No. 77

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (1991) Video - "Load up on guns and bring your friends" is how the Generation X anthem begins. This song will always represent rebellion in my mind because there's no way your parents were ok with this music. Even in '98, this was still the first song played at the bowling alley where all the kids congregated.

There are so many great stories about how this song came into existence, but I'll just share a couple. Kurt Cobain shared the opening chord with the band, which Krist Novoselic openly mocked, so Cobain made them play that chord for a solid 90 minutes until it turned into something. That's the kind of person Cobain was.

The title was given by Cobain's friend, punk rocker Kathleen Hanna, who wrote 'Kurt smells like teen spirit' - the brand of deodorant worn by his girlfriend. He interpreted this to have revolutionary meaning and used it as the song's title. He never realized that it was a deodorant brand until months after the single was released. The song was supposed to sound like the Pixies, a band Cobain admired greatly.