LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES SEPTEMBER 10, 2019-IT WAS 28 YEARS AGO TODAY NIRVANA RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT.’ THIS IS THE OPENING TRACK AND THE FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM ‘NEVERMIND, AND IS NIRVANA’S SIGNATURE AND MOST SUCCESSFUL SONG. TOTAL SALES OF ‘SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT’ (ACCOUNTING FOR DOWNLOADS AND STREAMING) IS NOW OVER 17,330,000 COPIES SOLD.
COBAIN SAID HE WROTE THE SONG BECAUSE HE WAS FEELING:
“disgusted with my generation’s apathy, and with my own apathy and spinelessness.”
ACCORDING TO KRIST NOVOSELIC:
“Kurt really despised the mainstream. That’s what ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was all about: The mass mentality of conformity.”
IRONICALLY, COBAIN WAS UNWILLINGLY MADE A SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERATION X WHEN THIS SONG BECAME A HIT. COBAIN RESPONDED BY SAYING:
“I don’t have the answers for anything. I don’t want to be a f–king spokesperson.”
THE VIDEO WAS ALSO NOMINATED BY MTV FOR ‘VIDEO OF THE YEAR’. HERE’S NIRVANA’S ‘SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT’
