On April 17, 1991, Nirvana performed live for the first time the then-unknown song that would become the hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
At a show at the OK Hotel in Seattle, the band played an extended version with different lyrics than the one that would be released in the studio. The video shows the audience reacting to the song for the first time, with some enthusiastic and others less interested, all unable to predict the magnitude the song would reach in the future.
In the performance in question, which turns 30 today, it's possible to hear the full weight of the guitars combined with Kurt Cobain Dave Grohl 's talent on drums, who had joined the band the previous year.
At the time of the show, Nirvana was on tour promoting the album Bleach , released in June 1989. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would change the band's life forever when it was officially released on September 10, 1991, with the album Nevermind arriving soon after, on September 24, becoming a major milestone in the career of the trio formed by Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic.
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