Dave Grohl didn’t realize “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was destined to become the defining song of Nirvana’s career when the band recorded it for their 1991 album Nevermind. In fact, Grohl thought two other songs from the record — “In Bloom” and “Lithium” — were more likely to become hits.
The Foo Fighters leader now looks back on “Teen Spirit” as a great song and a defining moment in rock history, but he has never considered it Nirvana’s best single — or even the best song on Nevermind.
At the time, he said, the band had little sense of how dramatically the song was changing their fortunes. Nirvana was touring in its van and largely operating in “our little bubble,” with the impact of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” becoming apparent only when they arrived at venues to play.
“I didn’t really think much of ‘Teen Spirit’ at first. I thought it was just another one of the jams that we were doing,” he tells Mojo. “But ‘Teen Spirit’ was one we kept coming back to because the simple guitar lines were so memorable.
“We played a show in Seattle [at the OK Hotel, on April 17, 1991] to get gas money to go down to Los Angeles to record the record. We set it up at the last minute, it was an afternoon gig and we played that song for the first time and the audience went nuts. I don’t know if it was the rhythm or the melody but people got caught on it pretty quick.
“With Nevermind, I thought ‘In Bloom’ was going to be the ‘smash hit’ off the record, or ‘Lithium.’ I thought ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was just another album cut. We recorded it pretty quickly, and I think it was one of [producer] Butch Vig’s favorites, and it soon became pretty clear that it would be the special song on the record. But, of course, at that point we didn’t think anything was going to happen with the record.
“The only indication that our world was turning upside down would be when you’d get to the venue. Then it would be, ‘Holy shit, these people are nuts!’”
While “Teen Spirit” established the quiet/loud dynamic for which Nirvana became celebrated — along with Kurt Cobain’s grainy, distorted and chorused electric guitar tone — Grohl believes its music video was the key to giving the group an identity with which fans could relate.
“People heard the song on the radio and they thought, ‘This is great,’ but when kids saw the video on MTV they thought, ‘This is cool. These guys are kinda ugly and they’re tearing up their fucking high school!’
“So I think that had a lot to do with what happened with the song. But do I think it’s the greatest single of all time? Of course not! I don’t even think it’s the greatest Nirvana single.” He cites two songs, the Beatles’ “Revolution” and the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” as examples of songs he puts in the category of the greatest singles of all time. But “Smells Like Teen Spirit”?
“Give me a break!” he says. “‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was a great moment in time… but there’s better.”
