Miley Cyrus and Nirvana; Unfairly Maligned?

The video that caused so much outrage, 

Miley Cyrus performing "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

during her Gypsy Heart Tour in 2011. 

From Rock it Out Blog:

When I listened to it for the first time, it felt like I was getting punched in the stomach while getting stabbed in both ears while someone was telling me that my mom has chlamydia and my puppy had just been run over by an eighteen wheel truck, it was that painful, it made me sick to my stomach… (YouTube, accessed Feb 2012)

I really try not to turn these postings into a history lesson, but... I think of the early-to-mid twentieth century where the popular music of America was (for the most part) music of the theater. Songs would be written for the Broadway Stage (or film) and be recorded by numerous artists. The generic name for a track that would be performed by multiple singers was a “Standard” (hence the term “jazz standard”) and it was fairly common for a song to be recorded many times.  There really was very little issue with the fact that both Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin performed “Mack the Knife.” By the same token, no one was really concerned with the fact that singers other than Ethel Merman performed “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” it was just accepted that material would pass from one stage-personality to another.

Later though, the shift from artist/performers; to writer/performers happened with the establishment of pop-music bands. When this occurred, there was also a shift (gradual as it was) to the notion that a song belonged to one artist only. After that, in the event another singer would perform a piece of music written by someone else; the recording of said piece would be called a “cover.”  Artists could face a great deal of acclaim or ridicule for covering other artists' material. For example; the Beatles performed many pieces written by famous American Blues musicians and brought the music to new audiences around the world. However; veteran blues artists and African American music lovers could be highly critical of their interpretations of the songs (as noted in the PBS documentary “John Lennon’s Jukebox”). Even Nirvana faced some degree of criticism from David Bowie fans for their version of "The Man Who Sold the World" during their MTV Unplugged session. 

Nirvana's performance of "The Man Who Sold the World" originally
by David Bowie - this performance was the subject of an article for
The Musical Quarterly publication. 

So, because both standards and covers have been a mainstay in popular music going back at least 100 years, we might ask “why the fuss?” in regards to the recent Miley Cyrus rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” As far as authentic instrumentation goes, I have to say that the band sounded pretty dead-on. As for Ms. Cyrus’s singing, her pitch was much more consistent than Kurt Cobain’s and she seemed to have a genuine adoration for the work. Or, perhaps the issue here is one of “style.” Could it be that the song is just too sacred to those of us who were adolescents in the 1990’s? If so, then why were so many Nirvana fans thrilled with the version of the song done by Tori Amos? – Furthermore, why no uproar when the song was used by a chorus of tuxedo donned misfits in the 2001 film musical “Moulin Rouge?”

Tori Amos performed the song regularly in concert both before

and after the death of Kurt Cobain

Moulin Rouge grossed over 150 million dollars worldwide, an extremely popular

phenomenon went fairly un-criticized by Nirvana fans. 

This leads me to the point of this posting. Miley Cyrus is being fiercely criticized for singing a Nirvana song, simply because she is Miley Cyrus (or perhaps more appropriately, she is perceived as her sit-com television personality; Hannah Montana). The outrage has nothing to do with her ability as a performer, her “interpretation” nor her devotion to music. The fact is; a real life Disney princess is performing the anthem of the downtrodden, the shoved aside and the outcasts, but what these “outcasts” don’t seem to realize is that after twenty years, we really should have grown up by now.

It isn’t to say that the song is without its historical significance. When the MTV world premier video of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was broadcast, almost overnight, what was fashionable changed – gone were the Pop-Rap and Contemporary RnB artists that ruled the airwaves just a few months ago. Only the absolutely resilient like Boyz II Men, and Maria Carey would survive. Additionally, big label products which were all consuming no longer seemed to matter. Major label clothing would now turn to Hip-Hop artists for survival whereas (I can say as an anecdote) the young people at my school were all trying their hardest to look as though they weren’t trying at all.

Let’s, back up a little bit though... What is important to understand in today’s musically pluralistic society is that the 1990’s (especially the early part of the decade) was an era of pop-culture tribalism. While young people today are just as likely to have both Muse and Taylor Swift, Hip Hop artists and Punk Rock, on their MP3 players – young people two decades ago identified their group or place in the social schema largely based on what music they listened to.  For instance; Goth kids listened to Skinny Puppy while self-styled Anarchists enjoyed Rage Against the Machine.  It isn’t to say there was no overlap, but for the most part, the social caste system was firmly in place and the two major identifiers were the clothes one donned and their tape/CD collection.

The amount of subgenres were staggering; grunge, punk, goth, hardcore, industrial…etc. The one thing that all of these styles had in common, however; was that it was all music of the perceived outcasts.  The identity of being strange in the 1990’s and before became something of a badge for young people not playing football or on the cheerleading team. The fact that they felt somehow “outside” or alone formed the central component to their ego and the music they listened to became something of a tribal anthem.

Is it fair though, to lump Nirvana in with people who considered themselves to be such a distinct minority? Is it fair to call them a minority at all? After all, in 1992 Nirvana and the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" displaced Michael Jackson on the Billboard charts. That’s right, in 1992 Nirvana was more “mainstream” than the King of Pop. Furthermore, let us not forget that the band’s major breakthrough album “Nevermind” was released on music-mogul David Geffen’s label DGC. They were popular, wealthy, well-traveled and extremely influential on their colleagues. From this light it seems rather fitting that Ms. Cyrus should be able to appropriate the song. Nirvana was an act that changed the landscape of popular music, and for better or worse; we can say the same thing about the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana phenomenon.

We live in different times now. The most popular shows on television aren’t necessarily about the most popular kids at the school (take the show “Glee,” for example) and with technology now making its way into every facet of everyone’s life; it has never been a better time to be a nerd.  Think about it, the coolest gang on the block isn’t the one sporting do-rags and flashing signs, rather; the coolest gang to be a part of these days is the much-adored internet hacker group; Anonymous.  Of course, I would be hevily remised if I did not mention that some things are still the same. The idea that social schema has disappeared completely would be an absurd notion to put forward. But the eclectic musical tastes of today’s youth is notable and I would say, rather encouraging. In the end, I would urge my friends fighting for “the soul” of Rock n’ Roll to take a detached step back and recognize that most of us are in our 30’s now. Every generation complains about the next generation’s taste in music… well, here we have an artist in the next generation embracing a song from ours. Perhaps from this viewpoint, we can actually appreciate the Miley Cyrus rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for breathing new life into the work and reminding her fans why we loved it so much.