Courtney Love has revealed some of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's unused alternate lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Love shared a few unused phrases, lifted from her late husband's journals during the latest episode of the popular podcast series 60 Songs That Explain The '90s. The Hole frontwoman, solo artist and mother to Cobain's child, Frances Bean Cobain, was the guest on the episode dissecting the monumental impact of Smells Like Teen Spirit on the cultural landscape. Speaking to the host, noted music journalist Rob Harvilla Love offered up the following alternate verse and chorus.
"Come out and play / make up the rules / I know I hope / to buy the truth / who will be the king and queen / of all the outcasted teens" and its chorus: "We're so lazy / and so stupid / blame our parents / and the cupids / a deposit, for a bottle / stick it inside / no role model".
"We merge ahead this special day / this day giving amnesty to sacrilege / A denial / and from strangers / a revival / and from favours / here we are now / we're so famous / here we are now / entertain us".
As noted by Kill Your Stereo, Harvalla swiftly points out that only five of the lines Love shared made it into the culture defining hit, to which Love responds "You miss that because you bought into it, but I like this world-breaking, world-shattering – what would it have been like – alternate time continuum.” The grunge era icon then affirms that she does wish the lines "Who will be the king and queen / of all the outcasted teens" made the final cut, as it "would've helped my life a little bit better, taking on the shit that me and my daughter have."
Listen to the full episode below.
One of the most celebrated rock songs of all time, Smells Like Teen Spirit helped propel Nirvana into the mainstream spotlight, with the single's unprecedented success helping to catapult the Seattle grunge band's second album Nevermind to the top of the charts globally.
A celebrated musician in her own right, Love's band Hole have sold millions of albums globally and are considered a legend of the grunge era. Love also has also experienced success as a solo artist, releasing the album America's Sweetheart in 2004, as well as venturing into other avenues of entertainment.
Earlier this week, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan (who co-wrote some tracks with Love that appeared on Hole's Celebrity Skin) reflected on Cobain's talent and the impact his passing had on him personally.
"I want the Pumpkins standing on the top of the heap of our generation,” Corgan said in the interview. “If that means I got to write 800 songs to do it, I’ll do it. I ain’t shy about that. I will go down always as saying, Kurt was the most talented guy of our generation. Kurt had so much talent. It’s like frightening. It was like a John Lennon level of talent, where you’re like, ‘How can you have all this talent?’ Or Prince, right? But Kurt’s not here, sadly. So I looked around, I was like, ‘All right, well, I could beat the rest of them for sure.'”
Corgan also revealed that he cried when he heard of Cobain's death, although perhaps not for the reason most would have expected.
“When Kurt died, I cried because I lost my greatest opponent. I want to beat the best. I don’t want to win the championship because it’s just me and a bunch of jabronis, to use a wrestling term. It’s like, Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest sports competitor I’ll ever see in my lifetime — I mean, you want to talk about an alpha. That guy wanted to win the valet tip. You know what I mean?”
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