News Ticker: Stone Temple Pilots, The Stooges, Furthur Festival, Lesley Duncan

• Stone Temple Pilots fan site Below Empty is hosting a brief preview of the band's new single "Between the Lines." Find out more about the band's first new disc since 2001 in our Spring Music Preview.

• The Stooges, who joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night, will see Rhino rerelease their self-titled 1969 debut album with bonus cuts and producer John Cale's original mixes as a Collector's Edition that ships in late April.

• The Furthur Festival has announced this year's event will go down over Memorial Day weekend; no bands have been confirmed yet.

• English singer Lesley Duncan has died at age 66 after a battle with cerebrovascular disease, NME reports. Duncan is best known for writing "Love Song," her duet with Elton John, and performing on records by Pink Floyd, Ringo Starr and Dusty Springfield.

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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.

More Song Stories entries »

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