Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Nirvana and "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
It's the song that changed everything on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Or is it? Deconstructing Nirvana and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 33 years after its peak and 30 years after the true seismic change
Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 1 week (Nov. 23, 1991)
Previous Modern Rock #1 hit: U2 - “The Fly”
Next Modern Rock #1 hit: U2 - “Mysterious Ways”
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Michael Bolton - “When A Man Loves A Woman”
I missed it all by about three years, and I found it in the most unlikely of places.
The first time I *really* heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” I was at the University of Michigan attending — and I shit you not — debate camp, which took place in either June or July 1994. In the days before the internet, hundreds of eager high school students looking for some mix of youthful independence and nerdy indulgence gathered at major universities across the country and spent hours in the library digging up information about that year’s policy debate topic. I can’t remember now if the topic was health care reform or the emergence of China, but I know I spent one week in Ann Arbor diligently gathering materials that would later become fodder for our high school debate team to use throughout the school year.
I attended a one-week camp. More seasoned debaters (I urge you, please, to not refer to them as “masters”) would spend anywhere from three to seven weeks on campus, not only researching topics, but learning to be better at the craft of policy debate. I would later attend three- and four-week camps, though I was never quite good enough to qualify for the seven-week symposium, hosted by legendary debate gurus Steve Mancuso and Roger Solt.
All of this is to say, by the end of the first week, most everyone was ready to let off steam, and this was accomplished by hosting what I think was effectively a rave party in the lobby of the Alice Lloyd Hall on Michigan’s campus. I couldn't tell you if I was dancing (probably not), I couldn’t tell you who I was with (though it likely was my longtime friend Liz and I believe a girl named Katie), but I can absolutely tell you about the electroshock in my brain the first time I heard Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blasted at full volume, reverberating through the dormitory halls, and changing forever the way I listened to music.
I don’t envy the janitorial staff for having to clean up after us.
That song, of course, was already a hit for many years, and it wasn’t until later that year that I pieced together the cathartic release of listening to that song in the summer of 1994, mere weeks after the death of that band’s lead singer. But we’ll get into that later. First, let’s talk about “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and its impact long before Matt’s awakening into the wonderful world of grunge and alternative rock, when it was a one-week Modern Rock Tracks chart topper in the late fall of 1991.
What can I tell you about the song that you don’t already know? For starters, this song was released and, quite frankly, gained little traction outside of the Seattle area for several weeks. It was released as a single in late August 1991 and didn’t chart for awhile, building slowly through college radio airplay and eventually a boost through MTV’s seminal alternative show “120 Minutes,” which debuted the music video nearly a month after the single’s release to radio. The clip below is terrific, and I think we can all agree that no one working on that show at the time was aware of the seismic shift this particular world premiere would bring to the music landscape.
Even with the explosion on MTV (the song would soon move to regular rotation outside of the “120 Minutes” bubble), “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a relatively slow burn to the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It had been on the chart for 10 weeks before ascending to the #1 spot, and even when it got there, it only stayed on top for a single week. But it stayed at #2 behind next week’s massive juggernaut single for the seven weeks, and maintained a presence in the MRT chart for 20 weeks, a ridiculously long amount of time back when the chart only had 30 positions.
What’s most fascinating about “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is its relatively quick ascendancy into the upper echelon of the pop charts, especially given what it was up against. In late 1991 into 1992, when Michael Jackson was dominating the charts with his hit single “Black Or White,” Nirvana managed to crack the pop top 10 and peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 the week ending Jan. 11, 1992. I mean, take a look at what song was #1 on the pop charts when Nirvana topped the MRT chart: “When A Man Loves A Woman.” Pop audiences were apparently all in on Michael Bolton at this time. I cannot think of a more absurd juxtaposition of popularity in chart history than the time Nirvana topped one chart and Michael Bolton topped the other.
Perhaps even more amazing than Nirvana reaching the pop top-10 in January 1992: They actually hit #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart the week they peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 singles chart. That album overtook Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous,” no small feat given the massive popularity and fanbase Jackson had in those days. I’m hardly a credentialed music historian, but I have to think the size of the shockwave this sent through the recording industry was so massive that it rattled office windows from New York to Los Angeles that winter.
To top all that off: This song is a stone-cold banger. I know that anyone who listens to alternative rock on a regular basis is probably burned out from the overplay that plagues this song to this day, but I’m here to tell you I watched the video this week for the first time in years and it gave me chills like I was watching it for the first time.
You get that gentle guitar intro, the burst of guitar and drums, and then that very mellow and reverberating first verse. And once the first verse is over, there’s this part where Kurt Cobain keeps saying “hello” over and over again, all the while building this unspoken tension with the music. And then BAM!
WITH THE LIGHTS OUT, IT’S LESS DANGEROUS!
HERE WE ARE NOW, ENTERTAIN US!
I FEEL STUPID AND CONTAGIOUS!
HERE WE ARE NOW, ENTERTAIN US!
I would not be doing this chorus any justice by using lowercase letters, and to be honest, even all caps feels like I’m underselling just how bone-rattling and electric this chorus can be. And for a guy who really doesn’t pay much attention to lyrics, this song is PERFECT because the lyrics really don’t make any sense. And they don’t have to: The purpose of this song is not to inform the masses about something, to share some angst or love story gone wrong. It’s not a political statement or a comedic riff on a particular genre. It’s pure, 100 percent, unadulterated kinetic release. It’s an EMP of cathartic, pent-up rage, and it’s no wonder the song became unofficially anthemic for the jaded, oft-forgotten Generation X.
