"When she was told that its [Smells Like Teen Spirit] author, Kurt Cobain, used to play it [her cover of it] every morning full blast, Amos was gratified. "That means a lot to me," she says from Washington on the eve of a 110-show U.S. tour. "What a great talent," she says of Cobain. " Err, Kurt was a fan of her cover...
I can't believe so many people have so much negativity towards Tori honoring a man, a song and her interpretation of his ideal. She is an artist as he was and like she says, "I was very clearv that that (SLTK) was their baby, but she (SLTS) just hung out with me for a while". She never meant to disrespect, merely make visible another facet of the song. I think it's a beautiful version and beautiful interview.
"... felt that, through his vision and his music, he stood for something- he paved a way that now were starving for..." That line says it all, and it still speaks for what is going on in today's time and culture, music has become trash, lost almost all feelings of emotion, and spirit, real passion, raw honesty, and beauty, same with everything else~ Someone needs to bring it back, another Kurt~
+Shelley Cline you've misinterpreted what Kurt meant; he was very humble and also quite an anxious guy. Take this as his admission that he liked the song as opposed to how it might be interpreted from somebody without anxieties saying it, if that makes sense.
Mohaine wow how original of an opinion. Your giving the 'my generation is the best because...' attitude a real new spin. Sadly people with opinions as unreflected as yours dont see how a statement like that is total bs. Hopfeully your getting something going for you besides being born in a certein generation
hayley s idk what your talking about this is my opinon and i stand for it in the internet as i do in real life. This hating on the next generation of kids and praising your own goes as far back as to the times of sokrates. Its not original and just false. Learn to differentiate between your own feelings and facts.
hayley s and btw the core statement is just unreflected and shitty, that was my point. His comment would mean that she only understood it because she was born in a certain gneration. Wich would mean that everyone born in that generation would understand nirvana simply because of the time they were born in....wich is obviously wrong? And why would i need to hide behind a keyboard im a grown man, i would love to hear what he has to say and why his gneration is so much harder and more understanding of music history than the others
Tori is a genius, and so was Kurt, in his own way....She has the ability to pull back the layers of a song, and infuse it with her own magic and reverence. I don't know of many other artists who are as powerful as she. I was, and still am blown away by her cover of this song. Tori does amazing, well thought out work of her own, but when she does a cover, she puts her stamp on it. Like it or not, she breaks the 'rules' and makes her own. And many of us love her for it. So don't hate.
Wow. I’ve never heard her speak about this before. I was so happy when she did this cover. Tori is an incredible performer, don’t anybody dare diss this beautiful babe. And then the passing of Kurt was pretty earth shattering - this precious tune was a part of the healing process. So good. I loved this commentary. Wow.
She is so gorgeous, and her voice is so sweet! Yeah, kinda wish it was she who hooked up with Kurt instead, but you have to wonder, would she have been able to put up with all his shit? not that Courtney Love had any success in that department in my opinion....
Wow... this is an awesome interview. I don't really know much about Tori Amos but she gave some really thoughtful insight on the meaning of her music and Nirvana's. I'm definitely gonna check her out now.
I also feel it's good when an artist (like Tori) can take a song from a band (like Nirvana) and bring it to a fresh, new audience that might not have looked at it closer/deeply to begin with&appreciate its strength. This song was never going to be outdone because it was a statement/landmark for its time. But many classics have been covered over the years and this just proved that Nirvana was such a great lyrical band. I consider this a good footnote to a musical story that sadly closed too soon.
tori amos' version is a big credit to kurt cobain because it shows what a great composer he was and how it can still sound good whether it is blasted with guitars or sung with a piano. =]
@philliesguy kurt actually said in a interview (since she did the cover before he died) he said that he would listen to her cover everday he loved it so much
When I first thought of Tori Amos or any other softer musician doing a cover on this song, which has had a very strong personal resonance for me, I was a little skeptical, but now I understand that she seems to have been treating the song for what it was, and to have understood how it touched other people. I think her analysis is intelligent and sensitive, and I understand now.
Wow, amazing how well she pulls off so many different songs, she is varied in her great talents. No wonder she still has so many fans after all these years, even her fans are a diverse range, black and white, male and female, gay and normal. She'll be entertaining us for many years yet. :)
Tori has such a soothing voice. It's lovely! Her version is more... Like she said, it's more ripped apart. Kurt's is angry and confrontational, and therefore they are two different songs, just with the same lyrics. I love both!
