smells like Teen Spirit

smells like Teen Spirit
Nirvana
publication	September 10, 1991
length	5:01 (album) 4:30 (single)
Genre (s)	Grunge
Author (s)	Kurt Cobain , Dave Grohl , Krist Novoselić
Producer (s)	Butch Vig
Award (s)	US: platinum
album	Nevermind

Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song by the American rock band Nirvana that was released on September 10, 1991. It was the first single from their album Nevermind and is considered one of the most important songs of the 1990s. It is also considered to be the title that made grunge in general and nirvana in particular socially acceptable.

title

Kurt Cobain had the idea for the title of the song after his friend, bikini-kill singer Kathleen Hanna , had written “Kurt smells like teen spirit” on the wall of Cobain's bedroom with a spray can. While Cobain initially suspected a deeper meaning in what was written, Hanna only referred to the Deodorant Teen Spirit , which Cobain's girlfriend at the time Tobi Vail , drummer of Bikini Kill, used. Cobain only found out about the existence of the deodorant months after the song was published.

structure

The song begins with the undistorted played in F Minor held Reef , in the chords in the sequence F5, B5, A ♭ 5 and D ♭ 5 with dead notes alternate. The same riff is then repeated in a distorted manner before entering the first verse. There Cobain plays undistorted parallel to his singing, playing only two notes, repeating every two lines. At the same time, Novoselić continues to play the basic notes of the chord progression of the main riff on the electric bass. Towards the end of the verse, Cobain repeats the line Hello, hello, hello, how low four times , while the two clean tones are played more often. This is followed by the distorted chorus in which the main riff is repeated.

The end of the second chorus is followed by a simple 16-bar solo played with distortion and chorus effect, which imitates the vocal line of the verse and ends with a held F, which merges into the last verse and turns into a feedback tone. In the last chorus, Cobain repeats the words A denial a total of 8 times before the song ends with a held F5 and a 9th "denial".

Teen spirit

Teen Spirit is a deodorant from Colgate-Palmolive . Colgate used the song as an advertisement for its own cause and created the slogan "Do you smell like Teen Spirit?"

Music video

The music video was shot under the direction of Samuel Bayers . It shows the group playing music in a school gymnasium while cheerleaders in black dresses with the " Anarchism-A " printed on them dance. Cobain had made up part of what was going to appear in the video. He had many ideas of his own, which were also put into practice (e.g. the cheerleaders with signs of anarchy), as can be read in his diary. The video was very successful and is the most played music video on MTV .

Parodies

The best-known parody is the title "Smells Like Nirvana" by comedian Weird Al Yankovic . Yankovic, who inter alia. had already successfully fooled Michael Jackson hits like Beat It and Bad (became "Eat It" and "Fat"), asked Nirvana if he could try his hand at her hit. After getting the green light, he wrote a text in which he poked fun at the nihilism and the barely understandable text of the original. The video is a frame-by-frame parody. the armpit hair of the cheerleaders is shown, the audience loses limbs while slapstick-like moshing and basketball is actually played in the gym.

Yankovic's parody peaked at number 35 on the US charts. The band's reaction has been very positive. Kurt Cobain described the work as "one of the funniest things he ever saw" ("I laughed my butt off. I thought it was one of the funniest things I ever saw". Translation: "I laughed my ass off. That is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. ") Krist Novoselić saw the success of the parody as proof that the band had established itself.

In German-speaking countries there is another parody by JBO with the title Ejaculatio Praecox.

Chart successes and awards

Chart placements Explanation of the data

Singles

smells like Teen Spirit   DE 2 01/06/1992 (27 weeks)   AT 8th 02/09/1992 (12 weeks)   CH 6th 02/16/1992 (16 weeks)   UK 7th 11/30/1991 (16 weeks)   US 6th 12/07/1991 (20 weeks)

Smells Like Teen Spirit entered the German charts at number 97 on January 6, 1992, and four weeks later it reached the highest position at number 2, where it stayed for four weeks. Overall, the song stayed in the top 100 for 27 weeks. It reached number one on the charts in other countries, including France, New Zealand and Belgium.

The music video won two MTV Video Music Awards in 1992 (" Best Alternative Music Video " and "Best New Artist Video"), with "Smells Like Team Spirit" being engraved instead of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". In addition, the song was nominated at the 1993 Grammy Awards in the categories of " Best Rock Song (Songwriter) " and " Best Hard Rock Performance ", but was defeated by Layla by Eric Clapton and Give It Away by the Red Hot Chili Peppers .

The music magazine Rolling Stone voted the song the ninth best "of all time" in 2004 , and the guitar solo was voted 26th among the best solos by Guitar World magazine . The video is the most played on MTV Europe . From Q Magazine has Smells Like Teen Spirit selected "all time" the third best song. In 2009 the song was voted the best number 1 hit "of all time" in Australia.

Smells Like Teen Spirit was awarded a platinum record in 1992 for over one million units sold in the United States . The download version also received a gold record for more than 500,000 sales in 2005 . In the UK the song got a double platinum record in 2019 for more than 1.2 million copies sold, and in Germany it was awarded gold for over 250,000 sales in 2018.

