The song Kurt Cobain wrote after repeatedly listening to an album by The Beatles
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How Kurt Cobain reacted to “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Nirvana parody
When Nirvana released ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in September in 1991, the world was never to be the same again. The advent of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl as champions of Generation X set popular culture on a different course, and the effects of the single and the album from which it came, Nevermind, are still reverberating through the world today, a testament to the magical quality it had.
Given that it was such a consequential moment, in the blink of an eye Nirvana became hailed as iconic, as they were undoubtedly the biggest act of the era. However, this immense exposure also meant that their work was parodied. After being turned down by one of the most successful artists of all time, perennial funnyman “Weird Al” Yankovic set his sights on delivering a satire of the definitive grunge athem.
In a 2012 interview with Spin Yankovic revealed that he wrote a parody of Michael Jackson’s track ‘Black or White’ entitled ‘Snack All Night’, but that the popstar did not give him permission to release his song as he was uncomfortable witht he rework as his original contained a serious political message. Duly, Yankovic turned his attention to the other biggest hit of 1991, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
However, at first, bringing his parody to fruition wasn’t easy, as his manager was unable to directly reach Cobain in order to ask for his permission. Luckily enough though, Yankovic was a star in his own right, and his friend, the comedian Victoria Jackson from Saturday Night Live managed to get Cobain on the phone so Yankovic could ask the question.
Unsurprisingly, Yankovic and Cobain’s phone call went smoothly, and it resulted in the Nirvana frontman asking him whether it would be a food-themed track as he had released a myriad of gastronomic songs such as ‘Eat It’ and ‘Lasagna’.
“He was sweet and he got it in like five seconds and said, ‘Of course, you can do a parody,’” Yankovic remembered. “The famous quote from him was, ‘Is it going to be a song about food?’ because at that point that’s primarily what I was known for.”
Yankovic proceeded to explain to Cobain what the idea for his satire was. “I said, ‘Well, no, it’s going to be a song about how nobody can understand your lyrics,’” he continued. “And he said, ‘Oh, sure, of course, that’s funny.’ That’s one of those phone conversations I wish I had recorded. I’d love to hear that myself.”
After ‘Smells Like Nirvana’ was released in April 1992, Yankovic only met Cobain once. “He just happened to be eating at an adjoining table with his friends,” he said. “This was after the parody had come out, so I got to go over and thank him in person. I just profusely thanked him and said, ‘Anything I can do for you, let me know.’ Kurt extended his hand to me and said, ‘Polish my nails.’”
