Angsty, draped in flannel, and bred just a few hours from overcast Seattle, Nirvana were unmistakably the poster children for the grunge era. But what if Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, & co. had followed a much different path, one marked by a California beachside breeze and happier times?
Luckily for us, Vimeo user Sleep Good has imagined this alternate reality by transforming Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” classic from a raging, gritty rocker into a summery pop punk anthem. By using a major scale instead of the typical F minor one, gone is the 1991 original’s bite and bitterness, replaced instead by something akin to Weezer or Green Day.
According to Sleep Good’s bit of revisionist history, Nirvana would have been known as Nirvirna, the hit single would’ve been titled “Teen Sprite” (genius!), and their hometown would’ve been located much further down south in the sunny San Diego community of La Jolla.
Check it out below.
And here’s the original for comparison’s sake: