The Alternative Number Ones: Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

In The Alternative Number Ones, I'm reviewing every #1 single in the history of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs, starting with the moment that the chart launched in 1988. This column is a companion piece to The Number Ones, and it's for members only. Thank you to everyone who's helping to keep Stereogum afloat.

Nirvana played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" live for the first time in April 1991 at a Seattle venue called OK Hotel. The very same night, Alice In Chains were across the street, taping their appearance in the Cameron Crowe film Singles. (Alice In Chains will appear in this column way down the line.) Nirvana released the "Teen Spirit" single a few months later. One day after the single dropped, Alice In Chains' debut album Facelift went gold.

Alice In Chains started off as a pretty normal late-'80s metal band -- they were Alice N' Chains for at least a little while -- before falling in with the scuzzier, noisier bands on the Seattle music scene. Their first big tour behind Facelift was opening for a Megadeth/Slayer/Anthrax arena run, and their first album went gold without any help from modern rock radio. (Mainstream rock was a different story.) Around the same time, tons of other Seattle bands were signing major-label deals, and most of them were treated as metal bands, too.