Strokes Drummer's Side Project Due This Fall

While in Los Angeles for VH1's Rock Honors, Rolling Stone's Jenny Eliscu bumped into the Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, who reports he's working on a side project with his girlfriend, Binki Shapiro, and their singer-guitarist pal Rodrigo Amarante, who used to play in Brazilian indie-rock group Los Hermanos. An as-yet-untitled debut album is due this fall on Rough Trade, and a first listen sounded like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vince Guaraldi and Sixties wall-of-sound girl groups. The group's prospective name: Little Joy.

For complete coverage of VH1 Rock Honors, check out rocknrolldiary.com. Also look for Rolling Stone correspondent Jenny Eliscu on VH1's broadcast 9 PM ET tonight.

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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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