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    'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' The Anthem For A Generation That Didn't Want One

    Nirvana's culture-shifting hit mocked mainstream rock songs and wound up becoming one. But in his very ambivalence about success, Kurt Cobain captured something essential about growing up.
    by Joel Rose Apr 23, 2019 3 minutes
    Kurt Cobain in the studio with Nirvana in late 1991.

    There's a grainy video of the first time Nirvana played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" live, at a small club in Seattle in April 1991. Nirvana was largely unknown outside of punk and indie rock circles in the Pacific Northwest. The band hadn't even recorded the song yet, which meant that nearly everybody in the room was hearing it for the very first time.

    Still, the reaction was intense.

    "They started playing the new song and people erupted," says Jennie Boddy. She was a friend of the band and a publicist for Sub Pop Records,. "We were being slimed on by shirtless guys, just moshing," Boddy says. 'My friend Susan started hyperventilating, she thought it was so good: 'I cant, believe what they just played!' It was just instantaneous; it was crazy."

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