Smells Like Teen Spirit

기원과 녹음

1994년 1월에 있었던 《롤링 스톤》 인터뷰에서 너바나의 프론트맨 커트 코베인은 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉가, 밴드가 존경한 픽시스 스타일의 곡을 써 보려는 시도였다고 설명했다.
전 궁극의 팝 송을 쓰고 싶었어요. 기본적으로 픽시스를 베끼려고 한 것이죠. 이건 인정하겠어요. 제가 처음 픽시스를 들었던 날, 전 그 밴드와 굉장히 밀접해 있다는 느낌을 받았고, 거기 소속되어야 했다고 생각했어요. 아니면 픽시스의 커버 밴드도 괜찮고요. 우린 그들의, 부드럽고 조용하다가 시끄럽고 하드해지는 식의 극적인 느낌을 사용했습니다.
코베인은 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉을 너바나의 1991년도 두 번째 정규 음반 《Nevermind》의 녹음 개시 몇 주 전까지 쓰지 못하고 있었다. 그가 너바나의 구성원들에게 곡을 처음 보여주었을 당시 곡은 오직 메인 리프와 후렴 보컬 멜로디로 이뤄져 있었다. 베이시스트 크리스 노보셀릭은 당시 이 곡을 "말도 안 된다"며 일축했다. 코베인은 이에 굴하지 않고 밴드가 "한 시간 반 정도" 곡의 리프를 연주하도록 했다. 2001년 인터뷰에서 노보셀릭은 리프를 계속해서 연주한 뒤에 든 생각을 말했다. "'잠시 있어봐. 그냥 박자를 조금 늦추면 어때?' 그래서 전 절 구간을 연주하기 시작했고, 데이브가 드럼 비트를 연주하기 시작했습니다." 그래서 《Nevermind》의 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 크레디트에는 수록곡 중에서는 유일하게도 세 명의 밴드 멤버 모두가 작곡가로 표기되었다.
코베인은 곡의 제목을 자신의 친구이자 당시 라이럿 걸 밴드인 비키니 킬의 리드 싱어 캐서린 해나가 벽에 "커트에게선 틴 스피릿 냄새가 나(Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit)"라고 쓴 데에서 영감을 받았다. 해나는 커트의 당시 여자친구이던 토비 데일이 쓰던 탈취제 틴 스피릿 냄새가 코베인에게서도 난다는 것을 의도하고 썼다. 코베인은 싱글의 출시 몇 달이 지난 후에야 탈취제 브랜드의 이름임을 알았다면서, 자신은 그 슬로건을 무정부주의, 펑크 록 등 관련 주제를 논의하는, 혁명적인 뜻으로 해석했다고 증언했다.
〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉는 〈Come as You Are〉와 같이 1990년경부터 프로듀서 퍼치 빅과 첫 녹음 세션을 가지던 당시 쓴 새로운 곡 중 하나다. 《Nevermind》의 녹음 세션이 시작된 이 시기에 밴드는, 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉를 포함한 곡의 리허설이 수록된 거친 카세트 테이프를 버치 빅에게 전달했다. 당시 테이프의 사운드는 밴드의 높은 음향 연주로 크게 왜곡돼 있었지만, 빅은 멜로디 몇 개를 집어내었고 곡이 잠재력이 있다고 느꼈다. 너바나는 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉를 캘리포니아 반 누이스에 소재한 사운드 시티 녹음 스튜디오에서 1991년 5월에 녹음했다. 빅은 기타 애드립을 후렴 안으로 옮기고 또한 후렴 구간을 줄이는 등 곡의 편곡을 살짝 바꾸는 것을 제안했다. 밴드는 기본 트랙을 3테이크까지 녹음했고 두 번째 것을 선택하기로 결정했다. 빅은 몇 가지 음향 보정을 밴드의 기본 라이브 연주에 섞었는데, 코베인이 자신의 기타 이펙트 페달 간의 전환에서 타이밍을 맞추는 데 어려움을 겪었기 때문이다. 빅은 코베인의 보컬 트랙을 3테이크 까지만 구할 수 있었다. 그는 이렇게 회고했다. "커트가 4테이크까지 녹음하면 운이 좋은 셈이었죠."

가사 및 해석

The lyrics to 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 were often difficult for listeners to decipher, both due to their nonsensicality and because of Cobain's slurred, guttural singing voice. This problem was compounded by the fact that the 《Nevermind》 album liner notes did not include any lyrics for the songs aside from selected lyrical fragments. This incomprehensibility contributed to the early resistance from radio stations towards adding the song to their playlists; one Geffen promoter recalled that people from rock radio told her, "We can't play this. I can't understand what the guy is saying." MTV went as far as to prepare a version of the video that included the lyrics running across the bottom of the screen, which they aired when the video was added to their heavy rotation schedule. The lyrics for the album—and some from earlier or alternate versions of the songs—were later released with the liner notes of the 〈Lithium〉 single in 1992. American rock critic Dave Marsh noted comments by disc jockeys of the time that the song was "the 'Louie Louie' of the nineties" and wrote, "Like 'Louie,' only more so, 'Teen Spirit' reveals its secrets reluctantly and then often incoherently." Marsh, trying to decipher the lyrics of the song, felt after reading the correct lyrics from the song's sheet music that "what I imagined was quite a bit better (at least, more gratifying) than what Nirvana actually sang," and added, "Worst of all, I'm not sure that I know more about [the meaning of] 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' now than before I plunked down for the official version of the facts."
"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted to be a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the song's music video. 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." As Cobain did more interviews, he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the song's meaning. When discussing the song in Michael Azerrad's biography 《Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana》, Cobain revealed that he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age."
The book Teen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes "Teen Spirit" as "a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness." Azerrad plays upon the juxtaposition of Cobain's contradictory lyrics (such as "It's fun to lose and to pretend") and states "the point that emerges isn't just the conflict of two opposing ideas, but the confusion and anger that the conflict produces in the narrator—he's angry that he's confused." Azerrad's conclusion is that the song is "alternately a sarcastic reaction to the idea of actually having a revolution, yet it also embraces the idea." In 《Heavier Than Heaven》, Charles R. Cross' biography of Kurt Cobain, the author argues that the song is a reference to Cobain's relationship with ex-girlfriend Tobi Vail. Cross cites the line "She's over-bored and self-assured" and states the song "could not have been about anyone else." Cross backs up his argument with lyrics which were present in earlier drafts, such as "Who will be the King & Queen of the outcasted  [sic] teens."
Cobain has 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." Drummer Dave Grohl has 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."

