Dave Grohl treated fans to a drum performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at the New York City stop on his book tour in support of his new memoir The Storyteller.
The event took place on October 5 at The Town Hall. Fan shot video of Grohl drumming over the classic Nirvana track can be viewed below.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit,” of course, has gone on to become one of rock’s most iconic songs. However, Grohl recalled when Nirvana was writing and recording the tune, they had no idea just how big the song would become.
Grohl told NME in an interview honoring the 30th anniversary of Nevermind, “I remember writing ‘Teen Spirit’ in our rehearsal space, and I liked the riff that Kurt [Cobain] came up with because it’s percussive. Those muted, stabbing strums in between the chords really leant to the pattern of the drum riff.”
Grohl continued, “Of course, no-one had any psychic foresight to imagine that [Teen Spirit] would go on to do what it did. We just f—in’ rocked it in a little rehearsal space that was like a barn.”
He then added, “I think everyone was more focused on songs like ‘In Bloom’ or ‘Lithium’ or ‘Breed’; nobody really paid too much attention to ‘Teen Spirit’ while we were recording it. We just thought it was another cool song for the record.”