| "Smells Like Teen Spirit" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byNirvana | ||||
| from the albumNevermind | ||||
| B-side | ||||
| Released | September 10, 1991 (1991-09-10) | |||
| Recorded | May 1991 | |||
| Studio | Sound City (Van Nuys,California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | DGC | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| Nirvana singles chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
 US CD single | ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Smells Like Teen Spirit" onYouTube | ||||
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock bandNirvana. It is the opening track andlead single from the band's second album,Nevermind (1991), released onDGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it is one of thebest-selling songs of all time. The success propelledNevermind to the top of several albums charts and is often marked as the point whengrunge entered the mainstream.[2] It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain.
The guitarist and singer,Kurt Cobain, described "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as an attempt to write "the ultimate pop song", inspired by the soft-and-loud dynamics ofthe Pixies. The title derives from a phrase written by his friendKathleen Hanna, the singer of theriot grrrl bandBikini Kill: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit." Hanna was referencing the deodorantTeen Spirit, but Cobain misinterpreted it as a revolutionary slogan.
The music video depicts a high schoolpep rally which ends in chaos, inspired byJonathan Kaplan's 1979 filmOver the Edge and theRamones' filmRock 'n' Roll High School. It won twoMTV Video Music Awards, and was in heavy rotation onMTV during the 1990s. Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's programming department, said the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving the channel "a whole new generation to sell to". In 2000, theGuinness World Records named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the most played video onMTV Europe.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was met with acclaim and described as an "anthem for apathetic kids" ofGeneration X. It was included in theRock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". In 2001, theRecording Industry Association of America ranked it number 80 on theirSongs of the Century list. In 2002,NME named it the second-greatest single, and in 2013Kerrang! ranked it the greatest.[3] In 2021,Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fifth on its list ofthe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[4] In 2017, it was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of several songs written following Nirvana's first recording sessions with producerButch Vig in 1990. Lead singer and guitaristKurt Cobain began writing it a few weeks before recording their second album,Nevermind, in 1991.[5] He said it was an attempt to write a song in the style of thePixies, a band he admired:
I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.[6]
When Cobain presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the mainguitar riff and the chorus vocal melody.[7][8] Cobain said the riff was "clichéd", similar to a riff byBoston or theRichard Berry song "Louie Louie".[6] BassistKrist Novoselic dismissed it as "ridiculous"; in response, Cobain made the band play it for an hour and a half.[6] Eventually, Novoselic began playing it more slowly, inspiring drummerDave Grohl to create the drum beat,[9] which drew from disco artists such asthe Gap Band.[10] As a result, it is the only song onNevermind to credit all three band members as writers.[11]
The title derives from a phrase written on Cobain's wall by his friendKathleen Hanna, singer of theriot grrrl bandBikini Kill: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit."[12][13] Hanna meant that Cobain smelled like the deodorantTeen Spirit, which she andTobi Vail, his then-girlfriend, had discovered during a trip to the grocery store.[14] Cobain said that he was unaware of the deodorant until months after the single was released, and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan, as they had been discussinganarchism andpunk rock.[15]
Prior to the album recording, the band sent Vig demos for songs including "Teen Spirit". While the sound was distorted due to the band playing at a high volume, Vig felt it had promise.[16] Vig and the band recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" atSound City Studios in theLos Angeles,California neighborhood ofVan Nuys in May 1991.[17] Vig suggested changes to the arrangement, including moving a guitar ad lib to the chorus and shortening the chorus.[18] The band recorded the basic track in three takes, and used the second take.[8] Vig corrected some timing errors created by Cobain switching between his guitar effects pedals. Cobain recorded only three vocal takes; according to Vig, "I was lucky to ever get Kurt to do four takes."[19]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is agrunge[20] andalternative rock[21] song. It was recorded in the original key ofF minor and follows a F5-B♭5-A♭5-D♭5 chord progression,[22] with the main guitar riff constructed from fourpower chords played in asyncopatedsixteenth note strum by Cobain.[23] The guitar chords weredouble tracked to create a "more powerful" sound.[24] The chords occasionally lapse intosuspended chord voicings as a result of Cobain playing the bottom four strings of the guitar for the thickness of sound.