@TwoPointsUp He was given the lyrics to Teen Spirit in 1986 when he was traveling with the Melvins, before he even formed Nirvana.He was a groupie of the band& went with them on their tour to Calgary, & they made a stopover in Banff, and the writer of the lyrics spotted them with guitars& gave Cobain the lyrics.5yrs. later he recorded the song
MTV: What did you think of the Tori Amos cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" KC: Flattering MTV: Is it true that you and Courtney Love used to wake up and dance around to it? KC: Yeah. We used to put it on every morning and have breakfast and dance around. We'd turn it up really loud and do interpretive dancing to it. It's good breakfast music. MTV: It's funny to listen to. The mulatto and albino part. KC: "I'm mulatto." I know. For a while we were using it as an opener before we came out onstage
Tori Understood Kurt Cobain and Appreciated Him. Tori is a Great Artist in her own Right! Tori should also be Appreciated! I Love Kurt Cobain Too! This was Lovely. Thanks.
From Wikipedia: "One of the first cover recordings was an acoustic piano version by Tori Amos on her 1992 Crucify EP, which Cobain referred to as "a great breakfast cereal version"."
It's funny I didn't realize just how special my generation was I'm 43 now and I look back and i see how much of a impact the 90s or grunge era as I've heard it called had on the world
But didn't Kurt really love this cover? He was nice to so many up and comers including Shonen Knife it's hard to think of him as any less than a genius who could see genius. It's so sad he died so young. He had already influenced a generation of musicians, including me, and who knows how many he could have influenced. Rest In Peace, Kurt. We love you.
@PullingTeeth1 Smells Like Teen was based on More than a Feeling. Cobain was given the lyrics and whole song concept for Smells Like Teen Spirit in 1986, including the suggestion that he morph the main riff from More than a Feeling & use the quiet to loud to quiet to loud song structure. The bullshit about the Pixies etc. was all Cobain building his 'alternative' following. He was a Boston fan and owned the album with More than a Feeling on it.
the lyrics were given to him in 1986, he put it to the riff from More That a Feeling by Boston,but decided to do his own stuff instead when he put out Bleach, with one cover of another band(Lovebuzz)&then got a bigger deal with Geffen for a followup album.He needed new material fast, tried to rewrite the Smells Like Teen Spirit lyrics, but gave up likelybecause he thought the original lyrics might be a hit, & did them with only a few changes later on Nevermind,&named it Smells Like Teen Spirit
I agree with this, I actually think "Dumb" is my favorite song by them overall. "Heart-Shaped Box" is just brilliant. It's just a completely different album.
Cobain was given the lyrics in 1986 , made up the music for it based on the suggested friff and song structure from More than A Feeling by Boston, and when he needed new songs for NEvermind tried to create new lyrics while keeping parts of the lyrics that were given to him, jammed on it, tried to rewrite the song in a notebook, and gave up trying to rewrite it. In the end he changed only 4 of the words from what was originally GIVEN to him in 1986.
In an interview, he said he liked this version a lot, He laughed sweetly and said it served a purpose and that they did a little dance to it at the opening of a live performance, And then he said in a serious tone: It was nice, yeah. --Source th-cam.com/video/G8dBxLGTM10/w-d-xo.html -- 1:30 about Tori Amos cover.
@TheCMKXer apparently you've never heard the original smells like teen spirit recorded on a cassette tape before Bleach later released on With the Lights Out box set. The lyrics written by Kurt actually made sense but were later changed for no apparent reason to the public knowledge when recorded at Geffen Records for Nevermind
The greatness of a song is in the variety of interpretation to which a given song lends itself. Tori Amos version, Paul Anka's version of SLTS...they all are awesome because the song itself is awesome - not only Nirvana's performance of the song. The song shouldn't be set in stone; it should breathe. Tori's version is awesome, as is Paul Anka's (for different reasons), as is the original. It's contagious!
@CouganSmith: Apparently Unplugged wasn't all that death-like if I didn't notice. There were dark aspects to Kurt's music but it transcended the darkness, one of the great things about it.
That is an artist being humble. We all know how brilliant and troubled he was. When you are IN IT you sometimes see less of yourself than others do. That is why we have therapy. Too bad he didn't get some (or maybe he did); he may still be around.
I wouldn't say that. Wouldn't you say that Kurt made some very sharp observations about the world around him? He knew exactly what was going on in his world, and knew quite well how to work it through to reach the youth of the time as well as his own heart. Keep in mind very few of the songs he wrote were written sober.
