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. anonymous

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   Jul 29th 2007 !⃝

   Okay. The first one is about right! Everyone else basically doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about! It is about teenagers and what we, all teenagers do.
   Talk about sex and for some/most actually having sex.
   
   Hello, Hello, Hello....HOW LOW!
2. anonymous

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   Jul 20th 2007 !⃝

   Stupid people amuse me. And after reading these entries, I'm literally crying from laughing so hard.
3. anonymous

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   Jul 8th 2007 !⃝

   It is about that girl from Bikini kill he was in love with. They were friend first I believe and then they started sleeping together. And he thought she liked him back, but she didn’t she was just playing around. That really hurt him and he wrote this song. She wore Teen Spirit by the way.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 19th 2007 !⃝

   I have an interview with nirvana at home and they r all stoned and krist sys the song is about "lazy teenagers and apathy" QUOTE FROM KRIST OF NIRVANA
5. anonymous

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   Jun 7th 2007 !⃝

   Maybe I'm just square, but I was under the impression that the meaning was rather simple and guarded by jargon.
   
   The Chorus means:
   "I really hate my fans, they're really stupid."
   
   The rest has no meaning at all, but don't let that stop people from trying to find it.
   
   Say what you will about this Kurt Cobain, he was very talented, and he made some really groovy tunes (this one included) but he sure had some problems.
6. anonymous

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   Jun 6th 2007 !⃝

   I think this song is about a gang-bang (if you know what I mean) that Kurt is going to attend.
   
   Load up on guns, bring your friends: Get extremely drunk and high.
   
   It's fun to lose, and to pretend: Lose your mind because your drunk and to hallucinate.
   
   She's overboard, myself assured: She's very drunk.
   
   I know, I know a dirty word: Not quite sure about this one, probably about sex.
   
   Hello x16: They have just arrived at the party.
   
   With the lights out, it's less dangerous: Read below to find out.
   
   Here we are now, entertain us: They just got to the party, they want some action.
   
   I feel stupid, and contagious: He is very drunk, and maybe feels like he's gonna get some contagious std from all the sex.
   
   Here we are now entertain us:(above)
   
   A mulatto, an albino: Now before I said I'd get back to you on the "With the Lights Out..." line. This is because albinos are very reactant to light, and it will be less dangerous if they have sex in the dark.
   
   A mosquito: I think he is using this as a metaphor, he feels like the mosquito, spreading the disease around to everyone.
   
   My libido: Self-explanitory
   
   Thats my interpretation on the first few lines, thanks
7. anonymous

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   May 27th 2007 !⃝

   Stupid people! If your going to freak out on people about their interpretation at least don't try to sound cool and say that something in the song isn't there. I am talking to Nirvana. Yea in "smells like teen spirit" it DOES say "well the lights out it's less dangerous." please don't claim to know what your talking about if you don't even know the damn song
8. anonymous

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   May 24th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about the macho and jock types that used to tease the band members when they were young who eventually become fans of their music the title of teh song came when one night Kurt and some friends were taggin a neighbourhood and one wrote on kurts wall "Kurt smells liek teen spirit" just a joke on a wall nothing more.
9. anonymous

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   May 24th 2007 !⃝

   I see more than simplistic messages in Kurt's songs. This one has rather interesting, sarcastic, contradictory lyrics; I always thought of it as the feelings that come with teenage years.
   
   In the first line, when Kurt says, "Load up on guns and bring your friends, it's fun to lose and to pretend", I believe the message is that you do stupid crap in your teen years (Guns, friends, lose them.) That's just merely his sarchastic, theoretical example, though. Then he sings, "She's overboard and self-assured; I know, I know, a dirty word." Now, I've heard that he's talking about his ex-girlfriend at that part. I'm not sure, bottom line though, she's overboard (probably under the influence), and self-assured (is certain about everything she says.) She was a TEEN too when dating Kurt. The "I know, I know" part is the a sarcastic, typical teenage phrase when your mom says, do the dishes. However, he also uses that as a conjunction to "a dirty word", or way to describe all of what he is saying in a negative ("dirty") manner. "Hello, how low?" is like saying sarcastically, "Hi! How depressed are you today?" My favorite part is the chorus. "With the lights out, it's less dangerous" clearly means that it's safer for people not to even look at your face sometimes. This line is also clever because it contradicts itself if read literally. "Here we are now, entertain us, I feel stupid, and contagious, here we are now, entertain us". Pretty obvious if you understand the context now.
   
   The most clever line: "A mullato, an albino, a mosquito, my libido! YEAH!" All of the changes in your life represents the your sex drive (libido) which drains you (mosquito suckking blood) from a mullato (half color, in this context)to no albino (no color, in this context. "I'm worse at what I do best and for this gift, I feel blessed" meaning, he's good at nothing, and for it (more sarchasm) he feels blessed as a result. "Our little group has always been and always will, until the end." I think he's talking about the band never ending, until the end (more contradictory elemnts for effect).
   
