a deodorant that tobi vail wore, kurt cobain dated vail at the time he wrote the song. when vail and cobain were at his house kathleen hanna took a can of spray paint and wrote that "kurt smells like teen spirit", that vail had worn off on cobain. kathleen hanna was in the band bikini kill with vail.
A perfect example of how an amazing song can be butchered by major overplay. It's still an amazing song, but if you want some good Nirvana music, just sit back and listen to the whole Unplugged Album, Where Did You Sleep Last Night? and All Apologies are simply mesmerizing.
Rock band Nirvana's most popular song, it is also widely considered the song that killed their lead singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain as he felt that its popularity turned him into a sellout.
Dude 1: Play some Nirvana, dude.
Dude 2: How bout Smells Like Teen Spirit
Dude 1: Fuck that it killed Kurt, play Lithium or Sliver
Smells Like Teen Spirit was written by Kurt Cobain for his band, Nirvana and is found on the album Nevermind. Kurt got the name when Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre) spray painted "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on the walls of his apartment. She spray painted this because, at the time, Kurt was dating Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill, riot grrrl) and she wore Teen Spirit deoderant, so Hanna said Kurt smelt like her. A parody of the song was later made by Weird Al Yankovic called "Smells Like Nirvana".