Just a couple of quick observations here, gleaned from MTV’s exposé on Spencer Elden, the so-called "Nirvana baby."
1) The baby is now a SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD man. Digest that fact with your morning cup o’ joe (or prune juice, as it were).
2) Elden’s babe-baiting repertoire is apparently fairly limited: He is quoted in the article as saying that he has to use "stupid pickup lines like, ‘You want to see my penis … again?’ " Ugh. I’m not sure why that makes me feel like a dirty old lady, but it does. Pass.
3) The difference between art and commerce? The swimming trunks.
I was a freshman in college, hanging out in my dorm lounge, when I first saw the video for Nevermind’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit." My friends and I all screamed and jumped up and down, stunned and somehow elated by the breakthrough of grunge to the mainstream media. Where were you when you first heard Nirvana’s Nevermind?
Comments (1-30) of 83 Add your comment
The first time I “heard” Smells Like Teen Spirit, my friend was quoting some lines from it, saying it was genius. (I think it was the albino/mulatto part). What makes this hilarious is that we were walking back from the bus stop (we were 15 or 16), and she had recently decided smoking was cool. So, she was smoking on the way home, her parents drive by, and once they were out of sight, I realized she had put the cigarette out in her PALM so they wouldn’t see. “Damn, that hurt like a b!tch,” she said. I still relate that song to that incident. Teen spirit, indeed.
I was 11 the first time I saw the vid for “SLTS.” (just now realizing that’s ALMOST smells ‘Sluts’ Hmmm…)
I was at home in the den watching The Box (Video Jukebox) with my uncle. This smokey, cloudy, hazy greenish-orangeish image flashes across the screen. At first I think: What’s this? Then I hear the music and I immediately loved it! ‘Twas nothing like I was used to seeing or hearing (especially since Unc & I watched The Box mostly for the low-budge Hip Hop vids), yet I wanted MORE!
RIP Kurt! Shouts to Dave & Krist!
I was in junior high when I was introduced to Nirvana by the good folks at MTV. Back then, when they still played music videos, they had a show called The Top Ten (Rock Songs, Rap Songs, whatever) hosted by Matt Pinfield. For a good 2-3 years, Smells Like Teen Spirit was the all-time best song. Ever.
I was home from college at Christmas, and all three of my brothers were blasting it at the same time from their bedrooms. The cacophony of that moment–I can’t forget it.
Having group sex with 4 girls I did not know at the time. Craziest house party ever.
Wow, I too was a college freshman when I first heard Nirvana and fell in love with their sound. Good times : )
I once saw an article several years ago that caught up with several album cover children and what they looked like now, including:
- the ugly naked girl from BLIND FAITH’s only album
- the little blonde girl from THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND’s “Brothers and Sisters” album
- the little boy from U2’s “War” album
i was 17 and in my dark room delveloping pictures. my friend was with me and he cranked up the radio and said you have to listen to this!
seems like it was yesterday….
i was in the car with my mom going to my grandmother’s. and it was during rick dees or some syndicated radio show.
i was about 12 or 13. and knew right there that i was in love. and i remember clear as day the day kurt died. i went (again) to the same grandmother’s house a few days later and i was so angsty and sad that she said, “honey, are upset that that singer died.” and i cried and cried in my grandmother’s arms.
i was 3… sad
How funny…I was a college freshman and also saw the video for the first time in the dorm lounge. What a turning point for music.
I was a sophomore at college. I remember I was at the intramural center working out (going through some heavy incline presses, as I recall) when “Smells Like …” came over the radio. When I heard the opening riff, I remember being hit by a big adrenaline surge that made the rest of the workout a blast. I walked out of the gym and down to a local music store, where I picked up the (at the time) new-fangled “Nevermind” CD. 17 or so years later, I still listen to that album once or twice a month, and it still brings back fond memories of a time when music actually seemed to matter.
I’m just glad we wore shots…
So sad… I went as the cheerleader this Halloween and had to explain who I was
I was 14 and studying in a boarding school in Rouen, France. Every monday morning before heading to school and every friday evening before going home for the weekend, we would meet for drinks at the railway station café and play it on the jukebox, alterning with “Losing my Religion” by REM, the other hit of 91. Oh my gosh, feels just like yesterday…
did anyone else think kurt was saying, “bloody night owl”. in “smells like teen spirit”. just wondering
I was seven years old when I saw the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I was watchng music videos with my cousins, who were all teenage boys. I remember this so well because my grandmother came downstairs and lectured us for what seemed like hours on the evils of “devil music” (I kid you not). I wonder what she would say if she knew that I still listen to that song.
I was seven years old when I saw the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I was watchng music videos with my cousins, who were all teenage boys. I remember this so well because my grandmother came downstairs and lectured us for what seemed like hours on the evils of “devil music” (I kid you not). I wonder what she would say if she knew that I still listen to that song.
i wasnt born yet
I was at a party in 9th grade. My friend Tom was telling me about this new song with all these weird lyrics. Then he put “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on and sang all the lyrics, occasionally interrupting himself to say, “Isn’t that funny? What is he talking about?”
I was seven when I first saw the video. My older sisters were into the grunge movement, and I remember vividly listening to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden as a younger child. To this day I cannot think of a better era for music during my lifetime.
I found this song by accident. I grew up in a small town and when I was 12 or 13 we would hang out at the local Godfather’s (pizza place) downtown. They had this old jukebox (you know, the kind you had to flip through) and I see a new song they added. It was Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit, so I played it. One of the guys we were with (he was in high school..OoooOooh!) couldn’t get over the fact that I played this “cool new song”. Of course, I played along and pretended I knew what the heck he was talking about. But I will never forget the way everyone stopped and listened. My friend and I bought the CD the next day. First CD I ever owned. Who knew that the old guy at the pizza place in po-dunk Nebraska was so hip in ‘91?
I am 36 yrs old and NEVER in my life have I heard this song ….. so no I can’t comment as to where I was when it came out.
clearly under a rock
I was a junior in high school. I had probably heard the song on 101.7 WFNX, a Boston radio station that was one of the few “alternative” rock stations out there before alternative became mainstream. I remember seeing the video on MTV, probably either in the Buzz Bin or on 120 minutes (anyone remember that show? it was usually on from midnight-2am on Saturday nights and it played non-mainstream videos). Those were the good old days, when MTV played videos and music and music videos seemed to matter.
17? Now I feel old.
I suddenly feel very very old.
I was driving home from work at about 1:30 in the morning when I first heard it. I think that was the only time radio stations felt it was “safe” to play it. (Same thing with You Oughtta Know by Alanis Morrisette). I remember calling my friends the next day and saying, “You need to hear this song! The guy screams all the way through it!”
But what about the Blind Melon bee girl?
I still like “Weird Al” Yankovic’s cover spoofing this image for his album “Off the Deep End,” which, yes, included his parody “Smells Like Nirvana.”
But I’ve got to admit: I’d rather see this album cover recreated here in the good ol’ future than, say, some elderly porn star with a rubber glove recreating the cover for blink-182’s “Enema of the State.”