[23] The riff resembles that ofBoston's 1976 hit "More Than a Feeling",[7] although it is not identical; the band would sometimes play a fragment of that song as an introduction.[22] During the verses, Cobain used aSmall Clone effect pedal to add achorus effect.[25][26]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" uses a "somewhat conventional formal structure" consisting of four-, eight-, and twelve-bar sections, including an eight-bar verse, an eight-bar pre-chorus, and a twelve-bar chorus.[27] Musicologist Graeme Downes, who led the band theVerlaines, says that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" illustratesdeveloping variation.[28] Elements of the structure are marked with shifts in volume and dynamics, moving from quiet to loud several times. This structure of "quiet verses with wobbly, chorused guitar, followed by big, loudhardcore-inspired choruses" became an alternative rock template.[29]
During the verses, the band maintains the same chord progression as the chorus. Cobain plays a two-note guitar line over Novoselic's root-noteeighth note bassline, which outlines the chord progression. Approaching the chorus, Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the word "Hello".[22] Following the first and second choruses, Cobain simultaneously sings the word "Yay" and performs a unison bend on his guitar.[30] After the second chorus, Cobain plays a 16-bar guitar solo restating his vocal melody from the verse and pre-chorus.[27] During the closing refrain, Cobain sings "A denial" repeatedly; his voice becomes strained from the force of yelling.[24]
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 theNevermind albumliner 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; oneGeffen promoter recalled that people from rock radio told her, "We can't play this. I can't understand what the guy is saying."[31] 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.[32] 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 criticDave 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."[33] Marsh, trying to decipher the lyrics, 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."[34]
The bookTeen Spirit: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song describes "Teen Spirit" as "a typically murky Cobain exploration of meaning and meaninglessness".[35] 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". Additionally, the "famously obscure couplet"—"A mulatto, an albino / A mosquito, my libido"—is, according to Azerrad, "nothing more than two pairs of opposites, a funny way of saying the narrator is very horny".[36] InHeavier Than Heaven,Charles R. Cross' biography of Cobain, Cross 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".[37][a]
"Teen Spirit" is widely interpreted as a teen revolution anthem, an interpretation reinforced by the music video.[38] In an interview conducted the dayNevermind 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."[11] In Michael Azerrad's biographyCome as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain said he felt a duty "to describe what I felt about my surroundings and my generation and people my age".[15] He also 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."[36] As Cobain did more interviews, he changed his explanation of the song and rarely gave specifics about the meaning.[11] Grohl 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."[39]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [40] |
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released to radio on August 27, 1991. On September 10, it was released as the lead single fromNevermind, Nirvana's major label debut onDGC Records. The song did not initially chart, and it sold well only in regions of the United States with an established Nirvana fanbase.[41]
The single was intended to be a base-building alternative rock cut from the album, and was not expected to be a hit; the follow-up "Come as You Are" was planned as the single that couldcross over to mainstreamradio formats. However,campus andmodern rock radio stations placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" onheavy rotation. Danny Goldberg of Nirvana's management firm Gold Mountain said: "None of us heard it as a crossover song, but the public heard it and it was instantaneous ... They heard it on alternative radio, and then they rushed out like lemmings to buy it."[42]
The video received its world premiere on MTV's late-night alternative rock program120 Minutes on September 29,[43] and proved so popular that the channel began to air it during its regular daytime rotation.[32] MTV added the video to its "Buzz Bin" selection in October, where it stayed until mid-December. By the end of the year, the song, music video, and theNevermind album had become hits. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" andNevermind became a rare cross-format phenomenon, reaching all the major rock radio formats including modern rock, hard rock, album rock, and college radio.[44]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was also a critical and commercial success. It topped the 1991Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" andMelody Maker year-end polls and reached number two onRolling Stone's list of best singles of the year. The single peaked at number six on theBillboard Hot 100 singles chart the same week thatNevermind reached number one on the albums chart.[45] "Teen Spirit" hit number one on theModern Rock Tracks chart and in April 1992 it wascertified Platinum (one million copies shipped) by theRecording Industry Association of America.[46] However, many AmericanTop 40 stations were reluctant to play the song in regular rotation and restricted it to night-time play.[47]
