Smells like the only Nirvana song you know. Totally kidding. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was Nirvana's biggest hit in most countries, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, including topping the charts of Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. The song received critical plaudits including topping the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll. The song was dubbed an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X, but Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the attention it brought them. In the years since Kurt Cobain's death, listeners and critics have continued to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest songs in the history of music. And rightfully so.
Ranking number nine on Rolling Stone's Top 500 songs of all time, Kurt Cobain wrote the song with this in mind: "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."
Composition-wise, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was recorded in the original key of F minor and follows a Fm-Bb-Ab-Db chord progression, with the main guitar riff constructed from four power chords played in a syncopated sixteenth note strum by Cobain. The guitar chords were double tracked to create a "more powerful" sound.
In an era where hair metal was slowly phasing out, thrash metal was on the rise, and grunge rock was taking its roots, Nirvana stood out among the musical leaders of the 1990's. Alongside grunge powerhouses like Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains, Nirvana never considered themselves to be "better" than any other grunge-era bands, but their fan base certainly would deem them as the best. In fact, when asked on the street, most people who were asked to "name one grunge rock band" named Nirvana before any other group.
Nirvana eventually grew to dislike the song simply because it's all they heard (or rather what concertgoers wanted to hear) and they excluded it often from concert set lists. Cobain said in 1994, "I still like playing 'Teen Spirit' but it's almost an embarrassment to play it... Everyone has focused on that song so much." Well, when you write a timeless hit that defines an entire generation, that usually happens.
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