Nirvana performed “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the song that became an unofficial anthem of MTV’s early-1990s grunge era.
The track was released in 1991 as the lead single from Nevermind, Nirvana’s second studio album. Its explosive video, directed by Samuel Bayer, received heavy MTV rotation and helped move alternative rock from a specialist audience into the mainstream.
The video presents a chaotic high-school pep rally that ends in destruction, matching the song’s aggressive sound and deliberately ambiguous lyrics. Its imagery became closely associated with the youth culture and fashion shifts of the early 1990s.
People sometimes attribute the song’s breakthrough solely to radio or album sales, but MTV was central to its visual impact. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” also helped establish Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl as major figures in popular music.