Channel 4 Studios - London
1991-11-08 · United Kingdom · TV Studio · The Word TV show · more gigs in London
Circulating discs (4)
Outcesticide 2 Bootleg CD
(Blue Moon Records)
- 21. Smells like teen spirit 2:58
Beelzebub Tape
- 1. Smells like teen spirit 4:52
The Rose Club Tape
- 13. Mr Moustache
Various - My guitar she's broken Tape
- 2. Smells like teen spirit 4:52
Notes & circulating recordings
Set
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Circulating Recordings
professional video
5 min • A
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was cut off on some TV broadcasts.
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Jo Whiley (born in 1965 in Northampton)- Music researcher, The Word, now Radio One DJ:
"I was dead keen to get them onto The Word. I was saying to everyone, we've got to have them on, but nobody had particularly heard of them. We discovered the song was really long, four and a half minutes, but for the show, it had to be under three minutes. I was told, 'Tell them to do an edit!' I'm going, You don't understand, we've got to have them on the show, they're more important than... Yes, Intastella, it was.. One of Terry Christian's favorites. In the end it only ran about a minute and a half. For TV viewing it was incredibly frustrating, but this was the one time I thought, Fuck it, I'm not being a TV researcher here, I'm a fan. I stood down the front for when Kurt said, 'Courtney love is the best fuck in the world.' Then it kicked off and it was so exciting."
---------------------
THE WORD (1991)
For me, this was a truly amazing piece of television. The Word - post pub television often at its very worst, was the provider of the moment in question. We had witnessed the irritation that is Terry Christian, the dimness of Dani Behr and - thank the Lord - the saving grace of Katie Puckrick, but when Nirvana appeared towards the end of the show in 1991, great TV took place.
Those of us who had already caught a glimpse of the collective genius of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl knew we were in for a treat, having seen the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit on MTV. Booked by then researcher Jo Whiley to appear on the show, Nirvana took to the stage with Cobain already every inch the superstar he was about to become. Before they launched into the now familiarly spiky riff to Teen Spirit, Kurt opened his mouth and said: "I'd just like to say that my girlfriend, Courtney Love, of the sensational band Hole, is the greatest fuck in the world!" They then performed the song, only to have the end credits roll over them about halfway through. The crowd moshed, Channel 4 blustered and apparently viewers complained (at The Word?!). This was all before Cobain's descent into heroin addiction and crippling depression. All I knew was that Cobain was a star and this band was going to be huge.
I also knew that despite The Word's shortcomings, this probably wouldn't have happened on any other show.
- Paula Wilkins
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Circulating Recordings
professional video
5 min • A
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was cut off on some TV broadcasts.
---------------------
Jo Whiley (born in 1965 in Northampton)- Music researcher, The Word, now Radio One DJ:
"I was dead keen to get them onto The Word. I was saying to everyone, we've got to have them on, but nobody had particularly heard of them. We discovered the song was really long, four and a half minutes, but for the show, it had to be under three minutes. I was told, 'Tell them to do an edit!' I'm going, You don't understand, we've got to have them on the show, they're more important than... Yes, Intastella, it was.. One of Terry Christian's favorites. In the end it only ran about a minute and a half. For TV viewing it was incredibly frustrating, but this was the one time I thought, Fuck it, I'm not being a TV researcher here, I'm a fan. I stood down the front for when Kurt said, 'Courtney love is the best fuck in the world.' Then it kicked off and it was so exciting."
---------------------
THE WORD (1991)
For me, this was a truly amazing piece of television. The Word - post pub television often at its very worst, was the provider of the moment in question. We had witnessed the irritation that is Terry Christian, the dimness of Dani Behr and - thank the Lord - the saving grace of Katie Puckrick, but when Nirvana appeared towards the end of the show in 1991, great TV took place.
Those of us who had already caught a glimpse of the collective genius of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl knew we were in for a treat, having seen the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit on MTV. Booked by then researcher Jo Whiley to appear on the show, Nirvana took to the stage with Cobain already every inch the superstar he was about to become. Before they launched into the now familiarly spiky riff to Teen Spirit, Kurt opened his mouth and said: "I'd just like to say that my girlfriend, Courtney Love, of the sensational band Hole, is the greatest fuck in the world!" They then performed the song, only to have the end credits roll over them about halfway through. The crowd moshed, Channel 4 blustered and apparently viewers complained (at The Word?!). This was all before Cobain's descent into heroin addiction and crippling depression. All I knew was that Cobain was a star and this band was going to be huge.
I also knew that despite The Word's shortcomings, this probably wouldn't have happened on any other show.
- Paula Wilkins