As an artist, protecting one’s creative vision in the face of doubt or scrutiny is essential, and on September 10, 1991, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain proved just how true that sentiment can be. To say the band didn’t immediately take to the the lead single off Nevermind is an understatement.
Cobain’s bandmates called it “ridiculous.” He kept pushing for it anyway. And in the end, that ridiculous song would become the band’s biggest hit, which would define grunge music forever.
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Kurt Cobain Set Out To Craft the Perfect Pop Song, and He Did
In the months leading up to Nirvana signing with DGC Records in 1990, Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl spent countless nights driving the 30-minute commute on I-5 from Olympia, Washington, to Tacoma, Washington, to write and practice new material with bassist Kris Novoselic. The band is inarguably one of the pioneering figures of the grunge movement, but at the time, a different genre was on Cobain’s mind. “I was trying to write the ultimate pop song,” Cobain told Rolling Stone. “I was basically trying to rip off The Pixies.”
Ironically, the song Cobain crafted á la The Pixies would overshadow the latter band’s legacy in mainstream music. Cobain’s Pixies rip-off turned into “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which is arguably Nirvana’s most ubiquitous song (and one of the most popular songs of the 1990s). The track was a tremendous success for the band, despite having what Cobain called a “clichéd riff”. He told Rolling Stone, “It was so close to a Boston riff or ‘Louie, Louie’. When I came up with the guitar part, Krist looked at me and said, ‘That is so ridiculous.’ I made the band play it for an hour and a half.”
After slowing the riff down so it didn’t sound quite so “More Than a Feeling”-y and adding a disco-inspired drum beat proved to be the two essential ingredients to Cobain’s signature guitar riff. Cobain might have needed an hour and a half to convince his band the song was worthwhile, but the world seemingly needed no time at all. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a global hit, hitting the Top 10 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Mexico, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and more.
The Chorus Came From a Lighthearted Icebreaker Used at Parties
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” took the world by storm upon its September 1991 release. Nirvana was riding high on one of the biggest songs in the world, one that would not only define their band’s legacy but also the 1990s as a whole. Between the powerful guitar riff and Kurt Cobain’s raspy delivery of unease, agitation, and defiance, the song encapsulated the grunge attitude in five minutes. Interestingly, one of the most peevish lines in the chorus, “Here we are now, entertain us,” came from an icebreaker Cobain used at parties.
Cobain told Rolling Stone he would use that phrase “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.’”
The Nirvana frontman struggled with the staggering success of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. The song’s entrance into the mainstream directly conflicted with the band’s anti-authority, anti-industry attitude. Cobain felt like MTV “pounded” the song into the brains of the public. “I think there are so many other songs that I’ve written that are as good, if not better,” he said.
He continued, “I can barely get through ‘Teen Spirit’. I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away. I can’t pretend to have a good time playing it.”
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