{"id":35489,"date":"2014-09-10T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T07:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=35489"},"modified":"2014-09-07T16:19:55","modified_gmt":"2014-09-07T23:19:55","slug":"day-history-september-10th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/day-history-september-10th\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: September 10th"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Day In History<\/a>: September 10, 1991<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit\"<\/a>Nobody suspected it at the time, but on September 10, 1991, a three-piece alternative band out of Seattle released a single that sparked a cultural revolution and changed the sound, look and vibe of rock music in ways unimaginable. Within a few months the band Nirvana, thanks to the song \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit,\u201d went from being complete unknowns to the newly reigning rock gods.<\/p>\n

Kurt Cobain, singer and frontman of the band, had a bit of a deer-caught-in the-headlights thing going on when the song became a hit. \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d was released as the alternative rock single from Nirvana\u2019s first major label album \u201cNevermind,\u201d and was never expected to be a chart-topper. Kurt was embarrassed because the song was such as blatant homage to the Pixies:<\/p>\n

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\u2014or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt needn\u2019t have worried. The majority of the kids rushing out to buy \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d and \u201cNevermind\u201d had never even heard of the Pixies or Sonic Youth or Mudhoney \u2013 at least until they started worshiping at the altar of Nirvana.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d is the only song on \u201cNevermind\u201d that was written by all three band members. When Cobain brought the song to his bandmates, all he had was the chorus vocal melody and the main guitar riff, which bassist Krist Novoselic thought was \u201cridiculous.\u201d Kurt\u2019s response to this criticism was to make Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl play that ridiculous riff over and over for an hour and a half.<\/p>\n

Years later, Novoselic remembered that after repeating that riff for 90 minutes he thought, \u201c’Wait a minute. Why don’t we just kind of slow this down a bit?’ So I started playing the verse part. And Dave playing a drum beat.\u201d So \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d is truly a collaborative effort between all three members of Nirvana.<\/p>\n

And the title? Kurt took it to have a revolutionary meaning when his pal Kathleen Hanna from the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill band spray painted \u201cKurt Smells Like Teen Spirit\u201d on the wall of his bedroom. Hannah\u2019s message was completely literal – meaning than Kurt actually smelled like Teen Spirit, the deodorant his current girlfriend wore at the time. Cobain said he was unaware that Teen Spirit was a deodorant brand until the single had been out for months.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. One of the most revered, iconic, culturally relevant rock songs in history is actually named for an early 1990s brand of deodorant.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d took us from Aqua Net and spandex to flannel and work boots, but it was so much more than that. Grunge was a short-lived fad, but even in 2014, \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d still sounds great, and takes its place as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.<\/p>\n

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