"SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" NIRVANA (1991)

This month on Twitter, @sotachetan hosts #BrandedInSongs – which is a head-on collision of my personal world of music and my professional world of branding and advertising. The challenge is to simply pick a song with a brand name in its lyrics or title. I added one more criteria to my picks, which is this: the songs themselves must be as iconic as the brands they mention. No filler here.

Nirvana certainly suffers from that spell of commercialization that covers up just how pivotal they were as a cultural phenomenon. They were, in fact, the band that made an outsider music genre palatable for the masses. Their album covers – especially Nevermind – were the stuff of college dorm posters. And the smiley face t-shirt is ubiquitous. With the resurgence of 90’s rock music, it is kinda cool seeing kids latch on to bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Just this week at my daughter’s concert, a three-piece band (hello Kurt, David and Krist) played “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and I felt like I died and went to heaven.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” suffers from being probably the band’s most overplayed song. This has diminished the genius of the song. It rocks – and every element is absolutely iconic, the drums, the bass, and every single guitar hook. But it’s the lyrics that put the song in a whole separate class. This was my soundtrack – or at least a decent portion of it – to my freshman year in college. It was fun, rebellious and angry – and everyone from metalheads to alt rock fans got into it. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the great equalizer.

“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.”

"ALL APOLOGIES" NIRVANA (1993)

For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.

Day 28: Seattle, WA

The obvious band for Seattle, for obvious reasons. Namely, turning grunge into a mainstream phenomenon. On the US release of In Utero, “All Apologies” appears as the last track. While the UK version came with an additional song, this is the track that many Americans attribute as Kurt Cobain’s final statement. While it was actually written in 1990 – even before Nevermind was released – it still sits at the end of the line: the last song on the band’s last studio album. The gravity of this ending is felt eerily and awfully on the heels of Cobain’s death.

“All Apologies” follows the music structure of many other Nirvana anthems with its quiet-loud-quiet dynamic. This lets the masterful melody shine in the verses, an underrated aspect of Cobain’s songwriting. But, just as vital to Nirvana’s sound, it also enables the screaming in the angst-filled chorus to reach boiling point. The emotion and sense of hopelessness explodes repeatedly. This is not an act. It’s more than a song. It’s like a hand-scrawled page ripped out of Cobain’s journal.

“I wish I was like you. Easily amused. Find my nest of salt. Everything is my fault.”

"ALL APOLOGIES" NIRVANA (1993)

You can get off to a fast start. You can sustain your opener with the main course, not filler. But can you end on a high note? Sometimes I wonder if recording a strong closer is the most difficult thing to pull off when it comes to album rock. When it comes to the cream of the crop in music, I can think of more strong openers than strong closers. Nonetheless, I still have my favorites which I’ll be featuring on Mental Jukebox all month.

The overwhelming significance of a closing track from a band like Nirvana is not lost on me. There’s a heaviness that can’t be denied. On the US release of In Utero, “All Apologies” appears as the last track. While the UK version came with an additional song, this is the track that many Americans attribute as Kurt Cobain’s final statement. While it was actually written in 1990 – even before Nevermind was released – it still sits at the end of the line: the last song on the band’s last studio album. The gravity of this ending is felt eerily and awfully on the heels of Cobain’s death.

“All Apologies” follows the music structure of many other Nirvana anthems with its quiet-loud-quiet dynamic. This lets the masterful melody shine in the verses, an underrated aspect of Cobain’s songwriting. But, just as vital to Nirvana’s sound, it also enables the screaming in the angst-filled chorus to reach boiling point. The emotion and sense of hopelessness explodes repeatedly. This is not an act. It’s more than a song. It’s like a hand-scrawled page ripped out of Cobain’s journal.

“I wish I was like you. Easily amused. Find my nest of salt. Everything is my fault.”

