Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit- A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2023
- #nirvana #nevermind #smellsliketeenspirit #kurtcobain
A good solid Rock style piece of music, and I really “got it”! I can say, “Yeah, smells like teen spirit!”. “Oh well, whatever, never mind”, it sounds great!
Here’s the link to the original song by Nirvana:
• Nirvana - Smells Like ...
Here's the link to Schubert's An Der Musik:
• An die Musik, D. 547
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
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Credits: Music written and performed by Nirvana
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Funnily enough, Schubert's "An die Musik" was chosen as my singing assignment when I studied vocal at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. While studying it I noticed the (almost) similarities in the opening vocal lines of this and "Teen Spirit" that, when I performed it live at the student recital, I sang some of Kurt's lyrics to fit over the Schubert melody, much to the chagrin and delight of various teachers and faculty in the audience that night.
Seeing Ms. Shafer realize this Schubert/Cobain connection reinforced my feeling that I'm not alone in this observation.
Godspeed, Amy, Vlad, and little Liesel...
I'm hearing only the most tenuous similarities between the two melodies. Maybe I need to go back and listen again (and again and again . . . ).
A "teenage spirit" might most desperately be in need of being "transposed into a better world" by music's "sweet, holy chords" (as Schober's lyrics in Schubert's song expressed it), so no wonder if some melodic parts in Nirvana's song reek of "An die Musik" ("to music"). Holde Kunst, indeed!
I almost broke my neck banding my head to this song back then.
Wow it is very similar!
Wow! Unbelievable connection... I love it!
Tom Petty noted that this song was like a scythe across the music scene, cutting down old tropes and opening the field again.
great analogy
Tom Petty noted..... It was an interview with VH1 not
Why change your dialect bc she's a classical musician? I bet you typed with your pinky up too.
@@FURTHER_ADO What are you talking about? What OP wrote was a completely normal sentence. How you managed to see some kind of obnoxious pretentiousness in what he said is beyond me.
Not to mention that you don't even know this person, so how do you know that they 'changed their dialect' and weren't just speaking as they would normally?
What a delusional thinking. This song has not a gram of importance related to anything.
@@bygmesterfinnegan6938 watch out for Capt. Contrary. He always holds the opposite opinion on anything popular mmaaaaaannnnnn, even if he's never heard,watched, etc whatever he's telling you is trash. Hes a rebel.
In 1991 I was 39 years old, and I wore out my cassette of Nevermind (only cassette I ever wore out). Now in 2023 I'm 71 and this song still literally sends shivers up my spine. So it is not SOLELY teen music.
🫵🪨
I loved it then, I will love it forever.
You're my hero! I'm 41 and try hard to listen to music that is current rather than sticking to the music of my youth. How did / do you feel about Soundgarden? What modern bands do you listen to? I would suggest Turnstile being at the top of the game.
@@7king8debs79 Thanks for the kind words but actually I lost touch with current music trends in the late 90's. I saw Soundgarden, they are ok, but I prefer the similar Mudhoney, who actually still perform. I love Be Your Own Pet, but only the stuff before 2015. The only current performers I pay attention to anymore are Sigur Rós and Jack White. Thanks for the Turnstyle tip, I'll check 'em out.
@ichirofakename Sigur Ros are an incredible band. I saw them live a few years ago and almost wept. If you like that sound try 65daysofstatic - a very inventive band like Sigur. Who's the best band you've seen live?
If you were a part of Gen X then this song changed your world. We went from hair metal and GnR on constant radio airplay to alternative music taking over in a moment. This song changed the culture completely and gave Gen X a voice and an anthem. Just what we needed! This song changed the music, fashion and attitude of the 90s completely.
@@nathananderson3355agreed - Nirvana seemed a logical step from the preceding decade of SST & Sub Pop; Husker Du, Black Flag, Minutemen/Firehose etc… I guess ‘Nevermind’ & ‘Ten’ just took it to a new global & mainstream level… 🤷
@@nathananderson3355Right, so it went from 10% of genX’ers to 90% of genX’ers. A seismic change..
So glad I found this, Kurt loved contradictions .
You should give Oingo Boingo a listen. “Just another Day” would be one others have tried . Danny Elfman is behind it
@@nathananderson3355 no teen listened to those emo borefests in the 90s. they got a huge boost from MTV. late 80s electro would have gone the way of 70s disco if not for music television.
@@rhodriwilliams2891 nirvana was a break the glass cut from 70/80s 99% garbage music. NO person on the planet has any idea what SST & Sub Pop; Husker Du, Black Flag, Minutemen/Firehose is.
