No. 260 – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Performer: Nirvana

Songwriters: Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic

Original Release: Nevermind

Year: 1991

Definitive Version: From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, 1996. It's live and loud.

When you look over the history of rock and roll, few songs are honest-to-goodness touchstones—songs that changed everything. This song, of course, is one of those. As I said to Scott when we discussed Nirvana, which he didn’t like: You still have to respect the fact that Kurt Cobain killed all the lame-ass hair metal bands dead with a single song. He couldn’t argue with that.

As I mentioned, I didn’t jump on the Nirvana bandwagon right away. In fact, I was pretty sure I was like Scott at first—I didn’t like Smells Like Teen Spirit. But a few things came together to change my mind.

Perhaps the biggest one, of course, was discovering Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam was the gateway group to the whole Seattle scene. After that initial exposure, it was easier to relisten to and reappraise Nirvana in a more tolerant light—even if my full and final conversion didn’t happen for another year.

Another thing—probably the first—that caused me to re-evaluate this particular song is a more embarrassing connection—Weird Al Yankovic. I thought his parody, Smells Like Nirvana, was hilarious and through it, I began to hear beneath the noise what a catchy pop song it is. For all his hard-core punk posturing, Cobain had a lot of Lennon & McCartney in him.

But the most important thing that got me to pay attention to Smells Like Teen Spirit took place in March 1992, a month before I saw and heard Pearl Jam for the first time on Saturday Night Live. It was a Saturday night at the White Horse. As I recall, the place was pretty crowded that night, and the jukebox was going full tilt.

At some point, I got up to throw a few bucks into the juke, and Robb asked me to play this song. No problem. I played this one first, and as I did, one of the waitresses approached me.

She had been there a few weeks and had served our table once or twice (but not that night). It didn’t take long to notice her when she started: She was short, blonde and hotter than Hell. I thought she looked like a Barbie doll but much better. Her name was Jenna.

Did you play this song, Jenna asked? Yeah. I love this song. Me and my boyfriend were out last night dancing to this song. Then Jenna gave me a couple quick shimmies, shaking that hot body of hers underneath the white tuxedo blouse and dark skirt that comprised her work attire.

You know what? I think I’m a big fan of Smells Like Teen Spirit now, too.