With its success, record companies turned grunge into one of the most profitable and best-selling rock sub-genres. But for all the band's anti-corporate rock credentials, Nirvana's legacy would have a very corporate impact on alternative rock. Neither money nor connections nor even talent were prerequisites. "I mean, in a very short period of time, they went from playing for eight people at a small tavern in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle to playing the Coliseum, and they did it on their own terms."Īnd their own terms were simple: Nirvana was part of a movement that believed anyone could produce music. "There have been a lot of great and popular guitar-rock bands, but there was always a feeling or a suspicion that their careers were somehow manufactured," Poneman says. The first time the band was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Kurt Cobain wore a shirt that read, "Corporate rock mags still suck." And despite massive commercial success, Nirvana managed to maintain its credibility by posing as anti-rock stars. You could interpret it as a generation's call to arms or a simple loud rock song. It appealed to the football players and cheerleaders just as much as it did to the angst-ridden teenage punks. Nirvana crafted a cynical video to accompany the track that showed the band playing background music for a truly spirited high-school cheerleading squad.Īlmost instantly, the song was embraced as a crossover anthem. Singer Kurt Cobain observes his generation as "over-bored, self-assured." The refrain shouts, "Here we are now, entertain us." Most ironic is that the very demographic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" appeals to, the so-called slacker generation, is the subject of ridicule in the song. Nevermind, the album that included "Smells Like Teen Spirit," reached the top of the charts. Read More The NPR 100: The Most Important Music Of The 20th Century You couldn't understand the words, and the chorus sounded like shouting. It's the kind of music that parents could listen to with their kids.īut "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a song that parents were going to hate. Check out the pop charts in 1991, and you'll find artists like Paula Abdul, Color Me Badd and Mariah Carey all dominating the Top 20. It wasn't a track designed to be marketable, or even accessible. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became an unlikely hit. I believe that everybody in the room knew that they were listening to something that was truly magnificent." It's hard to explain, but then it erupted into this chorus and it was really a jaw-dropping experience. I mean, there was this tension in the bridge. "And then they went into a bridge, which seemed to be leading to something. "It started off with that chord progression, and it went into a really beautiful, almost dreamy verse," Poneman says. Jonathan Poneman, co-founder of Sub Pop Records, was there. Nirvana performed a version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in front of a small crowd at the OK Hotel in Seattle. American punk, while still vital, wasn't commercially viable. Heavy metal was loud, and the so-called alternative bands from England cranked out such earnest tunes that critics called the style New Romantic music. At that time, rock subgenres were pretty one-dimensional.
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