Only thing I dont understand, seriously, about the deeper meaning, kinda like the Doors, is they said on the Nevermind DVD that Kurt when writing, often went for the sound of a word, rather than its meaning.... I think he was incredible, and I still ROCK out to Nirvana, brings back some good memories
I agree with you dude but you can't deny that Smells was an interplanetary hit - maybe the biggest rock song of the past 20 years, so there's gotta be something beyond the fact that it's just a catchy song. The lyrics have never had an effect on me but I enjoyed Tori's take on it. This song's so successful, a lot of people must have read into this song's lyrics more than you or I have. And if it means something deep to them: then cool, so be it. ;)
@TheCMKXer or possibly his lyrics were based off the melvins one but then changed back for nevermind. Other than that all of his songs were written by him
Tori Amos has always been innovative in her own music. Her rendition, I hate to use the word cover here as it would not do it justice, is outstanding. She put her unique style on it and if Cobain were alive to hear it I'm sure he would have approved. A chick putting piano and vocals to a famous grunge rock song is a tough thing to do but she pulls it off in her own way. Appreciate both versions you naysayers.
nicely put man..if she wanted to analyze kurt's music she should analyze the ones in nirvana's early albums..kurt hated "smells" coz it became too commercialized..
I really like Tori's version and it doesn't matter if shes trying to explain what the song is about no one is ever "right" about the meanings of songs kurt wouldn't even be "right" about the meaning of his songs b/c the beauty of music is that there is no right a wrong interpretation of it music is what you believe it is
Cobain was planning to put out a video made up of Nirvana's live renditions of each of their songs, before his death, to be called Live Tonight Sold Out! Nirvana released it after his death&then eventually on DVD a few years later.According to Cobain's original wishes, the video contained only two live parodies of Smells Like Teen Spirit and left out Come As You Are completely.He hated both those songs because he did not write the lyrics&felt that he had 'sold out' by recording them.
@papasitoman: No, his friends said he was not suicidal. Dave has never taken a position on his death. Krist goes along with the suicide theory but then he's a politician and they tend not to want to go out on a limb and possibly offend anyone. The musicians on his last tour said he was not using drugs and was not suicidal. Exodus workers said he was not using drugs and was not suicidal. The Rome overdose was Courtney's first attempt to kill him, it was her perscriptions.
Agreed. Especially from Scarlet's Walk onwards, there are more poppy elements, but she's definitely above pop, and even alternative. Not enough guitars for indies to get her.
@encrustanail thanks for giving it a chance. If you read further into the thread to page 14 you see where they track Cobain to Calgary , Alberta in 1986 and it correlates with the original story. It is an interesting read to say the least.
@n00bcast3r yes, he hated Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are. Before his death Cobain was creating a DVD of live Nirvana versions of all of their songs, and the only versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit he included were a parody version of it from Top of thePops, and one version where they play the first ten seconds of it at a concert and then refuse to play the rest of the song.He left it off MTV Unplugged,which would have showcased their biggest ever hit, and refused to play it @MVA.
@BeLiketheSquerrl he parodied/mocked Come As You Are on several occasions at major live events, left it off Live Tonight Sold Out, which he nearly completed before his death, & likely only included it on MTV Unplugged because he had already refused to do Smells Like Teen Spirit &knew that there was no way MTV would agree to leaving both off. Cobain didn't want to do MTV Unplugged at all, but MTV threatened Geffen with a label wide boycott if Nirvana did not appear so Cobain was forced into it
he had written the music based on More than a Feeling by Boston, and had the whole song written, but had no way of contacting the original writer, so he didn't want to play it live or record it & decided to keep the new music and try to redo the song with only part of the original lyrics. It didn't work, & he knew the original lyrics/song had a chance of being a h it, so he gave up & used the original lyrics with only a couple of minor changes to the lyrics to hide it.
Totally agree with you, of course there's great music that has a higher level of difficulty that nirvana's music has... but that doesnt mean that you cant do an epic timeless song with a couple of chords
@cinemunchies - Cobain did not even write the lyrics to this song.He changed the first line from 'a bit of truth, bring yer friends' (meaning, come to see a rarity: honesty) to 'load up on guns, bring yer friends', which some people interpreted to be an anti-gulf war message.Some anti-war organizations considered Cobain a peace activist&Cobain donated some money to some of them. Cobain was given the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit in 1986 when he was traveling with a band called the Melvins
@JGFowler121 Listen, yes Cobain used random words for many songs but not for all of them. He was constantly writing in diaries and on pieces of paper as well as writing music. The random words do not give the song an objective or a point persay but some lines often DID mean something. Also, any psychologist or psychiatrist could tell you that his words did indeed reflect what he has feeling. Were they random? Yes. But he wrote those specific words amongst tens of thousands of possibilities.
I hate it when people say they don't know what she is talking about. She is the type of person you really have to pay attention to to understand. Cause what she says is always so deep and philisophical. Confusing sometimes yes, but the more you listen the more it makes sense. She is really too smart lol.
