"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. Written by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl and produced by Butch Vig, the song uses a verse-chorus form where the main four-chord riff is used during the intro and chorus to create an alternating loud and quiet dynamic.
The unexpected success of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in late 1991 propelled Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was Nirvana's biggest hit, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 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 & Jop critics' poll and winning two MTV Video Music Awards for its music video, which was in heavy rotation on music television. The song was dubbed an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X, but the band grew uncomfortable with the success and attention it received as a result. In the years since Cobain's death, listeners and critics have continued to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
Read more about Smells Like Teen Spirit: Origins and Recording, Composition, Release, Success, and Acclaim, Lyrics and Interpretation, Music Video, Live Performances, Cover Versions, Formats and Track Listing, Chart Positions
Famous quotes containing the words smells like, smells, teen and/or spirit:
“Nothing else in the world smells like that.... I love the smell of napalm in the morning.... It smells like victory.”
—Francis Ford Coppola (b. 1939)
“Nothing else in the world smells like that.... I love the smell of napalm in the morning.... It smells like victory.”
—Francis Ford Coppola (b. 1939)
“Children ... after a certain age do not welcome parental advice. Occasionally, they may listen to another adult, which is why perhaps people should switch children with their neighbors and friends for a while in the teen years!”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)
“The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its form shall communicate itself to the very disguise and indicate the shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)