The single was also successful in other countries. In the United Kingdom, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released on November 18, 1991, reaching number seven on theUK Singles Chart and charting for 184 weeks.[48][49] The song was nominated for twoGrammy Awards:Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal andBest Rock Song.[50]Entertainment Weekly would later name Nirvana's loss to Eric Clapton in the Best Rock Song category as one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history.[51] Outside the United States, the song topped the charts of Belgium, France, New Zealand, and Spain. It charted within the top five of several European countries and reached number five in Australia. In Israel, it was voted in at number 2 on theIBA's "Voice of Israel" singles chart.[52] It appeared on several year-end charts, including number 10 in New Zealand, number 17 in Belgium and Germany, and number 32 on theBillboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart.[53]
In the wake of Nirvana's success,Michael Azerrad wrote in a 1992Rolling Stone article: "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is an anthem for (or is it against?) the 'Why Ask Why?' generation. Just don't call Cobain a spokesman for a generation."[54] Nevertheless, the music press awarded the song an "anthem-of-a-generation" status, placing Cobain as a reluctant spokesman for Generation X.[55]The New York Times wrote that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' could be this generation's version of theSex Pistols' 1976 single, 'Anarchy in the U.K.', if it weren't for the bitter irony that pervades its title ... as Nirvana knows only too well, teen spirit is routinely bottled, shrink-wrapped and sold".[56]
Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the song's success and, in later concerts, often excluded it from the set list.[38] Prior to the release of the band's 1993 follow-up albumIn Utero, Novoselic remarked, "If it wasn't for 'Teen Spirit' I don't know howNevermind would have done ... There are no 'Teen Spirits' onIn Utero."[57] Cobain said in 1994, "I still like playing 'Teen Spirit', but it's almost an embarrassment to play it ... Everyone has focused on that song so much."[6]
The music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the first for directorSamuel Bayer. Bayer believed he was hired because histest reel was so poor the band anticipated his production would be "punk" and "not corporate".[24] The video is based on the concept of a school concert which ends in anarchy and riot, inspired byJonathan Kaplan's 1979 filmOver the Edge and theRamones' filmRock 'n' Roll High School.[58] It had an estimated budget of between $30,000 and $50,000.[59]
The video was filmed on August 17, 1991,[60] on Stage 6 of GMT Studios inCulver City. It features Nirvana playing at apep rally in a high school gym to an audience of apathetic students on bleachers, and cheerleaders wearing black dresses with theCircle-A anarchist symbol. The video features an appearance byBurton C. Bell, later known as frontman of heavy metal bandFear Factory.[61] Occasionally, the scene cuts 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 students destroying the set and the band's gear. The discontent was genuine; the extras who 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 tomosh, 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 his shit throughout the day," Cobain said.[62]
Cobain disliked Bayer's final edit and oversaw a re-edit of the video, creating the final version.[49] One of Cobain's major additions was the penultimate shot, a close-up of his face after it had been obscured for most of the video.[62] Another major change involved two sequences of a principal standing next to a loudspeaker and being sprayed with confetti, and a teacher dressed like a nerd dancing to the song with a "Dunce" cap before being tied to a basketball hoop pole. Cobain had the principal footage and most of the teacher footage removed, aside from the ending scene which shows the teacher tied to the pole as the janitor sweeps the floor.[63] Bayer said that unlike subsequent artists he worked with, Cobain was not vain, and was more interested that "the video had something that was truly about what they were about".[58]
The music video received positive reviews. TheRolling Stone writerDavid Fricke described the video as looking like "the greatest gig you could ever imagine".[24] In addition to a number-one placing in the singles category, "Teen Spirit" also topped the music video category in theVillage Voice's 1991 "Pazz & Jop" poll.[64] The video won Nirvana theBest New Artist andBest Alternative Group awards at the 1992MTV Video Music Awards,[65] and in 2000 theGuinness World Records named "Teen Spirit" the Most Played Video onMTV Europe.[66] Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's Programming department, later said the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving them "a whole new generation to sell to".[24]
