What Does Teen Spirit Smell Like?
As he was pacing the aisles, Kurt Cobain’s musician girlfriend Tobi Vail, from the band Bikini Kill, and her bandmate Kathleen Hanna found a can of deodorant named Teen Spirit. Hanna recalled in 2016 that they were laughing about the name: “I mean, who names a deodorant Teen Spirit?”
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She continued, “What does teen spirit smell like? Like a locker room? Like pot mixed with sweat? Like the smell when you throw up in your hair at a party?” A little graphic, but we get the point. That night, after too much drinking, Hanna was trashing Cobain’s apartment and found a Sharpie.