Nobody EVER played the Harp along to Smells like Teen Spirit .... UNTIL NOW! 😂😂😂
I did once during my harp phase, but that was a while back, and I try to forget about those days.
Yeah, so good! :)
The song is generally seen as an anthem of the alienation, disaffection, and frustration felt by teenagers in a cynical commercial world built by conscienceless adults. Not fun, but tortured. It is specifically a protest against the commercialization of rock music.
Tori Amos sings a provocative, respectful cover of the song that shows it in a different light. I like the live version - just Tori and her piano and those lyrics. Live at Montreaux in 1992.
Thank you for this tip. I love Tori Amos but never knew about this cover. I will check her live perfomance :D
Patti Smith has a version too.
the name of the song "smells like teen spirit" is misleading and has nothing to do with an on-purpose teenage anthem...it was a private joke with one close friend at the time, Kathleen Hannah (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) because Cobain at the time was in a relationship with Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill drummer) who used "Teen Spirit" a discount deodorant spray adn it was a mockery by Kathleen Hannah that KC thought was fun to re-use...
@@StonerMatt According to information that I find online, Kurt Cobain did not know that Teen Spirit was a deodorant when he wrote the song. He made up his own meaning.
@@noncounterproductive4596that makes it even cooler.
It's amazing how you managed to discuss this song so accurately without using the term "angst" a single time.
Greetings from Germany
Rick Beato in one of his videos explained how Kurt Cobain would write these super rich melodies and he would also play lots of diminished chords, leaving out the notes he would sing on top of the mix to really get that vocal through!
Rick Beato is wonderful.
Really, I wonder why I haven't seen any diminished chords come up yet when following youtube videos for nirvana tutorials. Although I don't really know what a diminished chord looks like. I just recall a lot of power chords and open chords.
there are no diminished chords on nevermind on the guitar. he means something else i guess. @@DaLeSy.
@@mattwalsh9413 yes the notes in the melody and bass fill out the basic chords of the guitar parts in to more interesting chords.
For me, its the melody writing of Kurt Cobain, its very underated in my opinion. Everytime I hear this song played on piano, it makes my eyes water with a mix of emotions. Its hauntingly beautiful.
Why do you think its very underrated?
You mean the Tori Amos version?
ua-cam.com/video/HaAI3jI7uCc/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GeorgeBopper
I’ve heard some (Rick Beato for one) say they think Kurt was one of the best melody writer ever.
@@heidichristensen7919 From a technical standpoint, Kurt Cobain songwriting skills are only recognized now. Before that, Kurt Cobain was criticized for his lack of technicality on the guitar and the fact that his song are simple to play. It took years for lot a people to recognize that to play a Nirvana song is fairly easy but to write like Kurt did is a different task.
@@qbsrd it’s sad. I live in Seattle, and even I didn’t appreciate Nirvana or grunge in general until about 10 years ago.
While the song is an anthem for teenage angst, it’s also the antithesis to the complexities of the more the more skillful bands (think Metallica). This is essentially what Nirvana is.
Ironically enough, Kurt Cobain highlighted what can come from mastering the basics. Basics meaning simple power chords and arpeggios based on those chords. He wrote vocal melodies that were perfect for his guitar riffs.
Songs like “Heart-Shaped Box”, “Pennyroyal Tea”, “Serve the Servants”, “Lithium”, and “Drain You” all have very sophisticated, yet playful chord progressions that fun to listen, sing along, or play guitar with. These are also worth checking out at some point
When you add Dave Grohl’s thunderous drums and Krist Novoselic’s heavy-hitting bass lines, and the emotion-filled vocals (and lyrics) of Kurt Cobain you get some of the most sonically pleasing, accessible and expressive music that has given a voice to the feelings and emotions of so many to this day.
RIP Kurt Cobain 🙏
What's insane is that I was in my mid 20s when this came out and I was huge into the grunge sound (and then nu metal) as I hated the 80s rock and hair bands. (I also liked the heavy metal which we called "thrash" such as Metallica and Metal Church.) But I never had MtV, so I maybe saw half of one Nirvana video. And I NEVER KNEW KURT COBAINE PLAYED GUITAR UNTIL TODAY. I thought he just did vocals. How did I never know Kurt played guitar?! Anyway, I agree with your analysis!
For many teens in the 90's this song had a seismic effect. I had a friend who got into Nirvana early on, when the album Bleach came out, so when Nevermind was released we were eagerly waiting. 'Teen Spirit' was the obvious hit on the album but it was full of great songs with energy, rage and disaffection. It gave a voice to a generation of people who were unhappy with their lives but struggled to express it.