Rolling Stone placed the music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number two on their 1993 list of "The 100 Top Music Videos".[67] MTV ranked the song's music video at number three on its "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" list in 1999.[68] 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 it made alternative rock "a commercial and pop culture force".[69] In 2001, VH1 named it the fourth-greatest video.[70] The video was parodied in"Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "Smells Like Nirvana"[71] and referenced inBob Sinclar's 2006 music video for "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)".[72] "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had reached one billionYouTube views by December 25, 2019, and two billion by June 12, 2025.[73][74]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was first performed live on April 17, 1991 at theOK Hotel inSeattle, Washington.[75] The performance is featured on the DVD of the 2004 box setWith the Lights Out, while shorter clips are included on theClassic Albums'Nevermind DVD, as well as the documentary filmHype!. As the song's lyrics had not yet been entirely written, there are notable differences between it and the final version. For example, the first performance started with "Come out and play, make up the rules" instead of the eventual opening of "Load up on guns, bring your friends". A recording of the earlier version appears onWith the Lights Out and again onSliver: The Best of the Box. A similar early live performance of the song is found in the documentary1991: The Year Punk Broke, filmed during a 1991 summer tour in Europe withSonic Youth.[citation needed]
The international television debut performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was on 8 November 1991, on the UK TV seriesThe Word.[76] Cobain opened by declaring: "I want everyone in this room to know thatCourtney Love, the lead singer of the sensational pop groupHole, is the best fuck in the world."[77] Cobain and Love married the following year.[78]
Nirvana often altered the song's lyrics andtempo for live performances. Some live performances of the song had the line "our little group has always been" changed to "our little tribe has always been", which can be heard on the 1996 live albumFrom the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.Rolling Stone remarked that theWishkah version of "Teen Spirit" "[found] Cobain's guitar reeling outside the song's melodic boundaries and sparking new life in that nearly played-out hit".[79] A notable alternate performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" occurred onBBC'sTop of the Pops in 1991, during which the band refused to mime to the pre-recorded backing track and Cobain deliberately sang the whole song an octave lower and altered numerous lyrics in the song (for example, "Load up on guns, bring your friends" became "Load up on drugs, kill your friends"). Cobain later said he was trying to sound like formerSmiths frontmanMorrissey.[80] WhenTop of the Pops was cancelled in 2006,The Observer listed Nirvana's performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as the third greatest in the show's history.[81] This performance can be found on the 1994 home videoLive! Tonight! Sold Out!!.[82]
Dubbed an "anthem for apathetic kids" ofGeneration X,[83][84] in the years followingCobain's 1994 suicide and Nirvana's breakup, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has continued to garner critical acclaim, and is often listed as one of the greatest songs of all time. It was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" in 1997.[85] In 2000,VH1 rated the song at number forty-one on its "100 Greatest Rock Songs" list,[86] while MTV andRolling Stone ranked it third on their joint list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs".[87] The Recording Industry Association of America placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number eighty on their 2001 "Songs of the Century" list.[88] In 2002,NME awarded the song the number two spot on its list of "100 Greatest Singles of All Time",[89] withKerrang! ranking it at number one on its own list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time".[3] VH1 placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number one on its list of "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years" in 2003,[90] while that same year, the song came third in aQ poll of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[91] In 2021,Rolling Stone ranked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fifth on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[92] The song was placed at number six inNME's "Global Best Song Ever Poll" in 2005.[93] In 2022, it was included in the list "The story ofNME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs":Mark Beaumont wrote that with this song, Nirvana rejuvenated American rock, "honing the melodic roars of Husker Du, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth into an MTV friendly quiet-loud dynamic".[94]
In the 2006VH1 UK pollThe Nation's Favourite Lyric, the line "I feel stupid and contagious / Here we are now, entertain us" was ranked the third-favorite lyric by over 13,000 voters.[95] VH1 placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number one on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs Of The '90s" in 2007,[96] whileRolling Stone ranked it number ten on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[97] In 2009, the song was voted number one for the third time in a row on theTriple J Hottest 100 of All Time in Australia[98] (it was first place previously in 1991[99] and 1998).[100] That year, VH1 ranked the song seventh on its list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs".[101] Despite previously proposing in its 2006 entry forNevermind on "The All-TIME 100 Albums" that "'Smells Like Teen Spirit' ... may be the album's worst song",[102]Time magazine later included it on its list of "The All-TIME 100 Songs" in 2011.