yeah i just don't get it. as much as i've started to like and respect Nirvana i just don't understand the acclaim for this song. you can't understand a fucking word Cobain says. seriously, how drunk was he?

idc what anybody says, but this is one of the most overrated songs in the history of music. it's right up there with Stairway To Heaven

I think it's brilliant. The delivery has a bit to be desired, perhaps, but the song itself is great.

love it. love the energy, love the melody, love the feeling of it. i don't care that you can't understand what he's saying. it's a loud obnoxious rock'n'roll song. who's granny gives a shit what he's screaming? though reading the lyrics is a fun bonus, i'll admit.

the lyrics are fantastic

I wish I could find the thread I started about this song. It had all you'd ever want to know.

Anxiety said:

you do have a point there i love james brown and i never know wtf he's saying

great song from a great album. and it being over rated , probally but that doenst make it a crappy song imo

i love Tori's take on that song. (love the original too)

PricelessHo said:

Yeah
Also like Sinead's All Apologies - you can understand the lyrics

InsatiableCream said:

I also think it's one of the greatest rock songs of the 90s. Thanks for bringing it up!

I like it
but it still gets played to death on modern rock radio

InsatiableCream said:

No offense, but you're probably too young to really "get" why it's such an anthem. You can appreciate the song on its own merits (or not), but its importance as the flashpoint for a generation is a product of the times at that point in a lightning-in-a-bottle, had-to-be-there kind of way.
[Edited 6/26/08 10:15am]

InsatiableCream said:

overplayed, yes, but Stairway is a really great song too!

I think if you get the lyrics (to the Nirvana song), and you actually sing the song, you might get it a little. It's really a great melody. You could sing it slow as a ballad, and it would still hold up.

It doesn't need the thundering drums or the dynamics of the guitars, though they kick ass as well. Yes he stole the sonic idea from the Pixies, but it was such a great sound and such a great song that it was a new standard pop formula that lasted for years.

As overplayed as it is, I still think it rocks. Definitely one of their best tunes, just like Stairway to Heaven.

It was definitely one of those "You have to be there" types of songs. Before it broke, everything on the radio was schlocky hair metal & disposable pop crap. Then this comes out, talking about how apathetic kids have become.

Bottom line, it's a great pop tune with a cool message and Cobain's brilliant sense of irony penned in there. The fact that he could cram a message like that into a song with loud guitars and a total pop riff is incredible, or at least it was at the time.

guitarslinger44 said:

yeah, the lyrics are at times vague, but always interesting, and a line like "here we are now, entertain us!" was a level of subtle humor that was pretty new to music at the time.

PricelessHo said:

that's what awoke me to this song. Gives me the chills!

PricelessHo said:

nirvana used to play tori's version at the beginning of their shows and they'd come onstage in tutus doing ballet dances.

Anxiety said:

wait, nirvana played tori doing nirvana? was it a specific reference to her? sounds kinda hard to decipher

heartbeatocean said:

tori's version of 'teen spirit' was played over the loudspeakers at the beginnings of nirvana shows, and the band would come out wearing tutus and do little twirls and dances to the tori recording. then they'd launch into the concert.

Anxiety said:

omg that's more than awesome. Makes me sad they're gone.

heartbeatocean said:

it's the kind of thing that made me love them. like the time kurt showed up on MTV's "headbanger's ball" wearing a prom gown.

Anxiety said:

he said "It's a ball, right?"

NDRU said:

"You had to be there" = it sucks

Dance said:

shocking response from you!