I hope I am not the only one that still can't express it properly.
It had an effect on me as an adult . . .
This song may not have happened without Punk Rock in the late 70s so worth listening to some to put this song into context . The Sex Pistols is the place to start imo
“Bleach” is a GREAT album, btw.
That feeling is still there
The reason the song a hit is that it was nothing that was currently playing on the radio at that time. It was the end of the glam/hair heavy metal era of the 1980s. Heavy metal was becoming too corporate and safe losing its wild dark roots. Nirvana went back too the era of 1970s punk where it was more raw and chaotic. This fresh unexpected sound shook up the industry.
I suggest doing "Heart Shaped Box" next.
It's almost like someone splashing cold water on your face. It's almost shocking and unexpected compared to basically anything out at the time. It forces you to take notice of it. As the song progresses you can almost feel the music industry evolving in real time and pop culture entering into a new era.
Granted I was 10 when this came out so my memories of the era might be mixed with what I've learned since then but I can't help but feel that way every time I hear that song. 80s music feels like its before my era but from Nirvana on it actually feels like "my" era of music.
Now I have heard Nirvana with harp accompaniment - my life is complete!
Not with a harp but worth a listen:
ua-cam.com/video/_NlQ1sMl1d4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=PostmodernJukebox
i love her very vanilla innocence.
definitely embracing purity outside of her comfort zone. her reactions upon hearing TS for the first time, priceless.
then her breakdown of the song in her own language resinates with what many many others have said about Teen Spirit, which is a goid thing. Cause it's such a simple song, but its how it grabs you and takes you on that journey is testimony to it's brilliance.
well done harp lady 😊
You just have to remember what it was like to be a teen…
Introspective, unsure, feigning apathy, and then- releasing all that potential power you don’t really know how to channel.
Like Punk, Grunge is less about composition and musicality and more about attitude.
Something in the quality of Kurt’s voice was instantly relatable to the misfits of that generation.
It’s interesting how you mentioned that the “hey, yay” section could have repeated a couple more times. When they wrote this song initially that’s actually how they played it. The producer Butch Vig told them to cut that part in half and they did. There is actually a rough demo version out there where they play that part longer.
Somebody very early on in this channel told Amy she would make a fantastic producer. And after watching so many videos, I agree.
This has such a sad and melancholic melody I am surprised it wasn't mentioned.
In fact, I think this is what the song taps into and the reason for its popularity. Not the energy (although it has energy). And not the contrasting elements (although it certainly has contrasting elements). But rather, this gloomy depressed mood which is expressed so perfectly and unpretentiously in a song that plugs itself right into the mains of that feeling.
Unpretentiously? 😆 🤣 😂
@@thekaratekidpartii2169 wheels on the bus is overrated
@@docsavage8640Do you not know who wrote those lyrics? Kurt Cobain was probably the most genuinely melancholic artist since Vincent Van Gogh for Chrissakes.... I'm old enough to have lived through it so I still remember it:
The mainstream's criticism of Kurt Cobain from 1991-94 was that he needed to smile more. That his dour countenance was unattractive. There were endless panels of brand managers & PR agents encouraging him to have more fun, and show more appreciation for his success. Tabloid magazines and TV shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood would always have sections devoted to solving why this guy was so angry and depressed despite being rich and famous with a celebrity wife and new baby. The paparazzi followed him and Courtney relentlessly just to hopefully get a photo of him being happy when no one was looking.
Let me tell ya..... few were captured. Kurt was a riddle no one could crack. The paparazzi in America was actually founded on chasing rock stars in the 80s. Nowadays they chase no-talent 304s like the Kardashians, but back in those days the public wanted to see Van Halen, Motley Crue, and Guns N Roses' backstage debauchery, or the relationships of rock stars and supermodels. The paparazzi had the in-road to rock n roll at the time. They had sources everywhere. The only constant was Kurt Cobain never being anyone but the pissed off punk rocker you saw in his music videos.
Nirvana changed western culture with one song. And I’m thrilled I was there for it.
Yeah but we need another Nirvana, right now.
For a while. We’re right back where we started, in a way. Or set back even further, actually.
@@mabusestestament vague platitudes like this don’t add anything of value to the conversation. Feel free to elaborate if you have anything of substance to contribute
@@DefenestrateYourself
Only if you say please.
@@mabusestestament dance monkey, dance
Like other posters mentioned in the comments, this song came out at the tail end of almost a decade of hair bands and glam rock. This song smashed all those stereotypes of dudes wearing hairspray and make up. It might not be the best or most sophisticated song but it was needed and us gen xers loved it!
