Alt Rock Autumn Day Eight: The Meaning Behind Smells Like Teen Spirit By Nirvana
Day Eight.
Yesterday for day seven, we took a look at the Clear Channel Memorandum; the message from Clear Channel that they sent to their radio stations about what songs to not play following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Now today for day eight, we’re looking at a Nirvana smash hit.
Today, I’ll be covering Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.
Smells Like Teen Spirit came out on September 24, 1991 as the lead song off of Nirvanas second studio album, Nevermind. The grunge hit was cowritten by the bands three members, Cobain, Grohl, and Novoselic.
When discussing the writing and style of the song, Cobain admitted that he was trying to copy the Pixies style. “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.”
The Pixies came up around the same time as Nirvana as they released their first studio album in 1988 and Nirvana released their first in 1989. While the two bands rose to prominence at the same time, they have different sounds. Nirvana had more of a punk aesthetic while the Pixies had a more loud-quiet-loud rhythm that set them a part from other bands.
When Cobain is talking about writing “the ultimate pop song” and brings up the Pixies, I think he could also be hinting about the success that songs like Where Is My Mind?, Debaser, and Here Comes Your Man had. That’s the type of success and mainstream appeal that Cobain wanted out of writing Smells Like Teen Spirit.
The meaning of the songs title is actually quite funny. Cobains friend Kathleen Hanna, who was the lead singer of Bikini Kill, wrote on Cobains wall "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit.” Cobain found it to be an interesting note and thought it’d be great to use as a song title. The reason he became so fond of the “smells like Teen Spirit” message was because Cobain interpreted the note as a revolutionary, “fight the man” slogan. That wasn’t what Hanna meant.
Hanna was very literal in what she wrote. Kurt smelt like Teen Spirit; a brand of whimsical deodorant for teenage girls that had scents like Pink Crush, Sweet Strawberry, and Romantic Rose. Cobain didn’t know this and actually found out that that’s what Hannas message meant months after the song released.
What Cobain unknowingly did in the process was juice the sales of the deodorant. After Smells Like Teen Spirit hit the airways, the brand noticed their sales skyrocket; and this was before Cobain even knew the real meaning behind Hannas message. I guess the more you know the better, because I didn’t know this, and Cobain didn’t know that he’d be helping out a deodorant company.