Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit Meaning

Song Released: 1991

Covered By: Malia J (2021)

Smells Like Teen Spirit Lyrics

Load up on guns and
Bring your friends
It's fun to lose
And to pretend
She's over bored
And self assured
Oh no, I know
A dirty word

hello, hello, hello, how low?
hello, hello, hello, how low?
hello, hello, hello, how low?
hello,...

1. QuincyPatterson

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   Jun 20th 2008 !⃝

   The song is about Tobi Vail. She wore a cologne that was called Teen Spirit. (She's over bored and self assured). Fucking idiots!
2. LivNirvana

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   Jun 6th 2008 !⃝

   I think that this song is kinda cryptic. Entertain us---is there some sort of performance geared towards the teen audience, playing off the now defunct Teen Spirit deodorant? Who knows, I don't think Kurt was ever forthcoming about these lyrics. They remain a mystery.
3. okram666

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   May 16th 2008 !⃝

   "And I forget
   Just why I taste
   Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
   I found it hard
   It was hard to find
   Oh well, whatever, nevermind"
   
   This is definitely about drugs :)
4. anonymous

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   May 8th 2008 !⃝

   Mhhh .... ya ... we talked about the title enough, something with the deo ......
   But what about the actual song?
   I think it's about gang wars ... "Load up on guns
   and bring your friends" ....
   and when they are at home they're always scared of an attack by the other gangs :"With the lights out, it's less dangerous"
5. burp

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   May 4th 2008 !⃝

   Well its pretty obvious it's about a teen gun party!
   
   "load up on guns and bring your friends"
   "with the lights out its less dangerous"
6. tdog

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   Apr 26th 2008 !⃝

   It is funny; that we're all putting our own Interpretations of the song teen spirits up for other’s to view. That's how you know it was pure poetry.
   
   That so many people could draw so many different conclusions.
   LOVE THE SONG!
   Don’t hurt yourselves trying to figure out the profound meanings behind it, he was a drug addict.
   Not much someone that high on life says is going to make much sense.
   
   The lyrics.
   
   Load up on guns
   Bring your friends
   its fun to lose
   And to pretend
   Shes overboard
   Myself assured
   I know I know
   A dirty word
   
   Hello (x 16)
   
   With the lights out its less dangerous
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   I feel stupid and contagious
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   A mulatto
   An albino
   A mosquito
   My libido
   Yea
   
   Im worse at what I do best
   And for this gift I feel blessed
   Our little group has always been
   And always will until the end
   
   Hello (x 16)
   
   With the lights out its less dangerous
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   I feel stupid and contagious
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   A mulatto
   An albino
   A mosquito
   My libido
   Yea
   
   And I forget
   Just what it takes
   And yet I guess it makes me smile
   I found it hard
   Its hard to find
   Oh well, whatever, nevermind
   
   Hello (x 16)
   
   With the lights out its less dangerous
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   I feel stupid and contagious
   Here we are now
   Entertain us
   A mulatto
   An albino
   A mosquito
   My libido
   Yea
7. anonymous

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   Apr 12th 2008 !⃝

   He had to be messed up on drugs while writing this song me and my friend both think that it's about a gun shooting" load up your guns bring your friends its fun to lose and to pretend..." and the whole albino thing talking about the outcasts but here is were the whole drug thing comes in because he talks about a misquito, where does that fit in and the entire last verse " I find it hard its hard to find oh well whatever nevermind" LOL I love nirvana there are different meanings I think. },') <- look its a fish
8. anonymous

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   Mar 31st 2008 !⃝

   So I'm pretty sure we get it by now. Toby Vail's friend wrote "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on a mirror, he misunderstood the meaning and later found out it was a women's deodorant.
   However that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the friggen song. So maybe instead of fighting over that you should go on with an actual meaning.
   
   Here's my take on it,
   
   Kurt's pointing out the ridiculous nature of EVERYONE, including teenagers. He's satirizing the apathy of "generation x" he's making fun of everyones need to be part of a group and how people will do just about anything to fit in, even when they forget "and I forget just why I taste, oh yeah I guess it makes me smile" why they do it. "I feel stupid and contagious" is meant to show how you don't like what you're doing but you do it anyway so you can be "cool" and contagious is pointing out how people will end up copying you eventually.
9. anonymous

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   Jan 31st 2008 !⃝

   I don't think this song was supposed to have a proper clear meaning. It was created to as a example to show how easy it is to create a pop song without too much effort. Just something Kurt Cobain would do. I may be wrong though. What do you think of this theory.
10. b_to_the_randon

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    Jan 30th 2008 !⃝

    Kurt Cobain was cheating on this girl. So she spray painted on a wall "kurt smells like teen spirit" and then a whole bunch of stuff happened with this incident
    (you know how girls are) he ended up being really confused.
    
    the song is about confusion, that's why the lyrics mean nothing. Obviously "an albino, a mosquito" doesn't talk about teen sex or Courtney love.
11. anonymous

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    Jan 11th 2008 !⃝

    It's Kurt's cry for entertainment, simply as.
    He's voicing the words of a lost generation, looking for a way out.
12. chris1313

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    Dec 11th 2007 !⃝

    Basically, this song is Kurt trying to put his anger out on the table. The basic meaning is, people are conformists in general, there is soo much flaw in humanity, or something closely related to that. The song's abstract meening just makes it more powerful, because it leaves a big space for thought, therefor pushing many ideas into few lyrics. repatision, and other convincing occurances may be just to add to the sound of the music, but saying one specific thing or another is in my opinion dodging the point of the song. It's to make you think about a variety of most likely "negative" subjects.
13. dudesweet

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    Nov 23rd 2007 !⃝

    This song is about being a teenager or having to deal with teens. Here we are now entertain us is teenagers feeling I'm here now entertain me with TV music life and everything else. It's also about the rebelling part by having sex and doing drugs "load up on guns and bring yours friends" and all the things you're not supposed to do And how teenagers pretend to be something for the crowd. I feel stupid and contagious is about a period in EVERYBODY'S high school career where they just feel like they don't know anything and are bad for others or have trouble finding friends.
14. anonymous

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    Oct 19th 2007 !⃝

    Cobain did not begin to write "Smells Like Teen Spirit" until a few weeks before recording started on Nirvana's second album, Nevermind, in 1991. When he first presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the main riff and the chorus vocal melody, which bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed at the time as "ridiculous." In response, Cobain made the band play the riff for "an hour and a half." In a 2001 interview, Novoselic recalled that after playing the riff repeatedly, he thought, "'Wait a minute. Why don't we just kind of slow this down a bit?' So I started playing the verse part. And Dave [started] playing a drum beat." As a result, all three band members are credited as songwriters.
15. anonymous

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    Aug 6th 2007 !⃝

    Kurt said himself, he just writes thoughts that pop into his head. Very few of his songs have an overall meaning (like polly). Most of the time, things popped into his head and he was influenced by day-to-day things and song writing was how he expressed the world around him. There is no overall meaning, just a collection of thoughts, which is whys it's so hard to interpret. You'd have to know what he was thinging as he penned the lyrics and the subsequent changes he made.

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