"it was needed" - that's the best 3 word description of why this song and band were so effective and so loved.
I was 30 when Nevermind was released, and it felt like a great release, a return to my teenage years in the ‘70s. The raw energy was so welcome after the hair bands of the ‘80s. Now in my early 60’s I can still feel it. I loved your take on this! Thank you!
I totally get that. I was 34 at the time and had never been turned on by '80's metal. Nirvana and '90's music in general as you say, felt like a return to a '70's sensibility. My kids were teens in the '90's so I got lots of exposure through them (as well as turning them on to '60's and '70's rock).
The “stutter” that you refer to at the beginning of the song always had a bit of an echo of a hip hop beat where the DJ is scratching out an LP. It also has the power of a dam bursting which is about to throw a sonic tidal wave at you. 🎶 🌊
Thank-you for this review.
I was 14 years old when this dropped...
And it changed everything..
Myself, my friends,...we all changed.
🙏 thank you Kurt.
Yes. I said that out loud to myself the first time I saw this. I guess I was 20? I said, "the world just changed." And it did. Overnight.
I'm in my mid-50s and this song is so raw, simple, unsophisticated, and primitive that it cuts through all the bubble gum spandex rock of the 80s. It satisfies at a deeper level. I'm proof you don't need to be a teenager to appreciate the unrefined things in life.
i felt the same way when the strokes first came out
You're the same age as me then...Kurt would be 57 if he was alive now
Nirvana is arguably the most influential band of the whole of the 1990s. They completely changed the face of popular music. Nirvana influenced every genre of popular music and ultimately popularized alternate rock, pop rock, and even associated metal groups. Their influence has been felt in the entirety of the "bad boy" eras of Pop, Rock, and even leaking into moody Rap and Hip Hop pieces time and again.
ya arguable is the correct word.
I’m glad you brought up the drums, I think it’s the first time on this channel that you’ve heard the work of Dave Grohl. He’s an amazing drummer, but also a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, piano, and bass at least). After Cobain’s death, he formed his own group called Foo Fighters, actually releasing an initial album where he played every part of every track before getting together a band to play live and record other albums. Hopefully their work will show up here eventually.
I love how she analyzes. So in touch and unbiased. Giving a truth and honest take. While going deep at the same time. #wantmore
Yass! Really get that too. And the feeling that regardless of whether it's her sort of music, she's enthusiastic about it , the elements, the composition and what it creates. A genuine openness to learning and teaching.
I can easily imagine Amy sitting down with Dave Grohl (or many other metal/rock musicians) in a studio and spending hours engrossed in deep diving
Are you serious? She is literally pretending to have never heard Nirvana or Smells Like Teen Spirit before. This is so obviously bullshit.
It should be a crime that they shortened the solo on this music video. Someone needs to go to prison for this.
Energetic.. cinematic.. power.. this song set the tone for the early 90's.. it was a moment in time that will never come again.
I love this break down.
To this day I’m stirred by a memory of this song - as if a “where were you when moment.” I was from the Seattle area, so had heard grunge, been in mosh pits, so the sound wasn’t entirely new to me. But then I went off to school at the Naval Academy, where freedom gets stripped from you the first year, and they try to break you down. It was not an easy time. Being on the sailing team there, I was able to get away from it by going to the sailboat I was crew on, and studying there. One day on the boat studying, I had the radio on, and then the DJ announced “and now here’s a new track from a Seattle band, Nirvana, called ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’” Then that Seattle sound, and then the drums rolling in, and then for a moment it was the biggest release of stress … like I was free in lifting a big middle finger to my small world … I felt home, I felt free, I yelled and screamed in complete joy.
this is a breakdown... ua-cam.com/video/l1ZnWc-sFd0/v-deo.html
What a beautiful, vivid telling of this story! Made me tear up a bit. Thank you for sharing!
I was 23 when I first heard this song, and I understood it immediately.
Profoundly.
I’m so happy it continues to have the same impact on new listeners.
That is what great music does.
This sing still sends a shiver up my spine 32 years after it's release....wonderful...!!
Great reaction and analysis, glad you finally got to this one. I was certainly one of the ones advocating in the comments for you to do this during the Rock History series, since I think it is one of the more important songs to represent the 90s. While I thought it was important from a rock history perspective, I didn't think you would particularly enjoy it. So I was pleasantly surprised that you appreciated it more than I thought you would. I think having a years worth of rock listening experience has helped you appreciate it more now than you would have earlier in your journey.
I was thinking basically the same!
