10 More Huge Songs That Bands Refused To Play Live
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Not only is Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana’s biggest-ever song, but it’s also one of the biggest songs from any artist of all time.
Grunge’s coming out party as a respected genre, the song and its music video were an essential part of '90s alternative culture and it is still worshipped today as one of the great hard rock crossover tracks.
Considering how anti-corporate Nirvana were, it’s not massively shocking to learn that they were conflicted about their creation and its monstrous popularity. In 1994, Kurt Cobain said, “I still like playing 'Teen Spirit', but it's almost an embarrassment to play it”, citing the fact that his other songs were ignored because of it as a major problem.
Following the release of the In Utero album in 1993, the song was slowly phased out of the band’s concerts. In the end, the band only lasted until 1994, so fans never got to see how long this boycott would have lasted.
When Nirvana were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, the remaining members played the song live for the first time in 20 years, and it was quite something.