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What does a world sound like without ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’?

This should be another big question that we all deliberate on and ponder next.

Nirvana performed this song for the first time ever on April 17, 1991, in Seattle.

Nabil Ayers was there to hear it that night and said he could feel “history happening”.

Ayers takes a trip down memory lane in an article written for Rolling Stone, finding it remarkable how he saw Nirvana that fateful night instead of taking his role as an extra to fill the audience at an Alice in Chains concert for the movie Singles.

His retelling of the moment he heard the song and his reaction afterwards reveals the magnitude of Nirvana’s talent and subsequent legacy.

Let’s hear it from Ayers himself:

Even before the first chorus, I knew I was witnessing something special. I tried to keep my focus on the band while holding my arms up as a shield against the many human bumper cars around me. The sheer power of the three people on stage was incomprehensible, even for someone who’d seen hundreds of shows, as I had by then.

Just drums, bass, one guitar, and one voice — how was it so huge? And why was it affecting me so deeply?

Ayers goes on to describe the moment that changed the world of music:

Dave Grohl’s drums trembled, and his cymbals swayed like toys, but he never overpowered his own tremendous swing. Kurt Cobain’s guitar sound was violent and arresting, like his amp was on fire. When it squealed with feedback, I winced and lost my balance, and when he played power chords, they hit me like wind from a jet engine. His guttural scream carried more scratching humanity and intensity than any singer I’d ever heard.

By the end of the night, Ayers said, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ would be stuck in his head permanently:

I’d listened to a lot of music in my 19 years. I’d had my mind melted by pyrotechnics and lasers at bombastic arena shows and I’d been knocked to the ground holding my glasses in place at punk shows.

I thought I’d felt every possible musical emotion. But Nirvana had just erased all of it.

Nothing he’d heard or seen was as meaningful as what he’d seen that night, he concludes.

If you want to feel the fullness of the moment experienced by Ayers, head over to Rolling Stone to read the full article.

But you probably just want to see the moment for yourself:

30 years later, and the music of Nirvana has given meaning to the lives of countless people, from angsty teens to corporate bros and everyone in between.

[source:rollingstone]