@@Marnee4191 Hey Marnee! Good to see you here. I haven't seen you around for awhile. Although I haven't been reading through the comments as much lately so I may have missed some you have been making.
As a kid of the 70’s, it’s recognizably the most important song of the 90’s. Everything was different before.
The year 1991 has been exceptional for bringing us a tons of iconic songs and albums and this is one of these. November Rain by Guns and Roses is even better to me, Losing my Religion by REM, One by U2, Innuendo (the whole slbum) by Queen, Under the Bridge by RHCP and Nothing else Matters by Metallica, just to name a few. What a great year of music!
@@cristianovia yes. Such a great year of amazing albums. REM were finally considered mainstream and were one of the bands that laid the foundation for the decade to come.
I think the point about smells like teen spirit is that it really laid waste to the previous landscape. I didn’t let go of all that I loved before, but somehow anything was possible.
Watching Mary play Nirvana on her harp made my day
Who is Mary? 😂
For me the song is unique for its exceptional dynamics. Melancholy and perhaps even lethargy changing into unleashed push. Personally, I love drums with heavy cymbal hits and interesting pattern which allows to feel the charge when it awakes.
This is a fabulous analysis! I love that Amy focused on how teens would relate to this; because I was already an adult when this became popular, I was more focused on it as a piece that was critical of the music industry, and the culture that surrounded it.
ua-cam.com/video/l1ZnWc-sFd0/v-deo.html
I remember being very confused by all the noise when I first listened to "Nevermind". It wasn't until after I heard the "MTV unplugged" recording that I was able to return to the original recording and hear the song structure under the arrangement. I also find it interesting that while most singers who have a message in the lyrics are very careful about enunciation, Kurt Cobain is almost singing in a drawl (obviously intentionally rather than through any lack of ability).
Same. It took Unplugged to really turn me on to Nirvana.
Lovely reaction. This is from my generation (I'm now 58) and I still relate to it, even though it's a long time since I was a teenager! One thing I would like to mention, is that if you notice here, Kurt is singing in a lower register in the verses, and the guitar drops out to give the vocal sonic space to breathe in the song. The guitar and voice occupy similar sonic space, so it's often a trick producers use to get a vocal more room, especially with a baritone vocal. (not to say Kurt is a baritone) which would otherwise be lost in a dense mix. When the guitars come in on the chorus, the vocal is higher and more intense, and can compete with the guitars.
I do wonder then how, for example in Creep, you can hear the vocals so clearly? In the chorus, they're in the same, actually a bit lower register than Kurt's vocals in Teen Spirit, so with the super loud distorted guitar, why can we hear them so clearly?
Kurt was a huge fan of the Beatles since very early childhood
Now Amy must do "Smells like Nirvana" by Weird Al Yankovic.
Never thought I would hear the bass line played on a harp!😂 I love this channel!!!
kurt had a knack for singing a melody that often times was the missing note in the chords he was playing
A couple of contributing factors that made this song so impactful are the following. In the decade before this commercial radio was dominated by hair metal bands that were dying a slow death and classic rock that appeared to be immortal. At the other end of the spectrum was Michael Jackson and other stale R&B acts that interestingly were about to be dethroned by a wave of new Hip Hop. People were ready for a new era of music, and it was bubbling just under the surface with acts like Janes Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. What the Nirvana Album had that shot it to the moon was for one the production of this album. While masquerading as a grunge or punk act this album has a made for radio pop production sound. Really well produced. Not nearly as raw as the previously mentioned acts. The songs were so catchy and easy to sing along with without having to know the words. Kurt wrote songs that had a pop sensibility. Not forgetting that the rhythm section had such driving catchy grooves. It was a perfect storm of factors that sent them to the stratosphere.
Let's hope for some Pixies after this
Debaser or Holiday Song would be the obvious ones for me. Monkey would be a cop out.
I heard this song when it first came out on MTV. I found it so deeply disturbing, I had to turn it off (against my sister's protests). It really connected with me and I could feel the pain and was discomforted by it. I appreciate it deeply still today, but also feel the trouble in it. There is power, a strong magnet there, but it has never been a happy entertainment for me.
I simply loved this
Wow.....the harp and Kurt's voice....you bring tears to my eyes.....thank you for this understanding of the feel of the music
They got some of their dynamics from Pixies. The pixies played very soft and very loud giving them a sharp dynamic contrast. Nirvana was a breath of fresh air for us Generation X kids. Coming off the boring hair metal of the 1980's we needed this desperately. Cheers,
Indeed. I remember an interview with Dave Grohl stating that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was an actual Pixie's rip-off.
