The early 1990s saw a seaside change in the music industry as the glossy, supercharged sounds of the 1980s, reshaped and given form by MTV, came to an end. If the 80s was the wild, fabulous party orchestrated by popular president Ronald Reagan, then the 90s was the painful hangover as we were scolded by the less cool George Bush. Generation X also came of age, a disillusioned group realizing that the American Dream came with strings attached. With MTV drunk on the hair metal scene dominating the charts, Gen X was looking for a musical voice that mirrored their anxieties in this new decade.
Enter Nirvana, the underground grunge band influenced by the late 1970s punk movement. Led by frontman Kurt Cobain, the band released their second studio album Nevermind in 1991, marking the end of the hair metal trend. From its first single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, the LP became a surprise hit, with a collection of songs that found mainstream success. The nihilistic, sometimes nonsensical lyrics drip with attitude and despair, with Cobain’s muddled, rage-filled delivery giving the tunes that extra kick. Generation X, particularly the male set, latched onto the punk-infused sound, with Cobain crafting an anthem for the anti-establishment youth trying to move past the sins of their baby boomer parents.
The music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit is a visually striking piece that perfectly matches the song’s tone. Nirvana wanted a gritty, grimy representation of their punk roots, contrasting the glossy look produced by the hairspray-loving metal bands. They chose director Samuel Bayer, helming his first video, and launched his career as the de jour director in the alt-rock world. The clip shows Nirvana jamming to a dystopian drenched gym full of rowdy teenagers, with black-clad cheerleaders embezzled with the anarchy “A” symbol. It’s a wild and dour clip, and as much as Cobain may have resisted it, his natural charisma made him a rock star and the voice of a generation.
MTV went wild over the bold and influential video, immediately putting it into heavy rotation. And the success of Nirvana’s first video pushed the music channel to embrace the alt-rock sound, which was becoming mainstream. The mid-’90s was a mini golden age of grunge and alt-rock, with bands like Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, and even Alanis Morrisette achieving chart-topping success. I remember witnessing the change in high school, as Nirvana fans started raiding their father’s flannel closet, quoting the likes of William S. Burroughs, and reading The Catcher in the Rye as the new gospel. Even the Nevermind album cover has become iconic, if recently controversial, with the image of a naked baby swimming after a dollar bill.
Sadly, the late ’90s saw an end to the grunge resurgence kicked off by Nevermind, as the teenage pop boom led by The Backstreet Boys and Brittany Spears began its musical dominance. Even MTV moved on, courting the tween girls who wanted their boy band fix. And the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide at 27, may have been the beginning of the end of the sound he brought to the masses. Luckily, he left a lasting legacy, and the Smells Like Teen Spirit video is a snapshot of his musical genius.
Check out the video below, and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
I think this particular video jump-started the grunge era for me personally. I agree video certainly helped sell more music of grunge rock artists as the videos were very much “in line” with the tone and mood of the music. For awhile, it seemed like grunge music was everywhere.
Funny, I was so not a grunge fan back in high school when Nirvana debuted. I was still stuck in my “Madonna/pop dance/musical theatre” phase during those years, so I recoiled when I first watched the video. Over the years, I reassessed and realized what a groundbreaking sound Nirvana ushered in, and I now love the song and album.