Video Vault: Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit

On December 31st, 1991, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Red Hot Chili Peppers played at Cow Palace in Daly City, north of San Francisco. I wasn't even a teen, but my dad took us to the show because my older brother was a skater, and the older skater boys were going, so he wanted to as well. Pearl Jam played first, and I remember watching in awe as Eddie Vedder climbed all over the scaffolding with his long hair flying around, growling through the songs. It was like nothing I had seen before, and my heart was in my throat. But it was Nirvana whose set was so electric, so special you could tell you were watching something important. The Chilis were supposed to be the stars, but the night belonged to Nirvana. Little did I know that show would mark a turn in the music landscape, and rock and rollers and hair bands were over. One musician said, "Nirvana came on the scene, and we were over". These guys weren't about to go on stage in drag; these guys rolled out of bed, played and, in the spirit of punk, gave the middle finger to the status quo. 

I cringe at the commodification that became "Grunge". These guys were the pure opposite of a package, and they bristled under the term. They tapped into something, though, and it spread like wildfire. This video was like the movie Over The Edge but for a new generation. Smells Like Teen Spirit made me wish to be a teenager, and once I was, I understood it more, and even now, I remember that feeling. When you hear a song, it shifts something inside of you, and it is so in the pocket that it moves you emotionally. They had yet to go nuclear in 1991, but for me, they were everything I wanted to be. I was a brown little girl who felt it. If they could rock it out, I could, too. 

So important was this change that it spawned a quasi-punk movement with bands like Green Day, STP, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, and a slew of others who spawned more bands like Russian Dolls. Seattle was the hot city, and music was pouring out of the West Coast, specifically the Pacific Northwest. Kurt Cobain didn't live long, taking his life in 1994, breaking millions of hearts, and still, what he had been part of didn't die with him. Dave Grohl went on to have success in Foo Fighters, carrying the torch and paying it forward.

30 years later, hair bands have never had another moment, but the spirit of 1991 lives on. Rarely are we around to witness a cultural shift. The '60s had the British Invasion, the 70s had Punk, Disco, and Rap, the 80s had New Wave, and the 90s had Nirvana.