   My mom dad tells me that "When your'e in your teen years, things seem like they'll be the same forever." The final verse: "And I forget just why I taste, oh yeah, I guess it makes you smile. I found it hard, it's hard to find, oh well, whatever, nevermind." Kurt forgets a it is nececarry to do a good thing of significant value: "taste" which I think means nothing intentionally. He says "I found it hard" (to do the good thing) and "it's hard to find (good things in life, pessimistic), oh, well, whatever, nevermind (He's apathetic) The last part is screamed about eleven times, "A Denial!!" You don't like to admit your wrong-doings when you are a teen, many adults don't either. This is also contradictory, intentionally, because you don't admit to someone that you are denying them.
   
   Please rate, or e-mail at trystanks@yahoo.com.
10. anonymous

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    May 17th 2007 !⃝

    If any of y'all have read the journals of Kurt Cobain which was released a year ago, you'd realize he spoke a lot about right-wingers and people who are wrong with the world. In the early development of the song, it spoke of (and this is 100% true, Kurt wrote it himself) striking a revolution and making all the jocks and cheerleaders pay for their actions and all the stuck ups for the way they treat people who are different. It's an outlook on society. Thats what it meant to Cobain, but it isn't the authors meaning, its the listeners meaning that matters.
11. GenevieveC

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    May 8th 2007 !⃝

    What the hell does a Mosquito have to do with this song??? Honestly who gives a flying... about this guys libido. Thanks for that benn. Now for weather. I personally think this song is subconsiously trying to sell us deodorant. "Smells like teen spirit." duhhh,
12. evol

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    Apr 18th 2007 !⃝

    Well this site could do with getting the lyrics right for interpretation. The major mistakes, being in the last verse (which I cover later in this entry) as well as the famous, “Hello, hello, hello, how low?” are both integral parts of the song and extremely important to its lyrical content. Nevertheless, I'm not sure concentrating on the title so much is that important - we all know where Kurt got the idea from and I feel quite sure, as a fellow writer, that when he came across the line “Kurt smells like teen spirit,” he probably recognised its potential as a really cool title for, or a line to be used in something in the future.
    
    As far as the song lyrics go, ‘Sheep,’ above, talks about Cobain's strong influence from Burroughs's and I think that's a very important point to make. Kurt was taken, as many of us unbeknownst are, by the cut up literary art form that Burroughs helped create and it seems obvious that the lyrics to "Smell Like Teen Spirit" shifts between narratives in a very Burroughs-esque way.
    
    It is also important to point out that some of the fan's assertions on this page that Kurt's lyrics mean nothing because he was all about the music, or because he wasn't smart enough, are completely unfounded. It is true that Cobain often brushed off deeper meanings to his lyrics, however it can be seen time and time again, in all his art forms, that he was quite aware of what he was representing and how he was representing it.
    
    As far as the lyrics to this song go, it seems obvious that the majority of them are talking about, and taking the piss out of, teen culture within the US. Many of the above interpretations have highlighted this connection so I won't waste much time on it, but I should recount more than one article I read throughout the early 90's that commented on Nirvana's amazement at the irony that a song that was taking the piss out of teen culture was so embraced by it.
    
    It is the last verse, in my opinion, which is the most important part of this song and an excellent example of Kurt Cobain’s poetic ability. The verse, I believe, is a reference to intravenous drug use:
    
    "And I forget just why I taste"
    Tasting, depending on which intravenous drug user you talk to, is the moment when you draw the blood back into the syringe and it begins mixing with the drug, or, the moment shortly after the drug has been injected into the vein when the saliva at the back of the tongue becomes bittered with the drugs taste.
    
    "Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile"
    See above, both moments are each one of the most enjoyable parts of needle use.
    
    "I found it hard, it was hard to find"
    When people inject too much it gets increasingly harder to find the vein and that moment, for a regular needle user, is the most frustrating thing in the world.
    
    "Oh well, whatever, nevermind"
    He found the vein; the drugs in his system, he’s high and what he was complaining about in the previous line don't matter no more.
    
    How does this relate to the rest of the song? It probably doesn't. Again, Cobain was a fan of the cut up technique. However, if you wanted to read more into it, it wouldn't be at all out there to assume that Cobain could be pointing to some connection between his exclusion from popular teen culture in high school and his use of intravenous drugs in his later life... curious.
13. anonymous

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    Apr 12th 2007 !⃝

    the teen spirit deodorant thing is true...
    
    the "a denial" part is true
    
    the part where it says "here we are now, entertain us" is pointed at today's youth (like me) who want instant gratification and everything given to them, he explains it better than I ever could,, it's "here we are now, entertain us"... put so perfectly...
14. ynitsed

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    Apr 11th 2007 !⃝

    You're probably all right, but I've heard this song in reverse, maybe you should too.
15. YourFan

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    Mar 29th 2007 !⃝

    well
    teen spirit was a deodorant
    and someone wrote "kurt Cobain smells like teen spirit"...i hope you guys know that.
    in some ways this song could be about the teenage generation and how some things are mainstream and how entertaining it is.
    just bcuz it says libido it's not all about sex.
    Kurt Cobain was a fucking amazing genius!
    but plz don't shoot me if my interpretation is wrong.

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