@SophieliebtSam "He paved a way. That now we're starving for. When he died you had a really great visionary die. Smells like Teen Spirit was really like an injection. It propelled people to choose what they wanted to do with themselves and their questioning and it gave a generation some juice."
...she played it in concert the night he died and in my opinion she did him more than justice.maybe they didnt like it,but would Nirvana and the world's opinion on the band be the same without it?? i love her more and more the more i listen to her,both music and interview-wise.
@iamcosmichands its a put-on, this is her in her younger days, trying to put on airs and make waves in the artsy-fartsy world of make-believe that she aspired to.
Amos explained about what "Smells Like Teen Spirit" means to her. Nirvana seemed to have pretty random songs, especially on "In Utero." That was because Cobain just wanted songs to let fans mean whatever they wanted it to be. And Amos is one of them.
cornzix, indeed if you build a song with thoughts, argumentation, a whole background file and just put all that together to make your song, it's not art, merely craft. Kurt Cobain probably hadn't thought every item of argumentation when he wrote his song. Yet if you look back to see why his song had such an impact and why everybody knows it and liked it, well, what tori says is part of the answer. Looking back at the song in its context and understanding what it meant, well it makes sense.
@DreaminMyLifeAway he never said he'd be under Cobain's spotlight. He said he was glad that he didn't go ahead and record the song because he would have become famous and run into the same, or probably worse, problems that Cobain did., He knew the song would make him public property and open him up to public scrutiny in the same that it did to Cobain, so he got rid of it as fast he could.
those who normally surround him . The nurse became increasingly distressed as the days passed as she recognised the sinister nature of the conversations between courtney and kurt, but ...... she never had the strength to speak out as she was 9 months into a temporary contract due to be renewed at 12 months and the initial dificulty of being accepted as a foreigner by other staff had only recently been overcome....
I love hearing "intellectuals" pontificate about rock music. Thank you for (over)explaining this butt-rocking song to me. I just thought it kicked ass, but now I know it's so much more.
Tori Amos kicks ass and I love Nirvana as much as anyone else..I think she has some good points..she basically is just saying it gave a generation a choice to break away from hair bands and to think for themselves in other aspects
Because the lyrics were given to him in 1986, & Cobain had no way of contacting or finding the original writer. He had the lyrics and song idea for it for five yrs.before he probably decided that the songs should be recorded regardless of whether or not he could find the guy. This was a difficult decision as you can imagine, and my guess is that he see-sawed between wanting to record the song & not wanting to, &wantingto salvage SOMETHING from the songs (the music) which he had added.
i like this...fuck all the haters...she really is a great artist and knows that it was their "baby" in a sense that it was the only Nirvana song to a "mainstream" audience....She knows there are other songs, but this was the one that made it big...
"When she was told that its [Smells Like Teen Spirit] author, Kurt Cobain, used to play it [her cover of it] every morning full blast, Amos was gratified. "That means a lot to me," she says from Washington on the eve of a 110-show U.S. tour. "What a great talent," she says of Cobain. "
Err, Kurt was a fan of her cover...
Tori's voice is so soothing. I would like to peer into her mind for a day. Might be a bit crazy, but enjoyable all the same.
I love both versions, hers evokes pain, his anger. both are a gift
I can't believe so many people have so much negativity towards Tori honoring a man, a song and her interpretation of his ideal.
She is an artist as he was and like she says, "I was very clearv that that (SLTK) was their baby, but she (SLTS) just hung out with me for a while".
She never meant to disrespect, merely make visible another facet of the song.
I think it's a beautiful version and beautiful interview.
what is SLTK?
I actually think everyone loved her version
Her voice is pure hypnosis, her eyes are captivating, her hair is gorgeous....I fucking love Tori Amos
Wow, she has such a relaxing speaking voice!
"... felt that, through his vision and his music, he stood for something- he paved a way that now were starving for..."
That line says it all, and it still speaks for what is going on in today's time and culture, music has become trash, lost almost all feelings of emotion, and spirit, real passion, raw honesty, and beauty, same with everything else~
Someone needs to bring it back, another Kurt~
love her voice
Kurt would have loved her version. Every extreme metaller I know is into Tori Amos.
he did love this version, he said so in an interview
extreme metaller?
I'm one. Tori is more metal than a lot of bands...off the top of my head, Black Veil Brides.
+Shelley Cline you've misinterpreted what Kurt meant; he was very humble and also quite an anxious guy. Take this as his admission that he liked the song as opposed to how it might be interpreted from somebody without anxieties saying it, if that makes sense.
TheHypernaught about it, he laughed and said it was "nice". Didn't appear to care that much about it really.
Tori understood Nirvana, because she belongs to the same generation. A generation that wasn't coddled.
