Animal Collective Provide Woozy Jams at All Points West

A diverse All Points West lineup and a prime 5 p.m. slot for Animal Collective meant that their faithful throng of indie-geeks commingled peacefully with Widespread Panic tattoos and Jersey bros — all together to watch a band finger KAOS pads and whack tablas into a noise-drenched soup. Luckily, the Animals' dubby mush, suffocating echo and quasi-Afrobeat distorto-rhythms were just as good as anything for everyone to get stoned and sway. Even the three minutes of crushing goop opening Panda Bear's solo turn "Comfy in Nautica" was met with hypnotic attentiveness.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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