The song is an expression of humanity by channelling the raw emotion of a disaffected generation of youth. Its a song with profound meaning that technique and composition alone can never convey at such scale.
You should check out “Weird Al” Yankovic’sp parody of this song called “Smells Like Nirvana”. He changed the lyrics to make fun of Kurt Cobain’s lack of pronunciation and mimicked many elements of the music video with complete accuracy.
One of the things I love about this song, is that at the same time it is using that "teen energy" like so many other rock songs, it is being critical of that attitude. "We're stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us!" Love your channel. I have been wondering lately what you might do with a song by the group Sonic Youth. In particular, their song "Schizophrenia" would be a really nice one to review, I think. Just a thought.
Also, I remember being 22 in a bar with a whole bunch of other young folks people clad in the uniform of that time (motorcycle jackets and long hair) and watching everyone's head start banging to this song when it came on. It was actually a really beautiful moment.
Tori Amos does a cover of this song on extended album Little Earthquakes. Just a piano and her vocals. Its stripped down and shows how beautiful this song is.
This song single handedly ended 80s hair metal.
It was like a bomb going off in your face. I'd been waiting for it without knowing what it was I wanted.
Thank god.
I only partly agree with this. The hair band music was already in decline, much as grunge and alternative died in the late 90s when corporate pop and rap took over.
This song changed EVERYTHING. I was 11 and living in California at the time - but suddenly everyone was dressing like they were from Seattle. So many Grunge bands came out of Seattle and changed the culture and the fashion of the times in the early 90s.
Bravo! for listening to whole piece first before breaking it down.
Accolades aside, Grunge in general and this song in particular really shaped popular music history. Rock and Metal music wasn't the same afterwards. I was reaching the end of my teenage years when that song hit and I remember exactly how it felt: It was totally different from everything I had loved in the 80s but it felt so right! It felt like something that desperately needed to happen. A revolution.
kurt turned nasal singing into an art form. his singing voice was basically everything a vocal teacher would tell you not to do, but he made it into his own style.
Broad As. Nirvahhnahh. Super influential on the 90s and everything that came after. Kind of famous for being difficult to understand what he's singing. Weird Al's parody of this song, Smells Like Nirvana, is all about that. The first verse is "What is this song all about?/Can't figure any lyrics out/How do the words to it go?/I wish you'd tell me, I don't know."
Speaking of Weird Al, I don't know if you'd ever want to do him on the channel, though he's kind of an important undercurrent of the music world for the last 40 years or so, but doesn't just do rock songs. Might be fun to give the music videos a watch on your own though. Another good one for you, given where you grew up, would be his parody video of Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise called Amish Paradise, though it's more Lancaster than other communities. His first big hit was a parody of Queen's Another One Bites the Dust called Another One Rides the Bus.
Also, rather good to watch the music videos in general for any song from the 80s to the 2000s or so or whenever MTV stopped actually being MTV. They are kind of important for the time.
She should do weird al's version! Yes!
The thing that feels good to me about a lot of these songs is the way they release aggression and anger type moods in higher form through catharsis, but musically here it's the restrained and somewhat wobbly tension of the teenage mind (clean guitar through a flanger pedal) being blasted into surprisingly explosive release with a really good, even distorted tone. I love that it sounds like corduroy to you, we wore a lot of it in this era lmao
When i heard that song in the 90s, i knew we were on the top of times and it all would go down from here.
Leave it to Amy to catch part of the melody might be a Schubert cover. I love it.
I’ve heard a few breakdowns of Nirvanas music, but hearing from a classical viewpoint is fascinating. Going to look for your Beatles videos now!
Good plan. Don't stop with the Beatles, though. She has impressive insights on pretty much every song she analyzes.
That sustained feedback during the third verse is the icing on the cake of this song. Always loved that part.
You just made a connection for me. I’m a huge fan of an underground rapper out of New York named Aesop Rock. He has a line in a song called “Bug Zapper” where he says…
“I still row boats out of bottles without abandon
To shrink into the sunset bumpin Pachelbel’s Cannon”
And now I understand. Time to check out that piece.
Love your wonderful reactions and insightful analysis- now you have a frame of reference for Weird Al's Smells Like Nirvana :). ps I much prefer you watch a video first as you do here without commenting too much and then returning as I think it has an effect when there are a lot of interuptions.
In the late 90's I had just moved into an apartment on the 2nd with my newlywed wife. New neighbors moved in the 1st floor, two young men who loved to party into the wee hours playing loud music. Despite my requests to stop being loud by 10 pm they continued until I had enough. One early morning when knew they were hung over I decided to play my music...full blast. You guessed it, the first 30 seconds of smells like teen spirit shaking the whole building was enough to suddenly respect my requests. 😂
Changed my life, that song. That band
Kurt was a huge Beatles fan.