Mohaine wow how original of an opinion. Your giving the 'my generation is the best because...' attitude a real new spin. Sadly people with opinions as unreflected as yours dont see how a statement like that is total bs. Hopfeully your getting something going for you besides being born in a certein generation
hayley s idk what your talking about this is my opinon and i stand for it in the internet as i do in real life. This hating on the next generation of kids and praising your own goes as far back as to the times of sokrates. Its not original and just false. Learn to differentiate between your own feelings and facts.
hayley s and btw the core statement is just unreflected and shitty, that was my point. His comment would mean that she only understood it because she was born in a certain gneration. Wich would mean that everyone born in that generation would understand nirvana simply because of the time they were born in....wich is obviously wrong? And why would i need to hide behind a keyboard im a grown man, i would love to hear what he has to say and why his gneration is so much harder and more understanding of music history than the others
That's funny because Kurt was a actually from a very well off family lmao
@@Shzopild. oh good lord you got this excited about telling a guy off for talking about generations? Shut the ever loving fuck up.
Tori is a genius, and so was Kurt, in his own way....She has the ability to pull back the layers of a song, and infuse it with her own magic and reverence. I don't know of many other artists who are as powerful as she. I was, and still am blown away by her cover of this song. Tori does amazing, well thought out work of her own, but when she does a cover, she puts her stamp on it. Like it or not, she breaks the 'rules' and makes her own. And many of us love her for it. So don't hate.
Wow. I’ve never heard her speak about this before. I was so happy when she did this cover. Tori is an incredible performer, don’t anybody dare diss this beautiful babe. And then the passing of Kurt was pretty earth shattering - this precious tune was a part of the healing process. So good. I loved this commentary. Wow.
I could listen to her version of this song all day and never get tired of it.
she has the most relaxing voice ive ever heard ... wow
She is so gorgeous, and her voice is so sweet!
Yeah, kinda wish it was she who hooked up with Kurt instead, but you have to wonder, would she have been able to put up with all his shit? not that Courtney Love had any success in that department in my opinion....
So the women are supposed to put up with his shit while he shouldnt hav to put up with courtneys shit?
omg im gonna cry, she speaks with such a lovely way for cobain........
Rip dude!!!
Wow... this is an awesome interview. I don't really know much about Tori Amos but she gave some really thoughtful insight on the meaning of her music and Nirvana's. I'm definitely gonna check her out now.
I also feel it's good when an artist (like Tori) can take a song from a band (like Nirvana) and bring it to a fresh, new audience that might not have looked at it closer/deeply to begin with&appreciate its strength. This song was never going to be outdone because it was a statement/landmark for its time. But many classics have been covered over the years and this just proved that Nirvana was such a great lyrical band. I consider this a good footnote to a musical story that sadly closed too soon.
The band opened their '92 european shows with Amos' cover played on the PA.
Great version, and Tori Amos is a great artist.
Gosh , I love her voice , it's very .... hypnotizing and mesmerizing ..
her voice is so soothing.
i love this woman
tori amos' version is a big credit to kurt cobain because it shows what a great composer he was and how it can still sound good whether it is blasted with guitars or sung with a piano. =]
@philliesguy kurt actually said in a interview (since she did the cover before he died) he said that he would listen to her cover everday he loved it so much
Beautiful thank you Tori
Thank god the video ended JUST before Charles Cross was about to speak. Anyway, my respect for Tori Amos has just buzzed up by a million.
When I first thought of Tori Amos or any other softer musician doing a cover on this song, which has had a very strong personal resonance for me, I was a little skeptical, but now I understand that she seems to have been treating the song for what it was, and to have understood how it touched other people. I think her analysis is intelligent and sensitive, and I understand now.
its a great cover man!!! :D lots of passion and emotion.
brilliant.
she's so beautifully articulate, and she really shows her opinion intellectually. I love this interpretation!
Wow, amazing how well she pulls off so many different songs, she is varied in her great talents.
No wonder she still has so many fans after all these years, even her fans are a diverse range, black and white, male and female, gay and normal. She'll be entertaining us for many years yet.
:)
Tori has such a soothing voice. It's lovely!
Her version is more... Like she said, it's more ripped apart. Kurt's is angry and confrontational, and therefore they are two different songs, just with the same lyrics. I love both!
@TwoPointsUp He was given the lyrics to Teen Spirit in 1986 when he was traveling with the Melvins, before he even formed Nirvana.He was a groupie of the band& went with them on their tour to Calgary, & they made a stopover in Banff, and the writer of the lyrics spotted them with guitars& gave Cobain the lyrics.5yrs. later he recorded the song
MTV: What did you think of the Tori Amos cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
KC: Flattering
MTV: Is it true that you and Courtney Love used to wake up and dance around to it?
