In 1991, the Mennen Company marketed a deodorant line to teenage girls called Teen Spirit. But the name backfired, as older kids shunned anything branded as “teen.” Instead, the deodorant was used mostly by little girls.
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Then, after a drunken night out, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill scribbled “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” on Kurt Cobain’s bedroom wall, and accomplished two things. First, she unwittingly brought attention to a niche deodorant. But she also helped change the course of rock history.
A similar sarcasm and brand name led to another Nirvana classic, “Breed”. Its riff is just as powerful as “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, features one of Cobain’s best guitar solos, and has a repetitive hook also reflecting the “teen spirit” of the early 90s.
About “Breed”
In “Breed”, Cobain describes the anxiety of being trapped in a suburban life—marriage, kids, a mortgage, and the general boredom of normalcy. Many Gen Xers viewed the lives of their parents as a kind of prison sentence, and hoped to escape the misery they observed in the adults.
Even if you have, even if you need,
I don’t mean to stare. We don’t have to breed.
We could plant a house, we could build a tree,
I don’t even care; we could have all three.
The cynicism toward dead-end jobs, economic hardship, and dullness helped fuel the angst of grunge and alternative rock. Cobain wasn’t the only musician who viewed middle-class goals as just another trap. It’s a similar anxiety that inspired other underground musical movements like punk and hip-hop. When grunge became mainstream, it proved millions of kids across the country shared the same sentiments as Cobain.
Get away, get away, get away,
Get away, away, away from your home.
I’m afraid, I’m afraid, I’m afraid,
I’m afraid, afraid, ghost.
‘Nevermind’
“Breed” became one of Nirvana’s signature songs, but it wasn’t released as a single. The album’s first single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, launched Nirvana into the mainstream. It also created a wave of success for Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and other Seattle groups.
Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten, sold modestly for a year before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” gave it new life. However, Nevermind felt more like a singular culture-shifting album. “Breed”, along with “Come As You Are”, “Lithium”, and “Something In The Way”, tapped into a growing populist angst.
But the song wasn’t always called “Breed”.
“Imodium”
The working title for “Breed” was “Imodium”, which is a name any unfortunate traveler with diarrhea might recognize. Cobain used this restorative title as a metaphor for “looseness” of the mouth. A wryness he shared with Hanna.
Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt described “Breed” as “hypnotic and trance-inducing.” Exactly how one should feel experiencing a band called Nirvana.
Regardless of the title change, “Breed” offered much relief, too.
Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns
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