THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

9-Nirvana-Smells Like Teen Spirit.

1991-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 0.07. It may look like teenage revolution, it may sound like teenage revolution, and it may smell like teenage revolution, but it’s not.

Nirvana (see also best songs 788) were formed in Aberdeen, Washington, United States, by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, (1967-1994) and bassist Krist Novoselic, prior to Dave Grohl (see also best songs 999 and 292) joining in 1990, the band had already used seven other different drummers. Grohl had been a member of the American Hardcore Punk band ‘Scream’ who has just broken up, and auditioned for Cobain and Novoselic just days later. Novoselic said,’We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer.’ David Grohl has also recollected on that time,’I remember being in the same room with them and thinking, ‘What? That’s Nirvana? Are you kidding?’ Because on their record cover they looked like psycho lumberjacks… I was like, ‘What, that little dude and that big motherf..ker? You’re kidding me.’ Nirvana remained active until Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994 at the age of 27.

There is also a British Rock band called ‘Nirvana’ who formed in 1965, and remained active until 1971. In 1985 they reformed and later sued the American ‘Nirvana’ over the usage of the name, and reached an out of court settlement. There was also a third band called ‘Nirvana’ who were a Progressive Rock band formed in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, who recorded, and toured through until the late 1970’s. Kurt Cobain has said he chose the name ‘Nirvana’ as he ‘Wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy Punk name like the Angry Samoans.

Although only recording three studio Albums between 1989-1993, Nirvana have sold in excess of 75 million records worldwide. There have also been 21 singles issued between 1988-2002, of which two of those reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 in America, with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ making Number 6. In the UK six of their singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Heart Shaped Box’ charting the highest in 1993, when reaching Number 5.

‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was the first of four singles released from Nirvana’s second studio Album ‘Nevermind’ from September 1991, the Albums title is taken from a lyric in ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ The song was co-written by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and David Grohl, with the songs production being by Butch Vig, (see also best songs 421) and Craig Montgomery. The success of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is seen as the point when the genre of ‘Grunge’ music first entered the mainstream.

It is said that Kurt Cobain grew to hate ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and did not wish to play it live.The song is seen as a teenage song of rebellion, but Cobain always stated that he was no voice of the people. The truth is that Kathleen Hanna who was the lead singer of the American Punk Rock band ‘Bikini Kill’ spray painted ‘Kurt smells like Teen Spirit’ on Cobain’s bedroom wall after they had both been out drinking.’Teen Spirit’ was a deodorant often worn by Cobain’s then girlfriend, Tobi Vail, who was also a member of member of ‘Bikini Kill,’ Cobain thought that those words would make for a great song title, he also thought that Hanna was complimenting him on his leadership qualities, and he didn’t find out until a lot later that ‘Teen Spirit’ was actually a deodorant.

Kurt Cobain readily admitted lifting the guitar riff to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ from the American Rock band Boston, with their song ‘More Than a Feeling’ from 1976 (see also best songs 956.) On first hearing the ‘riff’ Novoselic dismissed it as ‘Ridiculous,’ but Cobain made the band play it for an hour and a half. Eventually Novoselic began playing it more slowly, inspiring drummer Dave Grohl to create the drum beat, and that is the reason why all three band members received the writing credits, and it is the only song on ‘Nevermind’ where all three do.

The songs lyrics were not printed when ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ first appeared on ‘Nevermind,’ and because of the difficulty of trying to make out what Cobain was singing, this only added to the speculation of what the song is actually about. David Grohl has stated that he does not believe that the song has any message,’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.’

‘With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us. A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido. A denial, a denial.’