Spirit Of The Radio Drum Sheet Music
Leanne Wittlin
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream.[2] It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. It was met with wide critical acclaim, and described as an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X. Although Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the mainstream and commercial attention the song brought to them, listeners and critics continue to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest songs of all time.
The music video for the song is based on the concept of a high school pep rally which ends in chaos and riot, inspired by Jonathan Kaplan's 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones' film Rock 'n' Roll High School. It won two MTV Video Music Awards, and was in heavy rotation on MTV during the 1990s. In subsequent years Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving the channel "a whole new generation to sell to". In 2000, the Guinness World Records named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the "Most Played Video" on MTV Europe.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ranked the song at number 80 on their Songs of the Century list. In 2002, NME ranked the song the number two on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time", while Kerrang! ranked it at number one on its list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time".[3] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fifth on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[4] In 2017, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of several songs written following Nirvana's first recording sessions with producer Butch Vig in 1990. Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain began writing it a few weeks before recording their second album, Nevermind, in 1991.[5] He said it was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies, a band he admired:
When Cobain presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the main guitar riff and the chorus vocal melody.[7][8] Cobain said the riff was "clichd", similar to a riff by Boston or the Richard Berry song "Louie Louie".[6] Bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed it as "ridiculous"; in response, Cobain made the band play it for an hour and a half.[6] Eventually, Novoselic began playing it more slowly, inspiring drummer Dave Grohl to create the drum beat,[9] which drew from disco artists like The Gap Band.[10] As a result, it is the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as writers.[11]
The title derives from a phrase written on Cobain's wall by his friend Kathleen Hanna, singer of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit."[12][13] Hanna meant that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which she and Tobi Vail, his then-girlfriend, had discovered during a trip to the grocery store.[14] Cobain said that he was unaware of the deodorant until months after the single was released, and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan, as they had been discussing anarchism and punk rock.[15]
Prior to the album recording, the band sent Vig demos for songs including "Teen Spirit". While the sound was distorted due to the band playing at a high volume, Vig felt it had promise.[16] Vig and the band recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Sound City Studios in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Van Nuys in May 1991.[17] Vig suggested changes to the arrangement, including moving a guitar ad lib to the chorus and shortening the chorus.[18] The band recorded the basic track in three takes, and used the second take.[8] Vig corrected some timing errors created by Cobain switching between his guitar effects pedals. Cobain recorded only three vocal takes; according to Vig, "I was lucky to ever get Kurt to do four takes."[19]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" uses a "somewhat conventional formal structure" consisting of four-, eight-, and twelve-bar sections, including an eight-bar verse, an eight-bar pre-chorus, and a twelve-bar chorus.[27] Musicologist Graeme Downes, who led the band the Verlaines, says that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" illustrates developing variation.[28] Elements of the structure are marked with shifts in volume and dynamics, moving from quiet to loud several times. This structure of "quiet verses with wobbly, chorused guitar, followed by big, loud hardcore-inspired choruses" became an alternative rock template.[29]
During the verses, the band maintains the same chord progression as the chorus. Cobain plays a two-note guitar line over Novoselic's root-note eighth note bassline, which outlines the chord progression. Approaching the chorus, Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the word "Hello".[22] Following the first and second choruses, Cobain simultaneously sings the word "Yay" and performs a unison bend on his guitar.[30] After the second chorus, Cobain plays a 16-bar guitar solo restating his vocal melody from the verse and pre-chorus.[27] During the closing refrain, Cobain sings "A denial" repeatedly; his voice becomes strained from the force of yelling.[24]
"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted as a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the music video.[38] In an interview conducted the day Nevermind was released, Cobain stated the song was about his friends, explaining, "We still feel as if we're teenagers because we don't follow the guidelines of what's expected of us to be adults ... It also has kind of a teen revolutionary theme."[11] In Michael Azerrad's biography Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain said he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age".[15] He also said, "The entire song is made up of contradictory ideas ... It's just making fun of the thought of having a revolution. But it's a nice thought."[36] As Cobain did more interviews, he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the meaning.[11] Grohl stated he does not believe the song has any message, and said, "Just seeing Kurt write the lyrics to a song five minutes before he first sings them, you just kind of find it a little bit hard to believe that the song has a lot to say about something. You need syllables to fill up this space or you need something that rhymes."[39]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released to radio on August 27, 1991. On September 10, it was released as the lead single from Nevermind, Nirvana's major label debut on DGC Records. The song did not initially chart, and it sold well only in regions of the United States with an established Nirvana fanbase.[40]
The single was intended to be a base-building alternative rock cut from the album, and was not expected to be a hit; the follow-up "Come as You Are" was planned as the single that could cross over to mainstream radio formats. However, campus and modern rock radio stations placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on heavy rotation. Danny Goldberg of Nirvana's management firm Gold Mountain said: "None of us heard it as a crossover song, but the public heard it and it was instantaneous ... They heard it on alternative radio, and then they rushed out like lemmings to buy it."[41]
The video received its world premiere on MTV's late-night alternative rock program 120 Minutes on September 29,[42] and proved so popular that the channel began to air it during its regular daytime rotation.[32] MTV added the video to its "Buzz Bin" selection in October, where it stayed until mid-December. By the end of the year, the song, music video, and the Nevermind album had become hits. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Nevermind became a rare cross-format phenomenon, reaching all the major rock radio formats including modern rock, hard rock, album rock, and college radio.[43]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was also a critical and commercial success. It topped the 1991 Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" and Melody Maker year-end polls and reached number two on Rolling Stone's list of best singles of the year. The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart the same week that Nevermind reached number one on the albums chart.[44] "Teen Spirit" hit number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and has been certified platinum (one million copies shipped) by the Recording Industry Association of America.[45] However, many American Top 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation and restricted it to night-time play.[46]
The single was also successful in other countries. In the United Kingdom, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released on November 18, 1991, reaching number seven on the UK Singles Chart and charting for 184 weeks.[47][48] The song was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal and Best Rock Song.[49] Entertainment Weekly would later name Nirvana's loss to Eric Clapton in the Best Rock Song category as one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history.[50] Outside the United States, the song topped the charts of Belgium, France, New Zealand, and Spain. It charted within the top five of several European countries and reached number five in Australia. It appeared on several year-end charts, including number 10 in New Zealand, number 17 in Belgium and Germany, and number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart.[51]
In the wake of Nirvana's success, Michael Azerrad wrote in a 1992 Rolling Stone article: "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is an anthem for (or is it against?) the 'Why Ask Why?' generation. Just don't call Cobain a spokesman for a generation."[52] Nevertheless, the music press awarded the song an "anthem-of-a-generation" status, placing Cobain as a reluctant spokesman for Generation X.[53] The New York Times wrote that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' could be this generation's version of the Sex Pistols' 1976 single, 'Anarchy in the U.K.', if it weren't for the bitter irony that pervades its title ... as Nirvana knows only too well, teen spirit is routinely bottled, shrink-wrapped and sold".[54]
c80f0f1006