The Raconteurs Play the Role of Big Rock Stars, Break Guitar Strings

The Raconteurs came to play on Lollapalooza's Friday evening with the '70s on their mind. Even the video-screen footage was colored black and white, a retro effect that carried through a show that was part jamboree, part arena blowout. Someone had to play the role of the big rock star, and Jack White obliged, hoisting guitars in the air and finger-tapping Van Halen-style solos. At the microphone, White yelped words with all the pesky fervor of a Chihuahua yipping at a bystander's heels and tore at his guitar strings until they snapped. Such organized chaos extended to rearrangements of "Steady As She Goes" and "The Switch and the Spur," which broke away from their conservative studio molds.

More Lollapalooza Coverage: Rock 'N' Roll Diary

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  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 »

Twitter