[103] That same year, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" kept its number nine ranking onRolling Stone's updated list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[104] while in 2019, the magazine ranked it at number one in its list of "50 Best Songs of the Nineties".[105]NME placed the song at number two on its list of the "100 Best Tracks Of The '90s" in 2012,[106] and at number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014.[107] In 2015, the song was also named the most iconic song of all time according to a study by Goldsmith's College, which analysed various songs featured in numerous 'all-time best' lists, using analytical software to compare their key, BPM, chord variety, lyrical content, timbral variety, and sonic variance – the result of which designated the title to this song.[108] In 2017, it was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[109]
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was rereleased as a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single in December 2011. In an attempt to emulate a successful 2009 Facebook campaign to promoteRage Against the Machine's song "Killing in the Name", an online campaign was launched to promote "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to 2011Christmas number one in theUK Singles Chart in protest at the dealings ofThe X Factor television series with the children's charityRhythmix.[110] A similar campaign was also launched in Ireland to get the track to 2011Christmas number one in theIrish Singles Chart.[111] The campaign resulted in the song reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 30,000 copies.[112] According toNielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 145,000 spins. All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s.[113] In June 2021, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became the second song from the 1990s to reach 1 billionstreams on theSpotify platform.[114][115]
Tori Amos recorded the song and released it in 1992 on her "Crucify" EP single. Dave Grohl commented on Nirvana covers in 1996: "There are a few bands that go out there and do Nirvana covers and it's absolutely ridiculous, That's almost like desecration, that's what I think of it as. Tori Amos' take on it (Smells Like Teen Spirit) was fine. I mean that was pretty hilarious. She can do whatever the hell she wants."[116]"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song in 1992 with "Smells Like Nirvana", a song about Nirvana itself. Cobain quickly gave permission, but asked, "It's not about food, is it?" Yankovic answered, "No, it's about how nobody can understand your lyrics." Upon hearing the parody, Cobain and his bandmates laughed hysterically. Yankovic has said Cobain told him he realized that Nirvana had "made it" when he heard the parody.[117] In 1995, thequeercore bandPansy Division released a cover version with altered lyrics titled "Smells Like Queer Spirit" on theirPile Up album. Pansy Division guitaristJon Ginoli insisted that his band's version of the song was not a parody but "an affectionate tribute".[28] In the 2011 filmThe Muppets andits soundtrack, one of the acts of the Muppet Telethon involvesRowlf the Dog,Link Hogthrob,Sam Eagle, andBeaker performing the song as abarbershop quartet, where unwilling special guestJack Black accuses them of "ruining one of the greatest songs of all time".[118][119] The 2015 filmPan features a cover of the song performed byHugh Jackman in character as the pirateBlackbeard and other members of the cast in a musical sequence that introduces the character and his crew. It was selected for the scene after other traditional pirate songs "just wasn't jelling" with the filmmakers during rehearsals.[120] A version recorded by singer Malia J is used in the opening credits sequence of the 2021 filmBlack Widow.[121]
All lyrics are written byKurt Cobain; all music is composed byNirvana[1]
Personnel adapted fromNevermind liner notes[1]
Nirvana
Technical personnel
† Appears in all release formats, except for UK 7" and some promos.
‡ Paired with the track "Even in His Youth" on CD andpromo 12" only; also separately on UK 12" (picture disc).
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Decade-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[187] | 12× Platinum | 840,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[188] | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[189] | 8× Platinum | 640,000‡ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[190] | 3× Platinum | 270,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[191] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[192] Sales since 2009 | 3× Platinum | 300,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[193] | 7× Platinum | 210,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP)[194] | 3× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[195] | 3× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[196] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[197] Sales since 2004 | 5× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[198] | Diamond | 10,000,000‡ |
| Streaming | ||
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[199] | Gold | 900,000† |
| Greece (IFPI Greece)[200] | Platinum | 2,000,000† |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Chart was then based on physical sales
Marzo 1ra Quincena
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
