From the Japanese pressing of the 1998 album Gravelands, Belfast born Jim Brown doesn’t just channel Elvis singing Nirvana, he channels Elvis singing Nirvana in Japanese. That’s some next level Elvis impersonating right there. The Japanese version has a different mix to the English version, as well as an additional spoken word part at the end that doesn’t feature on the original, so if anyone speaks Japanese and would like to tell me what he’s saying there, please do drop me a line
Tag Archives: Nirvana
Animal Nitrate – The Cory Band
The Cory Band’s cover of Suede’s Animal Nitrate dates from their 2018 album Britpop Brass, released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Britpop. The Cory Band itself has been in existence so long that no one knows when it was first formed in the Welsh burough of Rhondda Cynon Taf. Originally called the Ton Temperance Band, it was renamed as the Cory Workmen’s Band in 1895.
Animal Nitrate was the third single from Suede’s eponymous debut album released in 1993. Guitarist Bernard Butler wrote the music long before any lyrics were added, admitting that while the intro guitar riff was inspired by Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, the chorus melody was nicked from the old BBC police drama Dixon of Dock Green.
Smells Like Teen Spirits – Best Teen Spirit Covers Megamix
Featuring, in order of appearance:
- Original Cast of Pan
- Willie Nelson
- The Lucky Devils
- Paul Anka
- Pleasure Beach
- Setenta
- The Floppotron
- 8 Bit Universe
- Warsaw School of Economics Choir
- The Moog Cookbook
- 1992 Teen Spirit Deodorant Commercial
- Rockapella
- Eläkeläiset
- The Muppets and Jack Black
- Ptingo
- The Bad Plus (inc. Kurt Cobain interview excerpt)
- The Drum Majors
- Nirvana vs Missy Elliot
- DJs from Mars
- Wix
- Original Cast of Pan
Often listed as one of the greatest songs of all time, Smells Like Teen Spirit is the opening track on Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind. Although it is the only track on the album to credit all three band members as writers, the original idea and lyrics were Kurt Cobain’s, inspired by a phrase written on his wall by Kathleen Hanna, singer of Bikini Kill: ‘Kurt smells like Teen Spirit’. Although intended as a reference to a deodorant brand, Cobain had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan and remained unaware of the true meaning until months after the single was released.
Cobain said of writing the song: “I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.”
Lithium – The Polyphonic Spree
The Polyphonic Spree’s cover of Nirvana’s Lithium featured on their 2007 EP Wait.
The Polyphonic Spree are a choral rock band from Dallas, formed in 2000 by ex-Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter. Originally conceived of as a live act performing original material inspired by the music of Tim’s youth, by the time of their second performance they had expanded from 13 to 25 members.
Released in 1991, Lithium was the third single from Nirvana’s second album Nevermind.
Cover to Cover 