Broken Social Scene Mix Group and Solo Songs for Sprawling Set

Compensating for the absence of its most famous member (Feist), Broken Social Scene showed that brass high-school band instruments do belong in rock. With Amy Millan serving as the token female representative, the predominately dude version of the Canadian collective zipped through dark solo-album gems by defacto leader Kevin Drew ("Pressure Kids," "Frightening Lives") and breezy offerings from bearded weirdo Brendan Canning ("Hit the Wall," the disco-driven "Love Is New") as well as a handful of BSS favorites ("Fire Eyed Boy"). Visually, the group resembled a cross between Miami Vice chic and thrift-store special, but there was nothing ironic about its liberating tunes. And lest anyone think that our neighbors to the north aren't nervous about America's decline, Drew reminded everyone that, "you're not just voting for your country, you're voting for every country."

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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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