{"id":854409,"date":"2026-09-20T14:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854409\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T14:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:34:13","slug":"kurt-cobains-attempt-to-mimic-another-band-gave-nirvana-their-first-hit-in-1991","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854409\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurt Cobain\u2019s Attempt To Mimic Another Band Gave Nirvana Their First Hit in 1991"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1991, Nirvana scored their first Top 5 hit with \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/why-kurt-cobain-hated-nirvanas-smells-like-teen-spirit\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Smells Like Teen Spirit<\/a>\u201d. Written by band members <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/4-legend-status-moments-from-nirvanas-kurt-cobain\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kurt Cobain<\/a>, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic, \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d is from their sophomore Nevermind record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The party anthem says in part, \u201cWith the lights out, it\u2019s less dangerous \/ Here we are now, entertain us \/ I feel stupid and contagious \/ Here we are now, entertain us.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d is diamond-certified, for sales in excess of ten million units. It\u2019s a surprising success story for a song Cobain later said was really his attempt at copying another band\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was trying to write the ultimate pop song,\u201d Cobain later admits to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/kurt-cobain-the-rolling-stone-interview-success-doesnt-suck-97194\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cI was basically trying to rip off The Pixies \u2026 When I heard The Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily, I should have been in that band \u2014 or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What Kurt Cobain Said About Writing \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d For Nirvana<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789914853_941_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cobain might have been trying to emulate The Pixies, but that isn\u2019t the only band he was trying to pattern the song after.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c\u2018Teen Spirit\u2019 was such a clich\u00e9d riff,\u201d Cobain says. \u201cIt was so close to a Boston riff or \u2018Louie, Louie\u2019. When I came up with the guitar part, Krist looked at me and said, \u2018That is so ridiculous.\u2019 I made the band play it for an hour and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cobain later concedes that he stopped liking the song long before their fans did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor a few years in Seattle, it was the Summer of Love, and it was so great,\u201d Cobain recounts. \u201cTo be able to just jump out on top of the crowd with my guitar and be held up and pushed to the back of the room, and then brought back with no harm done to me \u2014 it was a celebration of something that no one could put their finger on. But once it got into the mainstream, it was over. I\u2019m just tired of being embarrassed by it. I\u2019m beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not only was \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d Nirvana\u2019s first hit, but it remains their biggest. Their follow-up single, \u201cCome As You Are\u201d, hit the Top 35, their last radio hit.  \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d gave Nirvana two Grammy nominations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Photo by Paul Bergen\/Redferns\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1991, Nirvana scored their first Top 5 hit with \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d. Written by band members&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,19641,216,19642],"class_list":["post-854409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-kurt-cobain","tag-music","tag-nirvana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}