Few songs encapsulate the 1990s so well as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Released as the lead single from the band’s breakthrough album ‘Nevermind’ in 1991, “Smells Like Teen Spirit’s” raw energy and angst-ridden lyrics unexpectedly turned the song into an anthem of the disenchanted youth of the early 1990s. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind Nirvana’s generational anthem.
Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was mostly written by Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain. His inspiration for the song’s title came from musician Kathleen Hanna, who was the lead singer of the feminist punk band Bikini Kill. The members of Nirvana and Bikini Kill were friends, and Cobain briefly dated Bikini Kill’s drummer Tobi Vail.
One night, during a trip to the grocery store, Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail stumbled upon a deodorant brand named Teen Spirit. Amused by the deodorant’s unpleasant-sounding name, the pair started joking around with it. “We were laughing, saying ‘Your arm smells like Teen Spirit’ or whatever,” Hanna reflected. “We were both joking around because the name looked so funny. I mean, who names a deodorant Teen Spirit? What does teen spirit smell like? Like a locker room?”
Later that night, Hanna went to Kurt Cobain’s apartment for some drinks. After reportedly smashing up Cobain’s room together, Hanna took out a Sharpie marker and started writing on Cobain’s wall. “I wrote ‘Kurt smells like Teen Spirit’ because it was in my head from earlier in the grocery store.”
While clearly referencing the deodorant brand Hanna stumbled upon in the grocery store, Cobain interpreted the wall marking quite differently. Having discussed punk music and teenage rebellion shortly before, he saw the statement as a compliment to his rebellious character. “I didn’t even know that deodorant existed until after the song was written,” Cobain later said.
A few months after Hanna wrote the phrase on Cobain’s wall, Cobain called to ask permission to use the phrase. “I thought, how is he going to use ‘Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as a lyric?” Hanna recalled. Although she was surprised by the request, Hanna didn’t mind Cobain using the phrase.
‘The Ultimate Pop Song’
Cobain began writing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” shortly before the recording sessions of Nirvana’s second studio album Nevermind. While the band was in the process of switching record labels, Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and the newly-joined drummer Dave Grohl used their spare time to write new songs. During this period, Cobain wrote the song’s main riff and chorus.
“I was trying to write the ultimate pop song,” Cobain told Rolling Stone in 1994. “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.”
While Novoselic wasn’t a fan of Cobain’s riff and chorus, the band started working on the song. After playing it repeatedly, Novoselic came up with the idea to slow the song down in the verses. He played the verse part, whereafter Dave Grohl added the verse’s drumbeat. As a result, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is credited to the entire band.
The Meaning of the Song
While the lyrics of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” have a nonsensical undertone, the song can be seen as a wake-up call to the apathetic youth of the 1990s. “[‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’] is a typical teenage aggression song,” Cobain stated in 1991. “It has revolutionary themes, but I don’t really mean it in a militant [light]. The generation’s apathy is getting out of hand. [I’m] pleading to the kids, ‘Wake up!”
“No one, especially people our age, wants to address important issues,” Cobain said in another interview. “They’d rather say, ‘Never mind, forget it.’ The song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ addresses that subject, in a way.”
Thanks to its nonsensical nature and contradictory statements, the lyrics of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” are confusing and difficult to draw meaning from. Whether it’s intentional or not is unclear, but the confusing lyrics of the song align with Cobain’s confusion around the lack of apathy from the youth of the 1990s.
Kurt Cobain did explain the inspiration behind the song’s most iconic lyric, ‘Here we are now / Entertain us’, in an interview with Rolling Stone. “That came from something I used to say every time I used to walk into a party to break the ice. A lot of times, when you’re standing around with people in a room, it’s really boring and uncomfortable. So it was “Well, here we are, entertain us. You invited us here.”
Music Video
Part of “Smells Like Teen Spirit’s” iconic status is its music video. In 2011, Dave Grohl even told Mojo magazine he believed the music video was vital in the song becoming a hit. “People heard the song on the radio and they thought, ‘This is great,’ but when kids saw the video on MTV they thought, ‘This is cool. These guys are kinda ugly and they’re tearing up their high school.’ So I think that had a lot to do with what happened with the song.”
In the music video – directed by Samuel Bayer – Nirvana performs “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in a high school gymnasium. They perform the song in front of a crowd of rebellious teenagers, who were recruited at one of the band’s shows a few days before the filming. At the end of the video, Nirvana and the crowd destroy the set. The music video reflects the theme of the song and received heavy rotation on MTV.
Release and Legacy
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released as Nevermind’s lead single on 10 September 1991. The song became an unexpected hit, peaking at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1992. It was also a top 10 hit worldwide, with the single topping the charts in Spain, New Zealand, France, and Belgium.
The song quickly became an anthem for the youth, earning Kurt Cobain the unwanted status of the spokesman of a generation. As a result of its popularity, Nirvana grew hostile toward the song and often omitted it from their setlist. When Grohl reflected on the song in 2011, he stated: “Do I think it’s the greatest single of all time? Of course not! I don’t even think it’s the greatest Nirvana single. And compared to ‘Revolution’ by The Beatles or ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys?! Give me a break! ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was a great moment in time… but there’s better.”
Nevertheless, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” became an anthem of the 1990s and is considered one of the best songs ever released. In 2021, Rolling Stone even ranked the song number 5 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In similar rankings regarding 90s music, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is consistently chosen as the best song to emerge out of the 1990s. While rankings mean little at the end of the day, it does showcase the enduring popularity of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Quite an impressive feat for a song that was unknowingly inspired by a deodorant brand.