The Bad Penny (beta)

Despite a litany of posthumous releases – pricey box sets, “super deluxe edition” reissues, unreleased songs and more – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” will always remain Nirvana’s most enduring song. Not only did it reach the top spot on countless charts in dozens of countries, it became so ubiquitous in mainstream culture that it cemented Nirvana as one of the greatest rock bands ever and legitimized alternative music as the quintessential music genre of the 1990s.

Read more of my thesis on Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on AllMusic.

This entry was posted on 10/05/2026 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Essays, Interviews, Videos with tags Chris Novoselic, Dave Grohl, grunge, Kurt Cobain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.