Nirvana Once Punished a Crowd for Bullying Their Opening Act by Refusing to Play “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

In the early 90s, the Nirvana track “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was one of the biggest grunge hits to take the world by storm. It was so popular that the band didn’t like playing it live, even though fans clamored to hear it at concerts. The trio would often play the opening riff at shows, before launching into something completely different. Sometimes it was a lesser-known track from their 1992 compilation album Incesticide, and once it was Boston’s “More Than a Feeling.”

Videos by American Songwriter

However, there was one instance where Nirvana used their dislike of the hit to their advantage. While playing a show in Buenos Aires in 1992, the band punished a crowd of 50,000 people after they hurled insults and objects at Nirvana’s opening act.

“We brought this all-girl band over from Portland called Calamity Jane,” Kurt Cobain recalled around that time, per a report from Far Out. “During their entire set, the whole audience … was throwing money and everything out of their pockets, mud and rocks, just pelting them. Eventually the girls stormed off crying. It was terrible, one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, such a mass of sexism all at once.”

[RELATED: 4 Best Moments From Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ Performance on Broadcast’s Anniversary]

Nirvana Once Ruined Their Own Set To Spite Sexist Crowd in Buenos Aires

Once Nirvana took the stage, they planned to put the crowd in its place. In response to the insult and unacceptable behavior, the band played mostly rarities and B-sides, including lesser-known tracks from the back-end of Nevermind. Cobain sang deliberately off-key and with little enthusiasm. Riffs were sloppy, and one song they refused to play was “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Instead, Cobain goaded the crowd into reflecting on their actions.

“Before every song, I’d play the intro to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and then stop,” Cobain recalled at the time. “They didn’t realize that we were protesting against what they’d done. We played for about forty minutes, and most of the songs were off Incesticide, so they didn’t recognize anything. We wound up playing the secret noise song (‘Endless, Nameless’) that’s at the end of Nevermind, and because we were so in a rage and were just so pissed off about this whole situation, that song and whole set were one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.”

Featured Image by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic