Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer Contribute to Obama Comp

Kanye West, Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Jackson Browne and John Mayer will all be on the upcoming Barack Obama benefit album Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement. The album will be available through Obama's official website starting this Friday. "Heard 'Em Say" collaborators West and Levine will reunite to join Chicago spoken word poet Malik Yusef on the new song "Promised Land," while John Legend will contribute his cover of U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love.)" The 18-track limited edition album is rounded out by songs from some of Obama's favorite artists, including Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Lionel Richie and Sheryl Crow. The full track list and preorder information is here.

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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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