"LITHIUM" NIRVANA (1991)

One of the most powerful things about music is that it is the soundtrack of our lives. Fellow music fanatic Sharon Hepworth started a music challenge on Twitter for the month of July. Each day, fans around the world will select a song from their life and describe what it means to us. These are my songs. #SoundtrackToYourLife

Day 11

Neil Young may be the Godfather of Grunge. The Pixies and The Melvins may have inspired Kurt Cobain. But it’s Nirvana that defined the grunge era. That was certainly the case for me and the guys in Duchesne Hall at Boston College in the fall of 1991. The entire Nevermind album was on non-stop play in my college residence hall my freshmen year. It didn’t matter what kind of music you listened to before. We had guys who were into Ministry, the Chili Peppers, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Iron Maiden and the Aladdin soundtrack. But everyone was fixated on Nevermind and the quiet-loud-quiet genius of “Lithium”.

“Lithium” has an explosive quality to it—going from soft and dormant to loud and ignited. This was a dynamic that I started to really appreciate with the Pixies. A couple of years after the Doolittle album, I saw the quiet-loud-quiet construct truly mastered on “Lithium”. Cobain oscillates between singing and screaming in a manner where it flows seamlessly. This stands in direct contrast to Black Francis’ approach which feels more ragged and disruptive. The quiet segments are pretty much all Cobain, but the loud parts put Cobain, Novoselic and Grohl on a maddening collision course. What’s not to like for a college student?

“I'm so happy because today. I've found my friends. They're in my head.”

"THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD" NIRVANA (1993)

Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs

It seems a little obvious to kick things off with Nirvana. They are, after all, the band most people think of when they look back at the 90’s music scene. Grunge will be forever associated with that decade. While many call Neil Young the godfather of grunge, and many critics point to other genres and bands like the Pixies for heavily influencing it, Nirvana seems to be the band most people think of first. Before Soundgarden. Before Pearl Jam. Before anyone else. At the MTV Unplugged set in New York, Nirvana created what I believe was their most unassumingly grunge song: their cover of Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”.

This is probably my favorite Nirvana track. Most cover songs help you to look forward with new interpretations or perspectives. But Nirvana helped many of us look back. Frankly, many Bowie fans didn’t even know about the song or the album of the same name that it came from until Nirvana covered it. The band helped music fans to discover a darker side to Bowie. While unplugged, Nirvana found a way to make it a true grunge dirge. The dark undertones and misery are felt in Cobain’s vocals. But what really sealed it is when he ran his acoustic guitar through a device called a fuzz box, which had a way of making his axe sound electric and distorted. It was grunge to the core despite the acoustic setting. Sometimes I even forget it’s MTV Unplugged. Truly a brilliant cover.

“For years and years I roamed. I gazed a gazeless stare. We walked a million hills. I must have died alone a long, long time ago.”

"POLLY - UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK" NIRVANA (1993)

In my series “Long Live Live”, I’m highlighting some of the most revered live recordings of all time. You’ll see my musical biases, but there’s no doubt that each of these tracks played a pivotal role in shaping music history. I started Mental Jukebox last year because I needed another music listening outlet when there were no more live shows to go to. These songs remind me that nothing will ever replace the blend of atmosphere and performance captured in the live experience.

MTV Unplugged had been going for a few years, but Nirvana’s appearance for the acoustic series at Sony Music Studios in New York City felt like a reboot. Just five month’s before Kurt Cobain’s death, they translated the sonic grunge of Nirvana into an unplugged setting. One of Cobain’s finest songwriting showcases, “Polly” was played quieter, slower, moodier. But it wasn’t even an ounce less powerful than the recording on Nevermind.

“I think she wants some water to put out the blow torch.”

"LITHIUM" NIRVANA (1991)

Neil Young may be the Godfather of Grunge. The Pixies and The Melvins may have inspired Kurt Cobain. But it’s Nirvana that defined the grunge era. “Lithium” had an explosion quality—going from soft and dormant to loud and ignited. This song and the entire Nevermind album was on non-stop play in my college residence hall my freshmen year. It didn’t matter what kind of music you listened to before. You now listened to Nirvana and that was that.

“I'm so happy because today. I've found my friends. They're in my head.”