6 Early Versions Of Iconic Songs Missing The Iconic Parts
1. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
The iconic Nirvana song that ushered in grunge and destroyed all that optimistic hair metal of the 80s started life as a disorganized mess.
The original version of the song has Kurt Cobain stumbling through the lyrics, seemingly making them up as he went along, inexplicably even more so than the original recording. The song needed someone to reign in the bands punk-inspired anarchy without turning the song into just another pop song. That task fell on producer Butch Vig:
“Kurt introduced it by saying, ‘Hey Butch, we got some new songs for you, and we also got Dave Grohl – he’s the best drummer in the world!”
The band proceeded to play the song with such high distortion that Vig could barley hear anything except static, “But underneath the fuzz, I could hear ‘Hello, Hello’, melodies and chord structures. And even though the recording was terrible, I was super excited,” Vig said.
Vig was able to wrangle in Nirvana's punk sensibilities just enough to create one of the most iconic songs of all time.