(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Wed 16 April 2025 3:00, UK
The thing with louder forms of music is that often, nuance gets forgotten. Under the noise and the volume, the sheer energy and the excitement it ignited, it’s easy to lose track of things like lyricism, deeper meanings, or more intricate decisions made about the music. Especially with genres of punk or grunge, its DIY ethos often glosses over the deep artistic efforts within – Kurt Cobain always wanted to undo that.
However, it hit him, too. When we think about Cobain, what do we think of first? His growling vocals? His angsty attitude? His tragic ending? When thinking about Nirvana, the first thing that comes to mind is typically the raging energy of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ or the driving instrumentals behind their biggest tracks. Rarely is it poetry.
But Cobain would have preferred that it was. More so than wanting to be remembered as a frontman, or a figurehead pioneering a new style and sound as he sat at the forefront and the most recognisable face of the grunge wave, Cobain wanted to be remembered as something more simple, more timeless and, in his eyes, more honourable. He simply wanted to be remembered and recognised as a songwriter.
In a tale as old as time, though, lyrical nuance doesn’t sell hits. It’s a story acted out over and over as artists so often feel like their biggest and best-selling song isn’t the most reflective of their talent. Instead, the hits are generally easy. They’re digestible for mass consumption and enjoyment, and while it might be discrediting to say or disheartening to hear, mass consumption often demands catering for the lowest common denominator. So, overly articulate lyricism packed with metaphors and meanings isn’t going to work for the big crowds, no matter how much an artist wishes it would.
Cobain is one of the many music makers who feel that way about their most popular track versus their best track. Their biggest is undeniably ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Soon after the song blew up, giving them their career, the band became tired of it. “I can barely, especially on a bad night like tonight, get through ‘Teen Spirit’. I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away. I can’t pretend to have a good time playing it,” Cobain once said.
After however many hundreds of repeats, the song simply didn’t have the lyrical and artistic depth to hold up in his mind. “Everyone has focused on that song so much,” he told Rolling Stone, wishing they’d pay attention to his own favourite instead.
In his mind, ‘Drain You’ is his best. “I love the lyrics, and I never get tired of playing it,” he said as that 1991 song seemed to have everything the hit lacked in Cobain’s eyes. It had great lyrics that he was proud of and enough to the track to allow it to last and feel new each time. It wasn’t a song he’d get bored of, but even Cobain admitted that if the public had descended on that track instead, maybe that feeling wouldn’t endure.
“Maybe if it was as big as ‘Teen Spirit’, I wouldn’t like it as much,” he said, admitting that perhaps it always just comes down to the pain of overexposure when a band are stuck on a loop playing their biggest hit.
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