Kurt's girlfriend in high school used to wear the deodorant Teen Spirit and he liked it so much that he started wearing it too. There's not a whole lot of deep meaning to the lyrics, they're just catchy but that's where the song's title comes from.
You're not stupid. You're just missing the context of being alive at the time. The song fits in a very particular time and place in American culture where commercialism and high-polish pop/rock were overwhelmingly the norm. Nirvana is a cultural counterpoint to that. The line 'Oh well, whatever, nevermind.' kind of sums it up. It's about 'who gives a shit about any of this'. Confusion, nihilism, ambivalence.
Kurt Cobain purposely wrote abstract lyrics. They're very poetic and surreal, and often contradictory and sarcastic. He paints a picture and leaves a lot open for interpretation. That said, he has said (and he does paint a picture of this with the lyrics) that this song is about the apathy of Gen X culture in the 90s - it both embraces and critiques his generation's apathy, and in a way the song is calling for a revolution to break out of the apathy, while simultaneously making fun of the idea a revolution.
The Nirvana song after this one on the album Nevermind is called In Bloom. It has incredible lyrics and it totally rocks - you should react to it next! ua-cam.com/video/PbgKEjNBHqM/v-deo.html
Kurt's girlfriend in high school used to wear the deodorant Teen Spirit and he liked it so much that he started wearing it too. There's not a whole lot of deep meaning to the lyrics, they're just catchy but that's where the song's title comes from.
I think Kurt left the lyrics ambiguous on purpose, to me it felt like he's expressing his frustration
You're not stupid. You're just missing the context of being alive at the time. The song fits in a very particular time and place in American culture where commercialism and high-polish pop/rock were overwhelmingly the norm. Nirvana is a cultural counterpoint to that. The line 'Oh well, whatever, nevermind.' kind of sums it up. It's about 'who gives a shit about any of this'. Confusion, nihilism, ambivalence.
Kurt Cobain purposely wrote abstract lyrics. They're very poetic and surreal, and often contradictory and sarcastic. He paints a picture and leaves a lot open for interpretation. That said, he has said (and he does paint a picture of this with the lyrics) that this song is about the apathy of Gen X culture in the 90s - it both embraces and critiques his generation's apathy, and in a way the song is calling for a revolution to break out of the apathy, while simultaneously making fun of the idea a revolution.
The Nirvana song after this one on the album Nevermind is called In Bloom. It has incredible lyrics and it totally rocks - you should react to it next! ua-cam.com/video/PbgKEjNBHqM/v-deo.html