If you went to see Nirvana in the wake of Nevermind’s huge success in the early ‘90s and were particularly looking forward to a faithful rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit, you were often in for a rude awakening. Kurt Cobain & co. had a playful relationship with their biggest hit that regularly transformed into full-blown sabotage. It was a reaction prompted by the fact that the video to the song had been played relentlessly by MTV and was therefore the Seattle trio’s most well-known song outside of the band’s diehards. Kurt Cobain did not like this.
Even as early as 1991, there was their infamous Top Of The Pops performance with Cobain miming in a deathly baritone, whilst at a show in Buenos Aires in 1992 the frontman was so miffed at the crowd’s negative reaction to the support band that he punished them by playing the intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit to every song only to then swerve into a rare Nirvana cut instead.