Country / Region	Awards for Mu-sik-ver-käu-fe (country / region, Award, Sales)	Sales
Australia (ARIA)	8 × platinum	560,000
Denmark (IFPI)	2 × platinum	180,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	250,000
Italy (FIMI)	2 × platinum	60,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	gold	7,500
Portugal (AFP)	2 × platinum	20,000
United States (RIAA)	Platinum (Physical) + Gold (Digital)	1,500,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	1,200,000
All in all	3 × gold 17 × platinum	3,777,500

Main article: Nirvana / Music Sales Awards

Cover versions (selection)

• Malia J (2015) & 2021 as the theme song for the film Black Widow
• 386 DX on "The Best Of" (2000)
• Abigail (1994)
• Allison Crowe (as a "non-album track")
• annamateur and outside string on "Walgesänge" (2009)
• Avril Lavigne (2004)
• David Garrett (2010)
• Casper (2009)
• Distain! (1996)
• Erdmöbel "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on "No. 1 Hits" (2007)
• JBO as "Ejaculatio Praecox" on "Explizite Lyrik" (1995)
• Limp Bizkit
• maybebop (2005)
• Melvins (2000)
• Metallica (1992)
• Miley Cyrus (2011)
• Patti Smith (2007)
• Paul Anka (2005)
• Pearl Jam
• Richard Cheese (2002)
• Scala & Kolacny Brothers (2006)
• Tarja Turunen
• The Bad Plus (2001)
• The Flying Pickets on "The Original Flying Pickets: Volume 1" (1994)
• The Moog Cookbook (1995)
• The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (2007)
• Tony D "Smells Like Total Loss" (2007)
• Tori Amos (1992)
• Weird Al Yankovic "Smells Like Nirvana" (1992)

Web links

• Smells Like Teen Spirit Song Lexicon, October 8, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release date Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Michael Pilz: How could Kurt Cobain write this hit? On: welt.de, September 10, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2012
3. ↑ Michael Azerrad (1993): 'Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana' (211 f.). Doubleday, New York City.
4. ↑ Smells Like Teen Spirit on songfacts.com (English). Retrieved April 19, 2014
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Smells like Nirvana. On: haz.de, September 20, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2012
6. ↑ Teen Spirit product page. On: colgate.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
7. ^ Works by Samuel Bayer. On: samuelbayer.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
8. ↑ Video for Smells Like Teen Spirit. On: myvideo.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
9. ↑ Music video for Smells Like Nirvana. On: myvideo.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
10. ↑ Weird Al Yankovic in the US singles charts. On: billboard.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
11. ↑ Nevermind! ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: nulleffekt.net. Retrieved September 7, 2012 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Ejaculatio Praecox on jbo.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
13. ↑ Chart positions: DE AT CH UK US
14. ↑ Chart tracking Smells Like Teen Spirit on officialcharts.de
15. ↑ Nirvana in the French charts. On: lescharts.com (French). Retrieved September 7, 2012
16. ↑ Nirvana in the New Zealand charts. On: charts.org.nz (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
17. ↑ International chart tracking Smells Like Teen Spirit
18. ↑ Winner and nominee of the MTV Video Music Award 1992. On: mtv.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
19. ↑ Smells Like Team Spirit ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Festivalrocker.net. Retrieved September 15, 2011. 
20. ^ Grammy Awards 1993. At: rockonthenet.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
21. ^ Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (1-50), Metrolyrics.com
22. ↑ 100 Greatest Guitar Solos: 26 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Kurt Cobain). From: guitarworld.com, October 28, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2012
23. ↑ Q Special Edition - 1001 Best Songs Ever .. On: rocklistmusic.co.uk (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
24. ↑ Hottest 100 Of All Time 2009. On: abc.net.au (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
25. ↑ US: platinum + gold
26. ↑ UK: 2x platinum
27. ↑ DE: Gold
28. ↑ The Best Of on discogs.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
29. ↑ Abigail's Smells Like Teen Spirit on discogs.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
30. ↑ Lyrics on allisoncrowe.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
31. ↑ Whale songs on jpc.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
32. ↑ Avril Covers ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at lyricsbox.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
33. ↑ Smells Like Teen Spirit by David Garrett on laut.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
34. ↑ ^{a b} Peer Göbel: Top 7: The worst “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover versions ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: giga.de, October 14, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2012 
35. ↑ Distain! on Grenzwellen.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
36. ↑ No. 1 hits ( memento of the original from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on erdmoebel.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012 
37. ↑ Smells Like Teen Spirit by Limp Bizkit at: ouvirmusica.com.br (Portuguese). Retrieved September 7, 2012
38. ↑ Discography by maybebop ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on maybebop.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012 
39. ^ Metallica Timeline of Events. ( Memento of the original dated February 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: metallicaworld.co.uk (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
40. ↑ Gil Kaufman: Miley Cyrus 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' But There Have Been Worse. From: mtv.com (English), March 5, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2012
41. ↑ Pearl Jam Cover Songs. ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: coversproject.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
42. ↑ Richard Cheese's discography on richardcheese.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
43. ↑ Biography of Scala & Kolacny Brothers on laut.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
44. ↑ Smells Like Teen Spirit by Tarja Turunen on: listal.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012
45. ↑ Discography of The Bad Plus ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on thebadplus.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
46. ↑ Cover versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit. ( Memento of the original from November 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: sapo.pt (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
47. ↑ Comparison between Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit and the cover Smells Like Teen Spirit from The Moog Cookbook on WhoSampled.com
48. ↑ Precious Little ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on ukuleleorchestra.com (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012 
49. ↑ Total write-off (Smells Like Total write-off). On: laut.de. Retrieved September 7, 2012
50. ↑ Smells Like Teen Spirit by Tori Amos on songmeanings.net (English). Retrieved September 7, 2012