cash Box Charts Top 100 Pop Singles PDF Cashbox 15 February 1992 p 4 Retrieved 27 January 2019 CHR Songs Reaching Top 15 in 1992 PDF Radio amp Records Radio amp Records 11 December 1992 p 46 Retrieved 22 February 2019 AOR Tracks PDF Radio amp Records Radio amp Records 10 January 1992 p 64 Retrieved 22 February 2019 AOR Tracks Songs Reaching Top 15 in 1992 PDF Radio amp Records Radio amp Records 11 December 1992 p 50 Retrieved 22 February 2019 Nirvana Chart History Global 200 Billboard Retrieved 3 December 2021 Nirvana Chart History Hot Rock amp Alternative Songs Billboard Retrieved 5 October 2021 ARIA Top 50 Singles for 1992 The Australian Recording Industry Association Retrieved 21 October 2015 Jaaroverzichten 1992 in Dutch Ultratop 50 Retrieved 21 October 2015 The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1992 PDF RPM Vol 56 no 25 19 December 1992 p 8 Retrieved 23 March 2019 1992 Year End Sales Charts Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1992 PDF Music amp Media 19 December 1992 p 17 Retrieved 6 October 2018 Top 100 Single Jahrescharts 1992 in German Media Control Charts Retrieved 21 October 2015 Top 100 Jaaroverzicht van 1992 Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 21 October 2015 Jaaroverzichten Single 1992 Single Top 100 Retrieved 23 October 2015 Top Selling Singles of 1992 Recorded Music NZ Retrieved 21 October 2015 AOR Tracks The Top 92 of 1992 PDF Radio amp Records Radio amp Records 11 December 1992 p 49 Retrieved 22 February 2019 UK Charts Plus End of Year Charts 2011 PDF ukchartsplus co uk UKChartsPlus Retrieved 9 December 2018 Billboard Global 200 Year End 2021 Billboard Retrieved 3 December 2021 Top 1000 Singles EPs Digitais Semanas 01 a 52 de 2021 PDF in Portuguese Associacao Fonografica Portuguesa Retrieved 10 May 2022 Billboard Global 200 Year End 2022 Billboard Retrieved 2 December 2022 Billboard Global 200 Year End 2023 Billboard Retrieved 22 November 2023 Year End Music Report Canada 2019 PDF 9 January 2020 Archived PDF from the original on 5 July 2020 ARIA Charts Accreditations 2021 Singles PDF Australian Recording Industry Association Retrieved 3 February 2022 Canadian single certifications Nirvana Music Canada Retrieved 23 April 2022 Danish single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit IFPI Danmark Retrieved 18 May 2021 Gold Platin Datenbank Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in German Bundesverband Musikindustrie Retrieved 14 April 2018 Italian single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in Italian Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana Retrieved 18 May 2021 Select 2018 in the Anno drop down menu Select Smells Like Teen Spirit in the Filtra field Select Singoli under Sezione New Zealand single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spitit Recorded Music NZ Retrieved 7 November 2023 Portuguese single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit PDF in Portuguese Associacao Fonografica Portuguesa Retrieved 12 May 2022 Swedish single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit in Swedish Swedish Recording Industry Association Archived from the original on 11 November 2015 Retrieved 11 November 2015 British single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit British Phonographic Industry Retrieved 28 July 2023 a b American single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Recording Industry Association of America Nielsen SoundScan charts Digital Songs Week Ending 09 28 2017 PDF Nielsen SoundScan Archived from the original PDF on 2 October 2017 Retrieved 3 October 2017 Danish single certifications Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit Streaming IFPI Danmark Retrieved 18 May 2021 IFPI Charts Digital Singles Chart International Ebdomada 15 2022 in Greek IFPI Greece Retrieved 2 May 2022 Further reading editBradley Adam 2017 Figurative Language The Poetry of Pop Yale University Press pp 153 154 ISBN 978 0300165029 An analysis of the song s use of figurative language External links edit Smells Like Teen Spirit at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Data from Wikidata Smells Like Teen Spirit at MusicBrainz Smells Like Teen Spirit official music video on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Smells Like Teen Spirit amp oldid 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