KC: Yeah. We used to put it on every morning and have breakfast and dance around. We'd turn it up really loud and do interpretive dancing to it. It's good breakfast music.
MTV: It's funny to listen to. The mulatto and albino part.
KC: "I'm mulatto." I know. For a while we were using it as an opener before we came out onstage
Tori Understood Kurt Cobain and Appreciated Him. Tori is a Great Artist in her own Right! Tori should also be Appreciated! I Love Kurt Cobain Too! This was Lovely. Thanks.
From Wikipedia:
"One of the first cover recordings was an acoustic piano version by Tori Amos on her 1992 Crucify EP, which Cobain referred to as "a great breakfast cereal version"."
Amos' cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is so...her. She sure knows how to turn a rock song into a soft mellow one. I love her!
It's funny I didn't realize just how special my generation was I'm 43 now and I look back and i see how much of a impact the 90s or grunge era as I've heard it called had on the world
But didn't Kurt really love this cover? He was nice to so many up and comers including Shonen Knife it's hard to think of him as any less than a genius who could see genius. It's so sad he died so young. He had already influenced a generation of musicians, including me, and who knows how many he could have influenced. Rest In Peace, Kurt. We love you.
it's respectful and beautiful. tori has great compassion. LISTEN TO WHAT SHE SAYS!
@PullingTeeth1 Smells Like Teen was based on More than a Feeling. Cobain was given the lyrics and whole song concept for Smells Like Teen Spirit in 1986, including the suggestion that he morph the main riff from More than a Feeling & use the quiet to loud to quiet to loud song structure. The bullshit about the Pixies etc. was all Cobain building his 'alternative' following. He was a Boston fan and owned the album with More than a Feeling on it.
the lyrics were given to him in 1986, he put it to the riff from More That a Feeling by Boston,but decided to do his own stuff instead when he put out Bleach, with one cover of another band(Lovebuzz)&then got a bigger deal with Geffen for a followup album.He needed new material fast, tried to rewrite the Smells Like Teen Spirit lyrics, but gave up likelybecause he thought the original lyrics might be a hit, & did them with only a few changes later on Nevermind,&named it Smells Like Teen Spirit
She has one of the best voices and faces and damn....just wow.
Coming from a die-hard Kurt fan... that was a suprisingly insightful and well-put interview... I think I might check me out some Tori Amos. :)
I agree with this, I actually think "Dumb" is my favorite song by them overall. "Heart-Shaped Box" is just brilliant. It's just a completely different album.
The way she talks is so soothing
Cobain was given the lyrics in 1986 , made up the music for it based on the suggested friff and song structure from More than A Feeling by Boston, and when he needed new songs for NEvermind tried to create new lyrics while keeping parts of the lyrics that were given to him, jammed on it, tried to rewrite the song in a notebook, and gave up trying to rewrite it. In the end he changed only 4 of the words from what was originally GIVEN to him in 1986.
In an interview, he said he liked this version a lot,
He laughed sweetly and said it served a purpose and that they did a little dance to it at the opening of a live performance,
And then he said in a serious tone: It was nice, yeah.
--Source th-cam.com/video/G8dBxLGTM10/w-d-xo.html
-- 1:30 about Tori Amos cover.
Thank you referencing that.
She speaks like she sings. Giving every word using inflection to make her thoughts clear.
@TheCMKXer apparently you've never heard the original smells like teen spirit recorded on a cassette tape before Bleach later released on With the Lights Out box set. The lyrics written by Kurt actually made sense but were later changed for no apparent reason to the public knowledge when recorded at Geffen Records for Nevermind
The greatness of a song is in the variety of interpretation to which a given song lends itself. Tori Amos version, Paul Anka's version of SLTS...they all are awesome because the song itself is awesome - not only Nirvana's performance of the song. The song shouldn't be set in stone; it should breathe. Tori's version is awesome, as is Paul Anka's (for different reasons), as is the original.
It's contagious!
@CouganSmith: Apparently Unplugged wasn't all that death-like if I didn't notice. There were dark aspects to Kurt's music but it transcended the darkness, one of the great things about it.
her voice is so soothing! thats crazy!
Don't AT ALL appreciate putting that fucking advert over Tori's face, at the end of this video, while she's talking.
I fell into a peaceful and deep sleep after hearing her voice...
That is an artist being humble. We all know how brilliant and troubled he was. When you are IN IT you sometimes see less of yourself than others do. That is why we have therapy. Too bad he didn't get some (or maybe he did); he may still be around.
