Imagine Nirvana without this tune
It’s a song that pretty much everyone on the planet adores, but Kurt Cobain – the man who wrote it – couldn’t stand it and refused to play it live.
Look, we’ve all got our own tastes when it comes to music. You might love stomping down the road blasting Charli XCX (admit it, you do) while your best mate is driving in the car to hardcore screamo every day.
But between all the tracks, there’s plenty we can all agree are iconic songs – whether we like them or not.
From Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ to Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex on Fire’, it’s hard to imagine them not existing in the music world. And that list of course includes a certain Nirvana track.
However, Kurt Cobain explained why he hated the song (easily one of the band’s most famous) so much he even refused to play it.
Bet you’re singing along now (Nirvana/YouTube)
Believe it or not, it’s obviously ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
The lead single on Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind, the track was their biggest hit, charting high globally in both 1991 and 1992. There’s no denying it’s earned the title as one of the greatest songs of all time, but all this popularity is partly why Cobain was so put off it.
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ thrusted Nirvana into the mainstream spotlight as it continued to pick up awards and titles.
And back in 1994, Cobain explained to Rolling Stone’s David Fricke he ‘was trying to write the ultimate pop song’, taking a lot of inspiration from the loud-quiet-loud dynamics of the rock band Pixies.
But when the hit track became a whopper success on the radio and the likes of MTV, the late musician began to simply refuse to play it live or just purposely butcher it.
“Once it got into the mainstream, it was over,” he said. “I’m just tired of being embarrassed by it. I’m beyond that.”
He ended up loathing the song (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
Cobain knew that this deep hatred for the song came about because of how successful it was.
He added: “The reason it gets a big reaction is people have seen it on MTV a million times.
“It’s been pounded into their brains. But I think there are so many other songs that I’ve written that are as good, if not better than that song, like ‘Drain You’. That’s definitely as good as ‘Teen Spirit’.
“I love the lyrics, and I never get tired of playing it. Maybe if it was as big as ‘Teen Spirit’, I wouldn’t like it as much.”
Interestingly, Courtney Love revealed that the song was actually rewritten not long before it was recorded, so it could have all gone very differently.
Although we’re not sure that would have made Cobain enjoy performing it any more.
Featured Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images/Nirvana
