Smells Like Teen Spirit
(Nirvana)

“When I heard Nirvana’s piece [Smells Like Teen Spirit] I had never heard of the band before. I was in Sweden in the outback freezing my ass off in the fall. I wasn’t keeping up on stuff, and I saw their band on MTV up there and immediately I was going, ‘I’ve got to write this down.’ That melody was just something that said, ‘Take me to the piano.’”

”I was playing a festival in Germany a few years ago right after I had done the Smells Like Teen Spirit cover. This is one of those festivals where the people drink gallons of German beer three days straight. I played on the second day and they were already gone. Many boys proceeded to yell ‘Schnell, you fucking slut’ as I was playing my piano. I turned to them and said, ‘Look, you motherfuckers, synchronize your watches because I’m here until the big hand gets on the 12. So unless you blow me off the stage with a rifle, suffer.’ And I did the longest version of Teen Spirit anyone’s ever done, like 22 minutes, and walked off the stage, pride intact, graciously ass-saved.”  [Spin – March 1995]

”I did a tribute to Kurt Cobain with ‘Teen Spirit’ and ‘American Pie’ this night in Dublin because ‘American Pie’ is what I heard over and over in my head the night he killed himself. I played it to 2,500 kids: it started like a whisper, and then in perfect pitch, in perfect rhythm, very softly, they all sang ‘American Pie’ with me. None of us in the crew had ever experienced anything like it....
I just felt like I knew him. I miss him as a musician. It’s just painful when you see someone who had so much to give - especially musically - gone. We’ve lost quite a significant voice for this generation.”  [Illinois Entertainer – August 1994]

“When I heard that song for the first time, I was very moved by it. The idea that boys also knew this kind of pain! Like a sort of homage I recorded a version of that song as well.” [Oor (Dutch, “Ear”) – January 29, 1994]