Theres a bunch of extreme metal bands out there that respect tori Amos, so I'm just going to jump ship and respect her too.
amazing cover she made
I wouldn't say that. Wouldn't you say that Kurt made some very sharp observations about the world around him? He knew exactly what was going on in his world, and knew quite well how to work it through to reach the youth of the time as well as his own heart. Keep in mind very few of the songs he wrote were written sober.
@OzKnosis He has the rough drafts to the lyrics in his journals, buy them.. He may not have written Come As You Are, but he did write teen spirit...
Wow..what a beautiful woman and very well spoke and well put on this topic.
Only thing I dont understand, seriously, about the deeper meaning, kinda like the Doors, is they said on the Nevermind DVD that Kurt when writing, often went for the sound of a word, rather than its meaning.... I think he was incredible, and I still ROCK out to Nirvana, brings back some good memories
i'll bring it back,
and i loved what she has to say.
I agree with you dude but you can't deny that Smells was an interplanetary hit - maybe the biggest rock song of the past 20 years, so there's gotta be something beyond the fact that it's just a catchy song. The lyrics have never had an effect on me but I enjoyed Tori's take on it. This song's so successful, a lot of people must have read into this song's lyrics more than you or I have. And if it means something deep to them: then cool, so be it. ;)
In my opinion her cover is the only one that transports the original feeling of the song. I love it.
It is interesting to note that Tori Amos and Kurt Cobain were born in the same year, the year of the Goat.
@TheCMKXer or possibly his lyrics were based off the melvins one but then changed back for nevermind. Other than that all of his songs were written by him
Tori Amos has always been innovative in her own music. Her rendition, I hate to use the word cover here as it would not do it justice, is outstanding. She put her unique style on it and if Cobain were alive to hear it I'm sure he would have approved. A chick putting piano and vocals to a famous grunge rock song is a tough thing to do but she pulls it off in her own way. Appreciate both versions you naysayers.
nicely put man..if she wanted to analyze kurt's music she should analyze the ones in nirvana's early albums..kurt hated "smells" coz it became too commercialized..
I really like Tori's version and it doesn't matter if shes trying to explain what the song is about no one is ever "right" about the meanings of songs kurt wouldn't even be "right" about the meaning of his songs b/c the beauty of music is that there is no right a wrong interpretation of it music is what you believe it is
Cobain was planning to put out a video made up of Nirvana's live renditions of each of their songs, before his death, to be called Live Tonight Sold Out! Nirvana released it after his death&then eventually on DVD a few years later.According to Cobain's original wishes, the video contained only two live parodies of Smells Like Teen Spirit and left out Come As You Are completely.He hated both those songs because he did not write the lyrics&felt that he had 'sold out' by recording them.
HER MUSIC REALY REMOVE ME. She's so unique
@papasitoman: No, his friends said he was not suicidal. Dave has never taken a position on his death. Krist goes along with the suicide theory but then he's a politician and they tend not to want to go out on a limb and possibly offend anyone. The musicians on his last tour said he was not using drugs and was not suicidal. Exodus workers said he was not using drugs and was not suicidal. The Rome overdose was Courtney's first attempt to kill him, it was her perscriptions.
She speaks so intensely soft and slow, I find it a little weird. But that last sentence was perfect.
Agreed. Especially from Scarlet's Walk onwards, there are more poppy elements, but she's definitely above pop, and even alternative. Not enough guitars for indies to get her.
@encrustanail thanks for giving it a chance. If you read further into the thread to page 14 you see where they track Cobain to Calgary , Alberta in 1986 and it correlates with the original story. It is an interesting read to say the least.
She knew Courtney was behind Kurt's death.
And Professional Widow was born.
She’s not holding the rifle on the cover of Pele by accident. It was sending a certain someone a message.
@OzKnosis he did write the lyrics. the title he got from kathleen hanna. but he wrote the lyrics.
@n00bcast3r
yes, he hated Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are. Before his death Cobain was creating a DVD of live Nirvana versions of all of their songs, and the only versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit he included were a parody version of it from Top of thePops, and one version where they play the first ten seconds of it at a concert and then refuse to play the rest of the song.He left it off MTV Unplugged,which would have showcased their biggest ever hit, and refused to play it @MVA.
@BeLiketheSquerrl he parodied/mocked Come As You Are on several occasions at major live events, left it off Live Tonight Sold Out, which he nearly completed before his death, & likely only included it on MTV Unplugged because he had already refused to do Smells Like Teen Spirit &knew that there was no way MTV would agree to leaving both off. Cobain didn't want to do MTV Unplugged at all, but MTV threatened Geffen with a label wide boycott if Nirvana did not appear so Cobain was forced into it
he had written the music based on More than a Feeling by Boston, and had the whole song written, but had no way of contacting the original writer, so he didn't want to play it live or record it & decided to keep the new music and try to redo the song with only part of the original lyrics. It didn't work, & he knew the original lyrics/song had a chance of being a h it, so he gave up & used the original lyrics with only a couple of minor changes to the lyrics to hide it.
