“Smells Like Nirvana” is a song written and performed by American musician “Weird Al” Yankovic as a parody of Nirvana‘s song “Smells Like Teen Spirit“. It was released as the lead single from his Off the Deep End album in April 3, 1992. “Smells Like Nirvana” was written during a three-year career low for Yankovic after the financial failure of his film UHF, but captured the quickly-rising popularity of grunge and Nirvana‘s success. The song was written to poke fun at Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain‘s unintelligible lyrics in the original song. After being unable to contact Nirvana conventionally, Yankovic called Cobain while the band was on the set of Saturday Night Live, where Cobain quickly gave permission to record the parody.
Recording the song was a change for Yankovic and his band. Usually, the group was forced to record several overdubs. “Smells Like Nirvana“, however, was relatively straightforward in its musical composition. To promote the single, Yankovic created an associated video for the song that parodied and closely mirrored the original “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video, even going so far as to hire several of the same actors and use the same set.
“Smells Like Nirvana” was met with critical praise and helped to re-energize Yankovic‘s career. Dave Grohl of Nirvana said Yankovic‘s parody enabled them to recognize the success their band had achieved. The song is one of Yankovic‘s most successful singles and was his second top 40 hit in the United States, reaching number 35 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song’s video was nominated for a 1992 MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.
Tracklist:
- Smells Like Nirvana
- Trigger Happy
Credits:
Weird Al Yankovic: lead and background vocals, keyboards, accordion
Jim West: guitars, banjo, background vocals
Steve Jay: bass guitar, background vocals
Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz: drums, percussion