It only took me about 20 years to notice that title of the song isn't in the lyrics :-) And yet, that title is an important part of the song's mood and identity.
The lyrics always remind me now of a study I read about in an old book on physical touch between animals such as humans. They were looking at groups of strangers and people’s comfort levels with being themselves within the group. I forget the specifics of the experimental setup-they might have asked the group to work together to accomplish a task, or something like that. What they found was, people felt much more comfortable being themselves and being around this group of (vetted) strangers when the lights were off and they had to rely more on touch than vision to interface with other people. Makes sense: touch is inherently connecting, sight is inherently disconnecting-we feel other people connected to us, we see them apart from us.
Maybe, scientifically speaking, that’s the function of the dim basements and school dances teenagers tend to hang out in: facilitates social connection and self-expression within the group, without reliance on any substances!
Anyway, I first heard this song when I was very much the target audience, and it completely changed my worldview and the types of music I wanted to listen to. Just like it did to the music industry as a whole when it exploded onto the scene. There’s a clear “before” and “after” tied directly to this song, in my mind. Speaking of contrast, I think it’s best understood in contrast with what came directly before (whether we’re talking about cheesy 80s music, or the singsongy stuff kids might hear a lot of in grade school, etc before they gain control over their listening experience.)
I remember being utterly motionless my heart pounding mouth open, couldn't believe what I was hearing ,I was stunned it was so good, when the song came on the radio. Real rock was back!!! Oh that tiresome, insipid 80's music was swept away with this one song. It was earth shattering at the time. I still love grunge For me, it was about the sound first, the alienation second!
i wasn’t even a teen and remember the song just blew me away. i was off the couch, headbanging, lurching. couldn’t help it. my first nirvana song and what an experience it was. rip kurt
Kurt 'melody' Cobain. These songs will be sung and played for years
Wish we had more punk and grunge today
The chats or Amyl and the Sniffers, give them a listen.
Need to take a break, now, and listen to/watch 'Weird Al Yankovic's' parody version ... it's a real kick. Enjoying your reaction and analysis (as always), and will continue ... Thanks!! ...
(continued)... Great comments, reaction, and analysis. I listened to 'An die Musik ... did recognize some resemblance ... cool! Music is so like that ... a bit limited to a range of sounds, but unlimited when stretched and massaged into magical transformations, ad infinitum ... it's a wonder!
Contrast is a "trademark" of grunge, it's been used in many music, of course (Beethoven), but one of the grunge precursors on this were the "Pixies", another band to add to your list :).
Which song would you want her to analyze? So much variation, it's hard to choose a song that defines the Pixies sound. My vote is for Caribou.
I wish more alternative rock bands had incorporated surf into their sound like the pixies did. I love the surf in Joey Santiago's guitar so much that i tried to get into actual surf music but it was too much, the Pixies just sprinkle it in, leaving me wanting more.
@@furryhoof647 "Monkey Goes To Heaven", "Gigantic", obviously the hit "Where is my mind", so many to mention ! :)
Caribou yes, as the proud father of a canadian boy, I love this song too :).
I would recommend "Wave of Mutilation" or "Debaser".
@@elevenseven-yq4vu Yeah, Debaser of course, how could I forget, and I love Wave of mutilation too.. Indeed, problem is, when you really like a band's work, it's often difficult to reduce to one or two tracks, so many good stuff I'd put most as #1 :)
@@elevenseven-yq4vuWhile Debaser is glorious and iconic among Pixies fans, i dunno if a classical musician can appreciate it at first hearing, or ever.
Wave of Mutilation is definitely one of the songs i recommend to new listeners, and Where is my mind.
My very hard to choose top 5:
Caribou
Velouria
River Euphrates (i think i'm alone on this one)
Tie between Levitate Me, Nimrod's Son, Wave of Mutilation and Crackity Jones
(lol i cheated)
This was a very fun and insightful video.
It would be interesting to see your opinion of Sonic Youth from a musical perspective.
In an interview with Pharrell, Dave Grohl(Nirvana's drummer) stated that most of his beats on Nevermore were basically disco/funk beats such as the very beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit is The Gap Bands - Early In The Morning
I laughed so hard at Pharrell's reaction. It was so authentic.
There are many songs from Nirvana that I like more than this... but this hit the spot that makes somehow great or big and gather the people!!! Thank you for your work!!! Much appreciated!!! From Argentina...