Totally agree with you, of course there's great music that has a higher level of difficulty that nirvana's music has... but that doesnt mean that you cant do an epic timeless song with a couple of chords
@cinemunchies - Cobain did not even write the lyrics to this song.He changed the first line from 'a bit of truth, bring yer friends' (meaning, come to see a rarity: honesty)
to 'load up on guns, bring yer friends', which some people interpreted to be an anti-gulf war message.Some anti-war organizations considered Cobain a peace activist&Cobain donated some money to some of them. Cobain was given the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit in 1986 when he was traveling with a band called the Melvins
@JGFowler121
Listen, yes Cobain used random words for many songs but not for all of them. He was constantly writing in diaries and on pieces of paper as well as writing music. The random words do not give the song an objective or a point persay but some lines often DID mean something. Also, any psychologist or psychiatrist could tell you that his words did indeed reflect what he has feeling. Were they random? Yes. But he wrote those specific words amongst tens of thousands of possibilities.
I hate it when people say they don't know what she is talking about. She is the type of person you really have to pay attention to to understand. Cause what she says is always so deep and philisophical. Confusing sometimes yes, but the more you listen the more it makes sense. She is really too smart lol.
@SophieliebtSam
"He paved a way. That now we're starving for. When he died you had a really great visionary die. Smells like Teen Spirit was really like an injection. It propelled people to choose what they wanted to do with themselves and their questioning and it gave a generation some juice."
Classic Tori. You can actually see her weighing every word before it comes out of her mouth. I love this woman.
Kurtz favorite song is "drain you" he said it himself on countless interviews
...she played it in concert the night he died and in my opinion she did him more than justice.maybe they didnt like it,but would Nirvana and the world's opinion on the band be the same without it??
i love her more and more the more i listen to her,both music and interview-wise.
for some reason i find this comment so hilarious , i came here 8 times just to read that comment again and again and it just cracks me up
@iamcosmichands its a put-on, this is her in her younger days, trying to put on airs and make waves in the artsy-fartsy world of make-believe that she aspired to.
"It gave a generation some juice" hail ! This woman
knows her Nirvana. Justice fer Kurt.
Amos explained about what "Smells Like Teen Spirit" means to her. Nirvana seemed to have pretty random songs, especially on "In Utero." That was because Cobain just wanted songs to let fans mean whatever they wanted it to be. And Amos is one of them.
cornzix, indeed if you build a song with thoughts, argumentation, a whole background file and just put all that together to make your song, it's not art, merely craft.
Kurt Cobain probably hadn't thought every item of argumentation when he wrote his song.
Yet if you look back to see why his song had such an impact and why everybody knows it and liked it, well, what tori says is part of the answer.
Looking back at the song in its context and understanding what it meant, well it makes sense.
@DreaminMyLifeAway he never said he'd be under Cobain's spotlight. He said he was glad that he didn't go ahead and record the song because he would have become famous and run into the same, or probably worse, problems that Cobain did., He knew the song would make him public property and open him up to public scrutiny in the same that it did to Cobain, so he got rid of it as fast he could.
those who normally surround him .
The nurse became increasingly distressed as the days passed as she recognised the sinister nature of the conversations between courtney and kurt, but ...... she never had the strength to speak out as she was 9 months into a temporary contract due to be renewed at 12 months and the initial dificulty of being accepted as a foreigner by other staff had only recently been overcome....
I love hearing "intellectuals" pontificate about rock music. Thank you for (over)explaining this butt-rocking song to me. I just thought it kicked ass, but now I know it's so much more.
Tori Amos kicks ass and I love Nirvana as much as anyone else..I think she has some good points..she basically is just saying it gave a generation a choice to break away from hair bands and to think for themselves in other aspects
She could sing the Declaration of Indapendance (I know I spelled that wrong) and she would still sound good.
Because the lyrics were given to him in 1986, & Cobain had no way of contacting or finding the original writer. He had the lyrics and song idea for it for five yrs.before he probably decided that the songs should be recorded regardless of whether or not he could find the guy. This was a difficult decision as you can imagine, and my guess is that he see-sawed between wanting to record the song & not wanting to, &wantingto salvage SOMETHING from the songs (the music) which he had added.
i like this...fuck all the haters...she really is a great artist and knows that it was their "baby" in a sense that it was the only Nirvana song to a "mainstream" audience....She knows there are other songs, but this was the one that made it big...