뮤직비디오

The music video for 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 was the first for director Samuel Bayer. Bayer stated he believed he was hired because his test-reel was so poor the band anticipated his production would be "punk" and "not corporate." The video was based on the concept of a school concert which ends in anarchy and riot. Inspiration was taken from Jonathan Kaplan's 1979 film, 《Over the Edge》, as well as the Ramones' film 《Rock 'n' Roll High School》. Filmed on a soundstage in Culver City, the video featured the band playing at a pep rally in a high school gym to an audience of apathetic students on bleachers, and cheerleaders wearing black dresses with the Circle-A anarchist symbol. Occasionally, the scene would cut to a janitor (played by Tony De La Rosa) wearing a navy blue jumpsuit and dancing with a push broom handle. The video ends with the assembled students destroying the set and the band's gear. The demolition of the set captured in the video's conclusion was the result of genuine discontent. The extras that filled the bleachers had been forced to stay seated through numerous replays of the song for an entire afternoon of filming. Cobain convinced Bayer to allow the extras to mosh, and the set became a scene of chaos. "Once the kids came out dancing they just said 'fuck you,' because they were so tired of this shit throughout the day," Cobain said. Cobain disliked Bayer's final edit and personally oversaw a re-edit of the video that resulted in the version finally aired. One of Cobain's major additions was the next-to-last shot of the video, which was a close-up of his own face after it had been obscured for most of the video. Bayer noted that unlike subsequent artists he worked with, Cobain did not care about vanity, rather that "the video had something that was truly about what they were about." The video had an estimated budget between $30,000 and $50,000.
Like the song itself, the music video for 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 was well received by critics. 《롤링 스톤》 writer David Fricke described the video as looking like "the greatest gig you could ever imagine." In addition to a number one placing in the singles category, "Teen Spirit" also topped the music video category in the Village Voice's 1991 "Pazz & Jop" poll. The video won Nirvana the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Group awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2000 the 《Guinness World Records》 named "Teen Spirit" the Most Played Video on MTV Europe. In subsequent years Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's Programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving them "a whole new generation to sell to." 《롤링 스톤》 placed the music video for 〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 at number two on their 1993 list of "The 100 Top Music Videos". MTV ranked the song's music video at number three on its "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" list in 1999. VH1 placed the debut of the "Teen Spirit" video at number eighteen on its 2000 list of "100 Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on TV", noting that "the video [ushered] in alternative rock as a commercial and pop culture force." In 2001, VH1 ranked the video fourth on its "100 Greatest Videos" list. The video has been parodied at least twice: in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for 〈Smells Like Nirvana〉 and in Bob Sinclar's 2006 music video for 〈Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)〉.

매체에서의 패러디 및 등장

〈Smells Like Teen Spirit〉 has inspired a few parodies. "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song in 1992 with 〈Smells Like Nirvana〉, a song about Nirvana itself. Yankovic parodied the difficulty in understanding Cobain's singing as well as the lyrics and their meaning. Yankovic has said Kurt Cobain told him he realized that Nirvana had "made it" when he heard the parody. In 1995, the queercore band Pansy Division recorded a parody of the song called "Smells Like Queer Spirit" for its 《Pile Up》 album. Pansy Division guitarist Jon Ginoli insisted that his band's version of the song was not a parody but "an affectionate tribute".
In 1996, a professional wrestling federation named WCW (World Championship Wrestling) debuted a theme song for a wrestler known as 〈Diamond Dallas Page〉. The song, named "Self high-five" resembled very closely to the Smells like teen spirit song. Dave Grohl from Nirvana would take notice and called it a rip off. He also said "WCW owes us money." The music was altered to sound more differently. No lawsuits or further action took place.
The song has also appeared in films. In the 2001 film 《Moulin Rouge!》, the song was sung during the "Can Can" scene introducing the titular nightclub. In the 2011 film 《The Muppets》 and its soundtrack, one of the acts of the Muppet Telethon involves Rowlf the Dog, Link Hogthrob, Sam Eagle, and Beaker performing the song as a barbershop quartet, where unwilling special guest Jack Black accuses them of "ruining one of the greatest songs of all time". A cover of the song (performed by the band Think Up Anger with Malia J) was featured in one of the trailers for the 2015 film 《The Gallows》. In the 2015 film 《Pan》, a version of the song is sung by Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) and the miners when Peter first arrives in Neverland.