(no subject)

[gfish]

An odd thought occurred to me today. At what point did it become an obscure factoid that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a reference to a cheap brand of deodorant? Growing up remains quite weird.

In other news, does anyone have a Dreamwidth invite I can use? I'd like to claim my username there while it is still available. 'gfish' is disappearing annoyingly quickly on new services these days.

Comments

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

What's interesting to me is to learn from Wikipedia that the reference was apparently an accident:

Cobain came up with the song's title when his friend Kathleen Hanna, at the time the lead singer of the Riot Grrrl punk band Bikini Kill, spray painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his wall. Since they had been discussing anarchism, punk rock, and similar topics, Cobain interpreted the slogan as having a revolutionary meaning. What Hanna actually meant, however, was that Cobain smelled like the deodorant Teen Spirit, which his then-girlfriend Tobi Vail wore. Cobain later claimed that he was unaware that it was a brand of deodorant until months after the single was released.[9]

I'd always assumed that Cobain was deliberately, cynically poking fun at one of the stupidest marketing campaigns ever ("smells like teen spirit" was the *actual* slogan for the stuff.) Mocking that level of corporate pandering. Turns out he did it by accident...

(Is it *really* an obscure factoid now? Are you running into people who never heard of it? Damn.)

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I kind of have to assume Cobain wasn't being entirely truthful there. How could he have avoided exposure to those horrible commercials? I mean, I immediately assumed it was a reference when I first heard the song, and I was about as cut off from mainstream culture at the time as was possible without living in a yurt.

I don't have any firsthand experience of people not knowing about it, but why would they know about a string of annoying commercials from almost twenty years ago? Maybe I'll ask a couple of the other grads tonight...

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

For a better and/or more depressing sample, ask the freshmen.