The 2009 Readers' Poll: Your Favorite Album, Song and Artist

Green Day may have swept Rolling Stone's Decade-End Readers' Poll, but it was Pearl Jam who nearly pulled off the hat trick in our 2009 Year-End Readers' Poll. The Seattle rockers scored best single ("The Fixer") and best album (Backspacer), but didn't pull enough votes to nab the Number One artist position — that honor went to Adam Lambert, the American Idol runner-up who scored a Rolling Stone cover and one of the most talked-about awards show performances in recent history over the course of the last 12 months. Find out where Lady Gaga, the Dead Weather, Animal Collective and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs rank here:
• The Year-End Readers' Poll

Revisit our Decade-End Readers' Poll and the rest of our Best of the 2000s lists in Rolling Stone's All-Time Greats.

Rolling Stone's top albums and songs of 2009 are coming soon! Stay tuned — we'll post them in Rock Daily this week.

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  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
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  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
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  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

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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