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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   Mar 24th 2007 !⃝

   The song backwards is him and his struggle with drugs and Courtney love
   RIP KURT COBAIN
2. anonymous

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   Mar 20th 2007 !⃝

   Who listen "smells..." backwards?
3. anonymous

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   Mar 9th 2007 !⃝

   When he first heard the phrase he didn't know that it was a deodorant and got his own interpretation of it. Now he gives US the same words and we get our own interpretation of it.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 6th 2007 !⃝

   Listen to it backwards at you tube and tell me that this song is not about wankers. and also california dreaming being together telepathic communication I seen it really no joke that's one of the secrets of life.the backward version states I want it I want it alone talking about the telepathic communication.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 28th 2007 !⃝

   Listen to this song backwards by either going to youtube typing smells like teen spirit backwards.... Its very interesting.... + if you don't beliueve the lyrics on the webcite at utube get the song go to sound recorder on your comp click effect hit reverse. Then record the song then click play..... everything you guys have been talking about will be warped after hearing this!
6. anonymous

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   Jan 29th 2007 !⃝

   firstoff the lyrics on this page are wrong. It's "she's over-bored and self assured." one of the most important lines.... It's "hello, hello, hello, how low.."
   
   Ok, coming from a kid who loves Nirvana I have spent hours on end trying to interpret kurt's lyrics. like only a kid can.
   
   the "load up on guns bring your friends, its fun to lose and to pretend" refers to peer pressure. no doubt.
   the "she's over-bored and self-assured" refers to the adult idea that teens are sexually active.
   
   the chorus, (with the lights out....) also refers to probably...sex. plainly said. what backs up this claim is the "a mullato, an albino" meaning it doesn't matter who you do it with and the "a mosquito, my libido" meaning an itching for sexual desire.
   
   Many think that Cobain may have been just stoned when he wrote this but personally I think that if he were stoned, it would have been like "Blew" or something of that sort.
   
   "I'm worse at what I do best and for this gift I feel blessed" may refer to his opinion that "his music wasn't good enough but he was thankful" or that he simply thought of himself as a bad musician.
   
   The "a denial" part which is left out at the given lyrics above could refer to "a denial to peer pressure" or "a denial to parents" or simply...."a denial."
7. anonymous

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   Jan 22nd 2007 !⃝

   There are a lot of different interpretations... I think this is because people here a song and get different things from it based on how they feel...or whatever else is going on in there crazy lives... My crazy life is telling me this song is talking about people who fool themselves and pretend...eg. jocks, cheerleaders,people who just follow because they don't want to be different..."Load up on guns and bring your friends, It's fun to lose and to pretend"..."She's over bored and self assured", I think that is talking about... a girl who fools here self and pretends..."Here we are now, entertain us" I think this is for people who watch those pretenders and are entertained, like my self.
   
   i also think because this was Nirvana's first (kinda, if you NEVER ever heard of them) HUGE hit... I think it was letting everyone know that they were not writing music for the jocks or preps.
8. anonymous

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   Jan 22nd 2007 !⃝

   Everyone is saying the same goddamn thing over and over. To address a few of you douchebags: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single-handedly killed 80's hair-metal. THANK GOD.
   He is talking about some of the stupid things that teens do, or the myths that they start, like, "with the lights out, it's less dangerous." I don't know exactly what he's referring to. This song also has an anti-establishment edge to it. For example: I think some verses of the song are about how teens are kept in line by their parents, school, or other authority figures. The reason I say this is because the music video takes place in a school's gym, and because he makes it seem like a bad thing to know "a dirty word." TAKE A LOOK AT THE VIDEO FOR THIS SONG IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. I suggest using GOOGLE VIDEO to find it.
9. anonymous

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   Jan 18th 2007 !⃝

   its about teens being lazy and not wanting to do anything.
10. anonymous

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    Jan 14th 2007 !⃝

    People need to stop thinking so hard about the meaning of this song and just take it for what it is. Yes, we all know how Cobain got the name for the song, but nobody knows exactly what he meant by this song. Every line of this song can be interpreted in multiple ways. It's a great song, that's all that really matters...
11. anonymous

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    Jan 9th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about how the singer's generation was pretty much useless. Ok, there they are, now what? He feels as if this is a disiese, and that it may be contagious. I made that up right now.
12. anonymous

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    Dec 27th 2006 !⃝

    Well for one, if anyone knew anything about Kurt Cobain or even had a glimpse of what he was about would not even try and interpret this song.....He was such a complex person and so original....he wrote about what was on his head and what he had on his mind....the song is not about sex, teenagers, although I have heard that the deodorant thing is true....that was just inspiration on the song...that doesn't mean every lyric he wrote came from that one situation....Kurt Cobain may be dead but he had so much influence on today.....Yes he might have been on a lot of drugs, not a good role model.....but he was the most musically induced musician of this time....he played to play and have fun....not to make millions like the people of our age do....So before anyone writes another thing about nirvana suckin, Kurt being a druggy wash up, or anything else dogging him....your think about what he did for the youth and music scene today....all I got to say*
13. anonymous

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    Dec 16th 2006 !⃝

    this song and Plateau are pointed to wankers just read the lyrics, many a hand?
14. anonymous

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    Dec 14th 2006 !⃝

    Heh I don't know why the second post got such a low rating.
    Sounds right; especially after reading this post from the "lithium" interpretations:
    
    "I just noticed that people expect more of the thematic angle with our music, you know, they always wanna read into it, and before I was just using pieces of poetry and just garble, just garbage, you know, just stuff that just would spew out of me at the time, and a lot of times when I write lyrics it just at the last second because I'm really lazy... And then I find myself having to come up with explanations..." <<-- kurdt about his lyrics in 1993
15. anonymous

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    Dec 13th 2006 !⃝

    The whole song is pointed to wankers. Soon you will understand I hope.

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