"LA Times" Apologizes for Erroneous Tupac Shooting Story

The Los Angeles Times has issued an apology following yesterday's revelation that their March 17th report which implicated Sean "Diddy" Combs and his associates in a 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur was partially based on fabricated documents. "In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," Chuck Philips, the author of the report said in a statement. Deputy managing editor Marc Duvoisin added: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down." An imprisoned con man, James Sabatino, is believed to have forged the FBI documents that were at the center of the report.

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• Report: Con Man at Center of "LA Times" 1994 Tupac Shooting Story
• Writer Defends Tupac Shooting Story Despite Diddy Denial
• Report: Sean Combs' Associates Allegedly Responsible for Tupac Shakur's 1994 Shooting

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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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