Ringo Starr Talks "Liverpool 8," The Sixties, Being Overly Medicated During Beatles Gigs: Exclusive Audio

In our new issue of Rolling Stone, Fab Four drummer Ringo Starr sits down with Austin Scaggs to talk his new album, which Beatles record is his favorite and what's on his iPod. We had all these audiotapes of Ringo and we were just going to throw them out, but we figured "Maybe our readers would like to hear this." To hear those exclusive audio clips — in which Ringo talks about naming his new album and a 1964 Beatles gig where he had "too much medication" — click 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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