Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
“Load up on guns, bring your friends
It’s fun to lose and to pretend
She’s over-bored and self-assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word”
The song that brought Nirvana (and grunge music) into the mainstream and teen angst to the forefront of a generation was inspired by a beautiful combination of deodorant, drunken antics and a breakup.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images
It was the song that spawned about a thousand grunge bands and changed the course of popular music as we knew it. Smells Like Teen Spirit was conceived in a grocery store in Olympia, Washington, back in August 1990.