Cover vs. Original

Smells Like Teen Spirit

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a great song by Nirvana. It was covered by Tori Amos a year later with in my opinion great success.

Tori Amos 1992

vs.

Nirvana 1991

		43 %	57 %

Click on the cover for listening

Click on the cover for listening

Tori Amos

5134 Votes

Nirvana

Nirvana Fanclub

Probably the biggest Nirvana-Fansite. A huge community on the discussion board, picture archive, interviews and much more. Everything for a Nirvana Fan.

seattlesound.de

Website about Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and grunge. They have articles, interviews, pictures and a newcomer section!

Tori Amos Net Universe

Excellent fansite about Tori Amos. You can find here so many news and articles about the singer and songwriter Tori Amos, that you can read forever - an amazing site!

this cover sucks, part of this song is about the anguish of commercialization (sp), not the tension of it, stripped down like this it only shows that some songs are so instantly classic that they should never be touched - Tyler, Dillon, United States, 07.11.2005

Tori Amos sang this cover again and again, in a lot of live performance, often before American Pie by Don Mclean, at the end of the lyrics "The day the music died". I hear this medley is like an expletation of her rispect for Kurt Cobain art, music and life, and the reason why she made this cover. She made a gift to the band and, after the Cobain suicide, she sang it to remeber and don't forget. I don't like Grunge or Nirvana Music, so I prefer the Tori Amos "tribute", but I think are both incomparable: the same song but two different kind of emotion and expression. - Antinoo, ROME, Italy, 26.10.2005

tHE IS A STORY THAT kURT HIMSELF LISTEN TO tORI'S VERSION AND WOULD PLAY IT BLASTING LOUDLY FROM HIS THEN APARTMENT. tHE IMPRESSION WAS THAT HE WAS REALLY IMPRESSED BY THE WAY SHE WAS ABLE TO STRIP IT DOWN TO A TENSION-BUIT SONG. Tori's version hold the song on the tension itself; which gives you more vocalizing; all she did was change the composition but not the words or the meaning. Kurt was an amazing artist; so I could see what he would be impressed. While his version is second to the anst and guitar and drum; its an adrnnilin rush; toris is more puntured. both are amazing and diffrent views of the overwhemling lyrics; we as fans cannot loose site of that fact. - Nati Amos, Seattle, United States, 26.10.2005

somebody needs ritalin... - meadow, new york, United States, 25.10.2005

tori's version is better simply because there is more emotion behind it. the original was covered up in grunge-ridden angst and it was almost impossible to understand what kurt was singing. and it doesn't matter that "without the original, there would be no cover" because the whole point of this is which version is better...in some rare cases, covers ARE better than the original...this is one of those cases. and who cares if we're all from thedent or not...we're all entitled to express our own opinion. :p - shane (the40thdrink), somewhere, texas, United States, 25.10.2005

I love Tori with all my heart, but without the original there would have been no cover, without the power of Nirvana's original we would never be shocked by the gentle reworking. - Ted, Manassas, United States, 24.10.2005

what makes Tori's version so great is that Nirvana's version is engrained in your mind, you expect the drums, the explosion, the relief, the outcry, but it does not come, she just sings slowly on, which gives the song this haunting tension and its beauty. Tori's version is honouring the original and adding something to it. True art. - Gio, Washington DC, United States, 24.10.2005

THis is a great song hands down, but truthfully, I couldn't understand all of what Kirt was saying. it was not until I hear Tori's cover that I was able to really hear the songs and enjoy the depth of it. I think that Smells Like Teen Spirt is a great songs because it can with stand being stipped down to only piano and voice and it's still and incredibly powerful song. - Devon, San Diego, England, 24.10.2005

Oh my god, are you guys all from thedent.com? While I love both Nirvana and Tori, there's no freakin way in hell that Tori's version is better than the original. You hear the emotion of the song from the writer himself, tori just torified it. - meadow, new york, United States, 24.10.2005

without a doubt, tori amos rocks! i mean, the nirvana cover was instantly "wow" with it's fresh, anthematic (word?) quality, but the lyrics and the music seemed fairly uneasy and didn't quite go together, howevere, the much more melodic and sombre version by Amos captures the sinceruty of the lyrics. rock on tori! - Martyn, Manchester, England, 24.10.2005

Here you can add your comment about this song. All fields are neccessary. (No HTML!) Name: City: Country: United States England Canada China Australia Singapore Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bosnia Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Egypt England Finland France Germany Greece Greenland Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea - North Korea - South Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico Monaco Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Romania Saudi Arabia Scotland Serbia Singapore South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United States Wales Other - Africa Other - Europe Other - South America Other Don't forget to enter the code! (The 4 digits on the left!)