Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987.
The band established itself as part of the Seattle music scene, releasing its first album Bleach for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing to major label DGC Records, Nirvana found unexpected success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the band's lead single from its second album Nevermind (1991).

Subsequently, Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation," with Nirvana being considered the "flagship band" of Generation X.

Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing Nirvana's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public. The third Nirvana studio album In Utero (1993), challenged the group's audience, featuring an abrasive, less-mainstream sound.

Nirvana's brief run ended following the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's influence and popularity endured in the years that followed. Since its debut, the band has sold over 25 million albums in the United States alone, and over 50 million worldwide.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was written by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl and produced by Butch Vig, the song uses a verse-chorus form where the main four-chord riff is used during the intro and chorus to create an alternating loud and quiet dynamic. This song with its slurred words but catchy chorus made the band famous over night.

It was Nirvana's first and biggest hit, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and placing high on music industry charts all around the world in 1991 and 1992.

In 2000, MTV and Rolling Stone ranked the song third on their joint list of the 100 best pop songs, trailing only The Beatles' "Yesterday" and The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." In 2002, NME awarded the song the number two spot on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time,". Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ninth in its 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.