Courtney Love Shares Draft Lyrics To 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

Courtney Love appeared on the podcast 60 Songs That Explain The 90s this week, after showrunner Rob Harvilla returned following a three-month break.

Love began following Harvilla’s podcast after its dissection of the Hole classic, Doll Parts. She then showed her interest in appearing in an episode after hearing a couple more. Getting into Smells Like Teen Spirit, Love’s long-awaited feature on 60 Songs That Explain The 90s didn’t disappoint.

Love revealed that Kurt Cobain had lyrics from journals and others were unpublished, before reciting the following lyrics that could’ve made it onto Smells Like Teen Spirit:

"Come out and play / make up the rules / I know I hope / to buy the truth / who will be the king and queen / of all the outcasted teens" and its chorus: "We're so lazy / and so stupid / blame our parents / and the cupids / a deposit, for a bottle / stick it inside / no role model".

Love reads another verse: "We merge ahead this special day / this day giving amnesty to sacrilege / A denial / and from strangers / a revival / and from favours / here we are now / we're so famous / here we are now / entertain us".

Harvilla was quick to notice that only five of those lines made it onto the finished product. Love responds, "You miss that because you bought into it, but I like this world-breaking, world-shattering – what would it have been like – alternate time continuum.”

Love admits that she wishes Cobain kept the line "Who will be the king and queen / of all the outcasted teens" as it "would've helped my life a little bit better, taking on the shit that me and my daughter have", perhaps referencing the reactions she received from many following the death of Kurt Cobain. Check out the podcast episode below.

Love and Cobain appeared in headlines earlier this month when an AI version of Kurt’s vocals was layered over the Hole song, Celebrity Skin.

The AI track drew reactions immediately, with fans expressing distaste and confusion on social media. “It's only the beginning of AI era, but this is already creepy and crazy at the same time. I don't know what to think right now,” one fan said on YouTube, as another concurred, “This is frightening… the vocal inflections are haunting at many points. To be honest I kinda wanna sob.” Another fan offered, “I’m not sure if I love this or hate it”.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the primary emotion was rage. “I strongly believe we need to make this shit illegal. Not even slightly kidding,” one user posted. Another called the AI number “copyright infringement, totally distasteful, poorly executed, and subtextual misogyny,” while a poster laid their feelings out as clearly as possible: “This sounds like shit.”