As a teenager, I spent 90% of my money on music, 40% of that was taking chances on bands I'd never heard. The day Nevermind came out, well before this video was released, I was at my go-to music shop looking for new music and the owner, Brandt (RIP) said I needed to check out this band, Nirvana. I asked who they sounded like. He said they don't sound like anyone. "Uh huh," I said, "No really, everyone sounds like someone. if you had to, who would you compare them to."
He paused to think about it. Eventually, he came back with , "it's like Metallica meets the Beatles." I said, "I"m in."
"Rather like corduroy... there's a thickness and softness to it."
Some would say it's like FLANNEL.
Forgive me, Kurt.
They actually did do they “hey yay” part multiple times when the song was first conceived. Butch Vig the producer suggested making it shorter for maximum impact and catchiness 🙏🏼
Thanks to this song, I became a fan of music. All styles of good music. More than this: I became a fan of all kinds of art. Even more than this: I became an artist myself...
Best Virgin Rock video so far. IMO.
It’s fascinating what you can do with a couple of powerchords and an F sharp, minor pentatonic scale 😅. I remember reading in Kurt Cobain‘s autobiography heavier than heaven that he wanted to create a sound that had the melodic feel of the Beatles, and the heaviness of AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin in one.
"Heavier Than Heaven" is NOT an autobiography. Charles R. Cross, a well regarded music publisher, journalist, and historian in Seattle wrote the biography about Kurt. I gave him a few suggestions in advance on who to interview in Aberdeen for his book, as Aberdeen is my hometown.
Great review. It was 1993 when I had the honor of seeing Nirvana in concert. Kurt sounds just the same in concert as he did on the album. Best concert ever!
I saw them as well. He certainly did not sound like he did on the album. But great show nonetheless
I've been watching your videos for a couple of months now, I love them. All the music you are reviewing, is music I grew up with. It's great to see a classical musician look at this music technically and see the beauty in rock music that other classical musicians would disregard because it's different from what they've heard most of their life. I'd love to have long discussions about music with you but that'll never happen because we come from completely different lives, but that is what's great about your videos. Love your videos, keep doing what you're doing
Great reaction and reflections! Another part II think is important is, for those teens for whom this track resonates, this song is really accessible to play for those starting their musical journeys (like many Nirvana songs!). So, not only is it a release of teenage angst because of listening to it, but also because young musicians can pick up an instrument, play it quite easily, and release that angst through being part of the music and connecting more cathartically. For me and I'm sure many others, these were the first rock songs I learned.
Thank you a lot for what you are doing! The connexion you made with Shubert makes a lot of sense. Cobain was kind of a romantic, veery touching in his way to express pain and dispair. By the rhe way, have you noticed the yodeling in his singing?
Greetings from France!
Even though I was in my mid-40's when this song came out I still related to how it spoke to my teen self of years ago. And it's still one of my "crank up the volume" tunes in the car!
FYI, this version you listened to was edited down. For instance, the opening hard riff and also guitar solo are cut short.
They owe a lot of their sound to the Boston band Pixies.
They owed a little to Husker Du as well.
and Beatles.
Before moving on, just for a laugh, and to see the attention to detail he puts into his parodies, see Weird Al Yankovic's "Smells Like Nirvana". You might have heard the word nirvana in a different context. It is the term for the ultimate state beyond all suffering that Buddhists aspire to, but like the word "Zen", it gets used out of context.
"It doesn't sound shy." And we have our nominee for Understatement Of The Year award. A seriously excellent and deep analysis. cheers.
Thank you !! your analysis is so thourough ,it leaves no questions ! im so glad your doing this !your the best #1
Love the sauna/cold plunge analogy. That applies as well to the iconic "2112" by Rush. That one being additionally interspersed with some lovely, melodic intricacies throughout. I love your descriptive style Amy! 👏
Great analysis and interpretation. It captures that feeling and gives the chance to release it out.
It is so easy for anyone listening to this for the first time today to miss how different grunge/alternate music was at the time this song/album rocketed up the charts. It was coming out at a time that most rock stations was 80 hair bands anthems and ballods. Granted there was other formats commonly available like earlier hip hop, classic rock, pop/soul, and country.
This song changed the landscape of music at the time. I say Nirvana a few weeks before it came out in a small club in Hawaii and when they played SLTS the room was electric. We knew something was coming in that raspy howl.
I was a fan but it took years for me to recognize the beauty of the arrangements. The orchestral treatment of Heart Shaped Box on HBOs Westworld soundtrack made me go back and relisten. Maybe not for an episode but worth listening too.