It’s remarkable that this happened to Nirvana, but it was due to happen at some point, given the foundations for “grunge rock” were set down not long before Nirvana’s emergence. I’ve noted similar undertones from previous MRT #1 acts like Jesus and Mary Chain, who echoed this type of explosive rock in the very early ‘90s. Jane’s Addiction also presaged Nirvana’s emergence with their MRT #1 hit “Stop,” which I really loved. But it was “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that brought that energy together in a way that connected with audiences in a way those other bands didn’t, and it’ll be “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that will stand the test of time in terms of being that pivotal song that reshaped the future of music.
Even though it spent a relatively short time on the top of the charts, Nirvana’s first #1 MRT hit continues to be a massive success more than 30 years later. If you look at the views on the official video I linked above, the song is closing in on 2 BILLION views, which is a remarkable number. Just as remarkable is the streaming stats on Spotify, where the song is even closer to hitting the 2 billion mark.
Of course, this won’t be the last time we see Nirvana in this column, but I would be remiss in my responsibilities as a “journalist” or whatever the heck I am on this platform if I didn’t reference the 30th anniversary of the passing of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain on April 5, 2024. As I stated at the beginning, I was still in the “dark ages” of my musical journey in April 1994 and nothing Nirvana related permeated that bubble, even something as massive and jarring as Cobain’s suicide on April 5, 1994. I came to that news not long after discovering Nirvana on that warm summer night in Michigan, and it ultimately led me to dive deeper into their catalog. From there, it wasn’t long before my musical journey took me to Green Day and Offspring and dozens of other emerging artists, but while the shock of Cobain’s death didn’t hit me on the same level as others, I can still attest to the effect it had on my journey into alternative music.
For a more in-depth, deeply personal, and spot-on retrospective of the effect of Cobain’s suicide on music fandom, I wholeheartedly recommend you read
and his amazing piece titled “Remembering Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain.” In my opinion, it really captures the spirit of how people felt who had already been exposed to the grunge-rock movement spurred by Nirvana’s influence, something I can’t speak to personally but Kevin encapsulates most elegantly.Finally, as I hinted in the headline: I wouldn’t hold it against you if you saw “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a Modern Rock Tracks #1 hit and thought, “Well, here we go with all the Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains posts.” Interestingly, this only seemed to register as a blip on the MRT charts, not as the beginning of a new trend. Indeed, Pearl Jam’s first MRT #1 hit doesn’t happen until 1994. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden NEVER hit #1 on the MRT chart. Nirvana gets there a couple more times, but not with anything off of “Nevermind,” which really shocks me. Don’t get me wrong: Eventually, the likes of Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Offspring, etc. will absolutely take over this chart, but not as quickly as I was led to believe given the massive success of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
In a way, my discovery of the song at debate camp in 1994 feels a lot more like the moment when alternative rock really moved en masse from niche to mainstream, when people like me who lived outside of the alternative rock underground bubble finally saw that music become commonplace. I’m not going to go as far as to say that Alice Lloyd Hall was the epicenter of the movement of alternative rock to the mainstream for everyone, but it definitely was for me, and without that moment, I doubt I’d be writing these words on Substack today. But whenever that moment happened for you, it’s almost certainly a moment that happened as a direct or indirect result of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and it’s a song that will stand the test of time for so many reasons.
Rating: 10/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
With a one-week chart topper, there aren’t many songs from the depth’s of that week’s chart to dig into for “Chart Check,” so thankfully we have some “Weird” Al and “Beavis and Butthead” stuff to fill in the gaps. Also, as if on cue, we get some Primal Scream (a band whose name sounds a lot like Kurt Cobain’s singing) and the MRT chart debut for a band called Blur.
“Smells Like Nirvana” by “Weird” Al Yankovic: I do love a good “Weird” Al parody, and this one is terrific. To this day, I still laugh when marbles come out of his mouth and the kids start playing kazoos in unison. All I know is, it’s hard to bargle nawdle zouss.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” as interpreted by “Beavis and Butthead”: “Nirvana is cool. Huh huh.” I appreciate the back and forth between everyone’s favorite misfit teenagers, and this really brought back good memories. And, “heh heh, you said ‘ism.’”
“Movin’ On Up” by Primal Scream: Scottish rockers Primal Scream hit their MRT chart highwater mark with “Movin' on Up,” which peaked at #2 behind Nirvana. It’s not quite the same odd juxtaposition that Nirvana has with Michael Bolton, but it’s pretty close stylistically. This isn’t to say “Movin’ On Up” is a bad song, but it’s hard to imagine the two songs back to back on many 1991 mix tapes.
“There's No Other Way” by Blur: Blur, the band who became the frontline artists of the ‘90s Britpop movement, hit the MRT charts for the first time with “There’s No Other Way,” a solid, funky jam that topped out at #12 behind “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” In an alternate reality, Britpop could have been the musical movement that overtook U.S. audiences in the mid-’90s, but the pull of grunge was too strong. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, Britpop would become a major force, and for Blur that force begins here.
I absolutely love that this track was on the charts at the same time as Michael Bolton. I can't stop laughing about it.
Thank you for the kind words & shout, Matt!