What Makes This Song Great?™ Ep.90 Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"



Thought this was a phenomenal youtube video worth sharing. Rick Beato is a famous producer and instructor, and he goes extremely in depth in critiquing not only the part writing, but isolating tracks and explaining the music production side as well.

It really stands out here since this is such a seemingly simplistic song that everyone has heard so many times - but when you hear it dissected, its pretty impressive.
 
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All I know is, the first time I heard the song and saw the video, in the winter of '91, before it blew up, I knew it was going to be massive.
 
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I've forgotten most of the music theory I used to know, but that was a cool breakdown.

Bonus: Nirvana playing the song at a record store, a week before Nevermind would drop, with a much bigger crowd than they expected, and it dawning on them that they were about to be famous.



Nirvana held an "in-store" at Beehive Records. DGC expected about 50 patrons, but when over 200 kids were lined up by two in the afternoon — for an event scheduled to start at seven — it began to dawn on them that perhaps the band's popularity was greater than first thought. Kurt had decided that rather than simply sign albums and shake people's hands — the usual business of an in-store — Nirvana would play. When he saw the line at the store that afternoon, it marked the first time he was heard to utter the words "holy shit" in response to his popularity.
 
Love Rick's videos and how he is passionate for several styles of music and not an elitist in the slightest. One of the best YouTube channels ever.

This was actually the first song I learned by ear as It was launched in 1991, the very year I started to play guitar. Still a great song after all these years.
 
I love the song, but I think I remember reading Cobain hated it?
I remember reading that he thought there were much better songs of them that should have blown up in its place. I think he felt strongly about that and he also didn't like the direction of the music video
 
I remember reading that he thought there were much better songs of them that should have blown up in its place. I think he felt strongly about that and he also didn't like the direction of the music video

Cobain was a wonderful contrarian. MTV's dismay to Nirvana's Unplugged setlist is legendary.
 
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I have to admit Nirvana became my favorite band of all time eventually, but I hated Teen Spirit the the first 50 times I heard it.

It was only after Weird Al spoofed it that it grew on me.
 
Kurt said he hated it, but he said a lot of things that shouldn't be believed. I just saw a fiery performance of this song from 1994 the other day. Also, check out the hidden backing track:

 
Great album opener, with the clean guitar tone and Grohl's drum intro kicking it off. One of the defining songs of my childhood that really rocked my world, literally.

Nevermind is a fantastic album without a song I ever want to skip, but I'm a deep cuts guy and I gotta say Drain You & On a Plain have held up as my favorites after almost 30 years (although In Bloom is the best of the singles).
 
"This next band are notorious blockers"....God damn Queen or Eagles. Rick is awesome.


Teen Spirit kicked it all off for me. That short fuse intro followed by the rocket blast. Personally, the video played a huge part for me and I instantly became a fan of everything grunge.
 
a great song released at the right time. My brother was obsessed with Nirvana, he would play his albums every time we went to bed on a loop so all the songs are permanently ingrained in my head.
 
It was a catchy song with nonsensical lyrics. It is kinda funny listening to a lot of grunge lyrics nowadays. Most tried to sound poetic, but were just a bunch of words that sorta rhymed.
 
If you haven't listened to this song in a major key, do it now



Really impressive stuff and it shows off how versatile this song really was.
 
Nirvana are my favourite band but Nevermind. . . It's one of the most overproduced albums of all time. I know the production is part of its greatness but for me it's basically unlistenable. Luckily Nirvana were a great live band and bootlegs are aplenty..
 
Nirvana are my favourite band but Nevermind. . . It's one of the most overproduced albums of all time. I know the production is part of its greatness but for me it's basically unlistenable. Luckily Nirvana were a great live band and bootlegs are aplenty..

Growing up, it seems like the social circle I ran with side with Nirvana instead of Pearl Jam. As I'm older, I can't say I'm a huge Nirvana fan but Unplugged is one of my favorite concerts/albums ever. And I still don't like Pearl Jam outside of Wishlist and Yellow Ledbetter. I'm glad Vedder though, especially considering the fate of a lot of his contemporaries (Cornell, Staley, Cobain, Weiland and Hoon).
 
Growing up, it seems like the social circle I ran with side with Nirvana instead of Pearl Jam. As I'm older, I can't say I'm a huge Nirvana fan but Unplugged is one of my favorite concerts/albums ever. And I still don't like Pearl Jam outside of Wishlist and Yellow Ledbetter. I'm glad Vedder though, especially considering the fate of a lot of his contemporaries (Cornell, Staley, Cobain, Weiland and Hoon).

Why not both? You can chuck in The Red Hot Chili Peppers for good measure too. Best concert lineup ever?

 
His channel is amazing!! Thanks for sharing it here!

Edit: concerning Nirvana, well they were the first rock band I listened to for real. It really influenced me and my friends at the time, we would usually dress in a grunge style etc. We started a band because of it. After some time I got kinda tired of their sound and expanded my repertoire. But yeah, they taught me to enjoy music, I'll be forever grateful.

Edit 2: Alice in Chains were a much better band but Smells Like was a once in a decade hit maybe? That put Nirvana on a place of their own.
 
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Rick is cool. He and I share a love for a UK band called Swervedriver:




I liked Nirvana. All three of their studio albums have a lot to offer and do have a different vibe from each other which is good. I spent a lot more time listening to Green River, Mudhoney, The Melvins, The Posies and Tad back then. Great time in music - probably the last of the 'scene' eras before the internet removed the demarcation lines in regards to the opportunity to have music deployed to the masses by the musicians themselves rather than the record labels and distribution channels.
 
It's not a great song.. It just has a vibrant energy which is cyclical in your mind. Nirvana were quite far from great in my mind. They were certainly no prodigy in terms of energetic output.
 
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