Editing Smells Like Teen Spirit (section)

==Music==
{{Listen|filename=NirvanaSmellsLikeTeenSpirit.ogg|title="Smells Like Teen Spirit"|description=Sample of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's 1991 album ''[[Nevermind]]''. The sample illustrates the change in dynamics from verse to pre-chorus and chorus.}}

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a [[grunge]]<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Danaher|first=Michael|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-grunge-songs.html?p=2|title=The 50 Best Grunge Songs|magazine=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|date=August 4, 2014|access-date=May 5, 2019|archive-date=August 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805220018/https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-grunge-songs.html?p=2|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[alternative rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Cosores|first=Philip|url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/ranking-every-alternative-rock-hit-from-worst-to-best/|title=Ranking: Every Alternative Rock No. 1 Hit from Worst to Best|work=[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence]]|date=July 5, 2017|access-date=October 9, 2019}}</ref> song. It was recorded in the original key of [[F minor]] and follows a F<sup>5</sup>-B{{music|flat}}<sup>5</sup>-A{{music|flat}}<sup>5</sup>-D{{music|flat}}<sup>5</sup> chord progression,<ref name="Rooksby133">Rooksby, p. 133.</ref> with the main guitar riff constructed from four [[power chord]]s played in a [[Syncopation|syncopated]] [[sixteenth note]] strum by Cobain.<ref name="music">Chappell, Jon. "Nirvana's Music". ''Guitar''. June 1993.</ref> The guitar chords were [[double tracking|double tracked]] to create a "more powerful" sound.<ref name="classicalbums">''[[Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind]]'' [DVD]. Isis Productions, 2004.</ref> The chords occasionally lapse into [[Added tone chord|suspended chord]] voicings as a result of Cobain playing the bottom four strings of the guitar for the thickness of sound.<ref name="music"/> The riff resembles that of [[Boston (band)|Boston]]'s 1976 hit "[[More Than a Feeling]]",<ref name="az176"/> though it is not identical - the band would sometimes play a fragment of that song as an introduction.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-19 |title=Nirvana play Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’ at Reading Festival back in 1992 - Far Out Magazine |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/nirvana-boston-more-than-a-feeling-reading-festival-1992/ |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Rooksby133"/> During the verses, Cobain used a [[Small Clone]] effect pedal to add a [[chorus effect]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=Dave |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZgOo8qmQDUC&q=Small%2520Clone%2520Smells%2520Like%2520Teen%2520Spirit&pg=PA202 |title=365 Guitars, Amps & Effects You Must Play: The Most Sublime, Bizarre and Outrageous Gear Ever |date=2013-05-15 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-0-7603-4366-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-HqBQAAQBAJ&q=Small%2520Clone&pg=PT89 |title=Guitar World: The Life & Genius of Kurt Cobain |date=2014-03-21 |publisher=Time Home Entertainment |isbn=978-1-61893-956-2 |language=en}}</ref>

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" uses a "somewhat conventional formal structure" consisting of four-, eight-, and twelve-bar sections, including an eight-bar verse, an eight-bar pre-chorus, and a twelve-bar chorus.<ref name="Starr"/> Musicologist Graeme Downes, who led the band the [[The Verlaines|Verlaines]], says that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" illustrates [[developing variation]].<ref name="Teen Spirit at ten">{{cite news|last=Lapriore|first=Elaine|title='Teen Spirit' at 10: An Unshakable Scent|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 2, 2001|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2001/09/02/teen-spirit-at-10-an-unshakable-scent/e76f5ad4-17ad-4c34-9479-0bc5194ad402|access-date=November 19, 2018}}</ref> Elements of the structure are marked with shifts in volume and dynamics, moving from quiet to loud several times. This structure of "quiet verses with wobbly, chorused guitar, followed by big, loud [[hardcore punk|hardcore]]-inspired choruses" became an alternative rock template.<ref>di Perna, Alan. "Brave Noise—The History of Alternative Rock Guitar". ''Guitar World'', December 1995.</ref>

During the verses, the band maintains the same chord progression as the chorus. Cobain plays a two-note guitar line over Novoselic's root-note [[eighth note]] bassline, which outlines the chord progression. Approaching the chorus, Cobain begins to play the same two notes on every beat of the measure and repeats the word "Hello".<ref name="Rooksby133"/> Following the first and second choruses, Cobain simultaneously sings the word "Yay" and performs a unison bend on his guitar.<ref>Rooksby, p. 134.</ref> After the second chorus, Cobain plays a 16-bar guitar solo restating his vocal melody from the verse and pre-chorus.<ref name="Starr">Starr; Waterman, pp. 434–5.</ref> During the closing refrain, Cobain sings "A denial" repeatedly; his voice becomes strained from the force of yelling.<ref name="classicalbums"/>