The cover of "Teen Spirit"

[sloppy joe]

Did anyone notice that the Melvins version (which is on Crybaby) is played kinda sloppy?  Especially when the guitar switches back to clean and the verse starts.  You can clearly hear Buzz miss a note.

on purpose or pretty much recorded in a hurry?

discuss

[fallen teen idols]

did lief garret get the joke?

[eddie]

Did anyone notice that the Melvins version (which is on Crybaby) is played kinda sloppy?  Especially when the guitar switches back to clean and the verse starts.  You can clearly hear Buzz miss a note.

on purpose or pretty much recorded in a hurry?

discuss

you should of seen it live with david yow on vocals. i think they did it on purpose, for punk rocks sake!

[GrimReaper]

There are some Melvins fans that get into the Melvins music because Kurt liked them. They now enjoy and love the Melvins. I accept these people as legit Melvins fans.

Some people don't really like the Melvins but pretent to because "Kurt liked them."

This is my theory: Buzzo destroyed Smell Like Teen Spirit for these posers. Imagine the only song you know by the Melvins is a Nirvana cover. These individuals are out there! Their first Melvins cd is the Crybaby because SLTS is covered. The 2X2 tour in support of the Crybaby was two different sets. The second set could be extremely confusing to a Melvins novice. Add in SLTS being sung by some anus jibblet from the audiance and you have just ruined a posers image of the Melvins forever. He begins to question his idol's beliefs and thus his own.

The Crybaby is a great album and of all the songs on the release, Smell Like Teen Spirit is the least exciting. It's just a cover. But throw in Leif Garrett, a former teen idol, and the song takes on a darker meaning.  

To answer the question "Do you think Leif ever got it?", I say no. At the Seattle Showbox show he made the statement: "This is historical, in my world anyway" which makes it all the more pathetic.

If you have any 2x2 tour bootlegs of SLTS it is all crystal clear. And with the FTP up and running download a few.

Some food for thought:

Do you think any Hank Williams Sr. fans picked up a copy of the Crybaby for the HankIII cover of Rambling Man? And then fell in love with the Melvins?

[anaconda]

Hank III has crossed over to a certain degree
into the "alternative" market by association
with the melvins. this is a good thing.

leif garret however should dry up, and blow away.

[Anonymous]

Grimreaper..... did they actually ask someone from the crowd to sing that song? thats pretty cool.

[Vcavallo]

reaper, you couldn't be more right.  i listened to the 2000 NYC 2X4 version of teen spirit, and you can feel the sense of....almost mockery.  they totally took it and made it their own and were like fuck this shit, dorkos.  i like it!

[(PAUL)]

I love how when they play it live they fuck up the solo into some crazy noise, as opposed to on the album where it's pretty much straight.

[Sydspunk]

i agree with most of Reaper rant.  oddly enough i was a melvins fan through Nirvana, but it took the cover of "Youth of America" to make me pay more attention.  I think the Houdini album is more popular for the Nirvana transition, only because real Nirvana fans know Kurt makes an appearance on Sky Pup.

my band butchered Teen Spirit once, had some guy from the audience play drums.  Its pretty satisfying to play it poorly, and i think if anything, Kurt would be proud of The Melvins version. He really didnt like SLTS.

anyway, its punk rock to fuck things up.

[pottyhead]

^^^^ that guys right.

[Reverend Ebeneezer]

It strikes me as an irony that they sadly played out too late...If only SLTS had appeared on Houdini to both piss off Kurt and to alienate the new Melvins fans...It would have been so satisfying. As far as I'm concerned the joke is rather old news if you look at it in the context of 1999, with Kurt having shuffled off his mortal coil 5 years previously. If the Melvins were hoping to make a point about the Nirvana connection, it's a little late in the day, although what with the copious analysis of Cobain's life as of late I suppose all those fleeting references to the band might have been some form of inspiration to disrespect the Nirvana staple. In any case, the use of Leif Garret went over my head at first but then again, I wasn't even sperm in the '70s so I had no idea about his status...

Having said all this, some of the things that Buzz has said from the stage about Nirvana are frankly unnecessary. F'rinstance, to paraphrase one interview Buzz is said to have described SLTS as "the pahtetic outpourings of a heroin addict", which seems perhaps a little too cold for a man who claimed to have been, if not friends, at least aquintances with Kurt.

In short, well done Melvins. You've made a neat artistic statement and severed any remaining ties with the Nirvana camp but it's old news nowadays.

[eddie]

Was Beck supposed to do this song, but because of management problems they settled with Lief?

[Sydspunk]

Buzz is said to have described SLTS as "the pahtetic outpourings of a heroin addict", which seems perhaps a little too cold for a man who claimed to have been, if not friends, at least aquintances with Kurt.

its just sad to see such hostility towards a friend. comeon, Kurt helped produce Houdini and they toured together in 94, so they had to at least be friends up until his death.  i think Buzz is just sad and angry at the wasting of a life.

[Dave]

I love how when they play it live they fuck up the solo into some crazy noise, as opposed to on the album where it's pretty much straight.

Yeah, I really loved that fucked up solo, it makes the song better...

[Reverend Ebeneezer]

its just sad to see such hostility towards a friend. comeon, Kurt helped produce Houdini and they toured together in 94, so they had to at least be friends up until his death.  i think Buzz is just sad and angry at the wasting of a life.

It's just a shame that Buzz can't be more honest with himself and the audience. The Kurt bahsing is the one attribute of Buzz's that makes me cringe because he sounds like all these pathetic 'scenester' wankers who constantly feel the need to sound as 'underground' as possible. Although, what do I know? I'm not Buzz. Maybe he really does hate Kurt, but then again as you say, he let him help produce a record and toured alongside him...